3. Self-Interest and the Dilemmas of Cooperation
Outcomes:
By the end of this module you should be able to:
Determine how self-interest relates to a person’s motivation
Examine if we should act only in our own self-interest
Identify what happens when purely self-interested people try to cooperate
Video Lectures:
3.1 Ethical and psychological egoism (8:28)
Psychological egoism is the empirical theory that people always do act to maximize the satisfaction of their own interests. Ethical egoism is the ethical theory that people always ought to act to maximize the satisfaction of their own interests.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8Xf9zqOFqNc
3.2 The prisoner’s dilemma (15:07)
Ethical egoism is difficult to justify. The single-minded pursuit of self-interest, when others are doing the same, can often be self-defeating. An example of the dilemmas facing extreme egoists is the Prisoner’s Dilemma Game. Here, both players have dominant strategies based on self-interest that, when played, result in an outcome with payoffs smaller than if each had played another strategy based on cooperative considerations. Achieving Pareto efficiency requires constraining extreme egoism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=m_qt9Lb-dYY
3.3 Creating cooperation (11:39)
Much of the wealth of modern economies arises from people cooperating with one another and organizing production according to principles of specialization and division of labor. Societies can create cooperation between egoists by coercively enforcing the rules of the game, rules such as laws regarding property and contracts. However, if people internalize the rules of the game as ethical obligations, then they can achieve cooperation more efficiently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4wPDX6kTeHY
3.4 Is psychological egoism confirmed scientifically? (8:40)
Psychological egoism is a basic assumption of economics, but behavioral economic experiments, such as the Ultimatum Game, suggest that it is not a good description of human nature. Self-interest is still an important consideration in ethical decision-making, but other ethical considerations often outweigh it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kOng11UbpOU
Case Study 3:
Carol and Workplace Safety
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KnIcmQlX8q8