Conditioning for Cooperation
Establishing the right conditions to make cooperation the status quo
WHAT IS IT?
SHG acknowledges that human beings can act either cooperatively or not. Empirical evidence suggests that a strict theory of narrow self-interested actors is not entirely accurate; rather, people can work cooperatively for non-self-serving reasons, for their own and others’ best interests simultaneously. SHG proposes a conditional theory of cooperation that stipulates the conditions and environments needed for collective cooperative behavior in health and social systems, employing empirical lessons learned about the nature of cooperation towards the common good.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
In SHG, cooperation among various actors (government, NGO, companies, households, individuals, etc.) is essential to achieve the goal of promoting health capability for all. Empirical evidence also shows that cooperation and contribution to a greater good yields personal satisfaction. SHG aims to design systems and structures to promote cooperation, over the non-optimal, narrow self-interested non-cooperative status quo.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
The principle of conditioning for cooperation is realized through systems and structures that enable all institutions, NGOs, private sectors, communities, families, and individuals to cooperate. Collective and individual actors work together towards the shared goal of health capability promotion. Actors still have their own best interests, but these are not the narrow self-interests of the homo economicus principle of rational choice theory. An individual’s best interests acknowledge the importance of both their own desires and needs, what they need as humans to flourish, as well as shared social goals of all individuals’ health and flourishing simultaneously. The best interests of the individual and the collective are represented by common goals.
HOW DO WE DO IT?
SHG sets up a system and structure that compels actors' social motivations for cooperation. Social motivations are the socially construed conditions that activate the cooperative thinking and behavior hardwired in all human beings. These social motivations include shared attitudes, values, motive-based trust, identity, and procedural justice. Other SHG principles (e.g., the principle of shared values, ideas, and norms and the principle of legitimate authority and sovereignty) explain what kind of health system and structure are necessary to generate new social motivations in our health governance.