Abstract
In Experiment 1 we investigated size estimates and requests from an uncertain resource in a common-pool resource dilemma. In Experiment 2, we examined contributions in a public-good dilemma with an uncertain provision threshold when participants were informed about others’ pessimistically biased estimates of the resource size or provision threshold. Supporting an individual outcome-desirability bias, but refuting a perceptual bias and an egoism bias, participants in Experiment 1 did not estimate size differently, and they cooperated more, rather than less, when they were informed about others’ estimates. Likewise, participants contributed more in Experiment 2 when they were informed about others’ estimates. These results were replicated in Experiment 3, where the outcome did not depend on others’ requests or contributions.
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