Cooperation in Psychology

Cooperation 

Introduction

The meaning of cooperation is collaboration. It means working together towards the same goal. This goal can benefit one person or many. Cooperation is a contradictory process to competition. Competition is working against each other towards the same goal. It is for self-driven success. Competition is not wrong; it’s only about perspective. However, cooperation is inclined towards collective growth. The outcome of the collaboration is beneficial to each person participating. Cooperation is essential for a society to function. Without a collaborative approach towards one goal, a community cannot grow. Bringing people together and taking action against something is powerful. The balance each person brings to the table is the main advantage of collective effort. This makes the process of problem-solving less stressful.

Cooperation Among Humans And Animals

Cooperation in humans and animals are for the same things – mutual benefit, growth, development and many more. Humans work together towards a common goal. The people receiving help can get direct or indirect benefits through cooperation. Humans tend to collaborate on major problems, and involvement of reputation and status in the task is important for them to cooperate. 

Animals cooperate differently. For major parts, it is related to survival. Most animals decide to work together in order to survive. Cooperative breeding is common in animals. Many species of animals tend to cooperate to benefit their offsprings’ growth.             

Cooperative systems

Cooperation works on systems. Individuals working together for one’s benefit in a system is called a cooperative system. In this system, people can have the same or different skills. When working in a large group, a decided system has to be followed. It is because when individual skills are tied with a group, complex problems can be solved quite easily. There are many examples of cooperative systems in nature. For example, cells in our body collaborate with other cells to keep us working. The food chain is an excellent example of a cooperative system. Every living being cooperates at its level to survive. Looking from a broader perspective, it could seem selfish but cooperating at an individual level is the central part of a system. It, as a whole, makes a collaborative ecosystem.      

The Prisoner’s Dilemma 

When it comes to cooperation, we cannot complete the topic without discussing the prisoner’s dilemma. This is a game where people cooperate for everyone’s benefit. Individual benefits are not favoured. The theoretical and practical experiments of this game have been going on since the 1960s. In this game, there are two parties. Each of them is getting a situation. These parties are separated and cannot communicate. Now they have to decide whether to cooperate or not. The reward is given when both parties agree to cooperate. The “tit for tat” solution is a popular way to solve the prisoner’s dilemma. First, you copy the last move of a player. If the player cooperates, you do too; if he doesn’t then, you don’t. 

The prisoner’s dilemma is used to back decision-making ability in a persons’ life. This works in many areas. Salary negotiations, investments, mutual relationships are some of those. This can help us to build trust. Even with your enemies, you have to cooperate to reach the goal. 

Benefits of Cooperation

• Problem-solving

This is the most important skill today and will be in future. Companies are going all-in for the best problem solvers. There are an infinite number of problems around us. The one who solves this with efficiency wins. Solving problems individually is a significant advantage, but one cannot solve all problems alone. People need others with whom they can work together to solve complex problems. Hence, cooperation steps up to be an important aspect in this. Collaborating with intelligent minds and solving a major problem is the best thing possible. It doesn’t matter how big or small the problem is; cooperation makes each team member grow. 

• Remote scaling

Due to the pandemic, the whole world got in lockdown. Remote work became the new normal, and cooperation became more important than ever. Although not everyone can adapt to this virtual environment, it was proved that work could happen from anywhere. A guy sitting in India could work with someone in Australia. This saved a lot of time. It demonstrated that we could cooperate from anywhere, increasing efficiency. 

• Energetic Atmosphere

Cooperating in a group is the best learning experience you can have. The more energy you create, the more fun collaboration becomes. If you are working alone, you will be bored after a while. Sports can be good examples of it. Team sports, such as cricket, football, rugby, and many others, are more energetic and exciting. They are the most-watched sports in the world as well. 

Conclusion 

Cooperation can be a crucial factor in success and failure because it engages all the parties concerned. A cooperative group can function more effectively than an individual. Teamwork is vital for an organisation to grow because it also affects the growth of individuals. Empathy and skill are crucial in making people collaborate. It can make sure that there are minimum mistakes. Besides, to have accelerated work, one needs to delegate work, and delegation can be done on the foundation of cooperation. Our nature also thrives on cooperation. The food chain is an excellent example of this.