{"pk":25801,"title":"The Tragedy of Inner-Individual Dilemmas","subtitle":null,"abstract":"Social dilemmas specify situations in which (local) egoistic\nutility optimization prevents achieving the (global) common\ngood of a group. Tragically, in such dilemmas local optimization\nalso reduces the payoff for the individual optimizer.\nAlthough social dilemmas essentially reflect inter-individual\ncontexts (conflicting interests, moral attitudes, etc.), innerindividual\ndilemmas apparently share at least some structural\naspects with them: individual behavior can concern more\nconflicting levels of optimization. For example, starting\nadditional academic projects with potentially positive ‘payoff’\nmay assume ‘more is more’. However, exogenous effects may\narise from optimizing local goals; further contributions may\nincrementally reduce the quality of other contributions and\nyield ‘more is less’. In three experiments we explore a oneperson\ninvestment game about building hotels, reflecting a\nsocial dilemma. The payoffs involve different optima for local\nand global optimization. Results show that people can be\ninfluenced by a default-strategy of ‘more is more’, even if it\nis irrational.","language":"eng","license":{"name":"","short_name":"","text":null,"url":""},"keywords":[{"word":"inner-individual dilemmas; social dilemmas; selfregulation;\n‘less is more’; sustainability; externalities; global\nvs. local optimization"}],"section":"Papers","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9sb552s3","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Momme","middle_name":"","last_name":"von Sydow","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Heidelberg","department":""}],"date_submitted":null,"date_accepted":null,"date_published":"2015-01-01T10:00:00-08:00","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"PDF","type":"pdf","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/cognitivesciencesociety/article/25801/galley/15425/download/"}]}