Male Cooperation is Culture-Specific: Evidence from Cross-Population Experiments

The aim of our experimental study was to investigate population differences in sex-specific cooperative tendencies between modern Russians (N = 192) and Buryats (N = 208). Cooperative predispositions were tested independently within each population, under conditions of same-sex dyadic (Prisoner's Dilemma) and group (iterated Public Goods Game) interactions between subjects who were strangers to each other. The experiments involved face-to-face interactions, but any intentional communication was prohibited. The results revealed considerable differences in cooperativeness between Russian and Buryat men: Russian men were more predisposed to cooperate in dyads, while Buryat men were better at maintaining high levels of cooperation in group interactions. Russian and Buryat women did not differ in their predispositions to cooperate either in dyads or groups, being more prone to defect than to cooperate. The differences in group cooperativeness between Russian and Buryat men were further replicated in a control study using data fr om a previous independent experiment. It was also revealed that Buryat men demonstrated an enhanced level of cooperation only in ethnically homogeneous groups. Our results indicate that a higher degree of cooperation in groups is not a universally male feature, but rather may reflect general cultural variation in orientation towards individualism and collectivism. We view this study as a stepping stone towards a more comprehensive cross-cultural research of the revealed phenomenon.