Question

Behavioral economists often examine situations in which individuals must choose between acting for the collective good and acting for immediate personal gain. One well-studied scenario is the “public goods game,” in which participants privately decide how much of their own resources to contribute to a shared pool. Contributions benefit everyone, but individuals who contribute little while others contribute more receive a larger personal payoff. However, if all participants choose to contribute very little, the entire group ends up worse off than if they had contributed generously. Researchers note that, although contributing to the pool produces the best collective outcome, many participants still choose to minimize their contribution. These researchers argue that this pattern demonstrates that ________.


Which choice most logically completes the text?
A
individuals tend to behave in ways that maximize their personal advantage, even when doing so harms the group.
B
the public goods game encourages collaborative behavior when participants can communicate.
C
people generally prefer outcomes that enhance overall social welfare rather than individual gain.
D
such resource-sharing games do not accurately represent how people behave outside laboratory settings.

Answer 1

A

The described behavior—many participants minimizing their contribution despite worse collective outcomes—supports the claim that individuals tend to act to maximize personal advantage even when it harms the group.