Willingness to help mainly involves own group

The coronavirus crisis confronts us with questions concerning common interest and self-interest. Do people and countries think of themselves or others? Research shows that while people are willing to set aside their own interests, most do so to help their own group. The Netherlands has prioritised the common interest in complying with the coronavirus measures. Even healthy people must keep their distance. They cannot hug an elderly aunt or nip off to the beach when the weather is nice. We saw the usually so individualistic Dutch coming up with a range of good-natured initiatives, intent on offering practical or emotional assistance to other people, even ones who were strangers until now. Will this crisis bring us closer together? Research on social dilemmas. It is evident from research on social dilemmas, in which self-interest is balanced with communal interest, that clear standards may benefit cooperation and that a common enemy may act as a cohesive factor. An invisible virus could be such an enemy. Together with her colleagues, organisational psychologist Hillie Aaldering at the University of Amsterdam has further explored the conflict between individual and communal interest, by investigating the differences between cooperating for the own group and cooperating for a joint collective of groups. Their research suggests that people are much more willing to forgo their self-interest for their own group than for the collective interest of joint groups. Experiments to study group interests