The Evolution of Cooperation: 8 Principles That Make Groups Thrive

Post #6 in a series describing core topics in ProSocial Training

Cooperation doesn't emerge by chance or good intentions alone. It evolves through specific environmental conditions that make working together more beneficial than going it alone. Whether you're leading a team, building a community, or trying to make your organization more effective, understanding these conditions can transform how your group functions.

The ProSocial Core Design Principles offer a practical framework for creating environments where cooperation naturally emerges and flourishes. Based on Nobel Prize-winning research and tested across diverse contexts, these principles explain why some groups thrive while others struggle with conflict, disengagement, and inefficiency.

Trust: The Currency of Cooperation

At the heart of cooperation lies trust— which I define as the expectation that others will behave in ways we can depend upon to meet our needs. I came to this definition by noticing that we begin to trust when our vulnerability is richly reinforced by our social situation and, conversely, we lose trust when our vulnerability is exploited or punished in some way.

Consider two examples of trust building: A therapy client who gradually opens up after experiencing that their vulnerability is met with acceptance rather than judgment; or a business team that shares resources across departments after repeatedly seeing that such sharing leads to mutual benefit rather than exploitation. Both illustrate an increasing expectation that others will behave in a way that meets the needs of actor. When we act in ways that make us vulnerable, and that vulnerability is met with positive outcomes rather than exploitation, trust develops.

Trust, as I conceptualize it, functions as the bandwidth that determines how efficiently groups can work together. Without trust, groups can still function, but only through extensive monitoring and control systems that drain energy and resources. Consider the difference between working with someone you trust completely versus someone you must constantly check up on. The first relationship flows effortlessly; the second requires exhausting vigilance.

How Cooperation Evolves

The political scientist Elinor Ostrom discovered something remarkable: across cultures and contexts, what distinguished successful cooperative groups from less successful ones could be summarised in the form of 8 organising principles.

Ostrom's ground breaking research challenged the influential "tragedy of the commons" parable, which claimed that people inevitably over-exploit shared resources out of selfishness—requiring either government regulation or private ownership.

She discovered that communities around the world had developed governance systems that created the conditions for trust to evolve through richly reinforcing acting for the good of the whole, and suppressing self-interested actions. In the presence of these principles, groups were able to share resources effectively for dozens, hundreds or even thousands of years, without having to rely upon either centralized control or purely market-based solutions.

The Eight Principles That Select for Cooperation

The Core Design Principles create environmental conditions that select for cooperative behaviour through specific trust-building mechanisms:

1. Shared Identity and Purpose

When group members co-create a clear understanding of "who we are and what we're about," they develop shared expectations that orient behaviour toward common goals. This principle makes cooperation more likely by selecting for behaviours that serve collective aims rather than just individual interests.

2. Fair Distribution of Contributions and Benefits

When group members establish clear agreements about how costs and benefits are shared, they create conditions where fairness becomes the norm. This principle selects for equitable exchanges by making exploitation visible and less likely to persist, while reinforcing contributions that benefit the group.

3. Fair and Inclusive Decision-Making

When those affected by decisions participate in making them, implementation becomes more effective and resistance decreases. This principle selects for policies that serve diverse needs rather than narrow interests, building collective ownership and commitment.

4. Monitoring Agreed Behaviours

When behaviour related to agreements is visible and progress is transparently tracked, accountability emerges naturally. This principle selects for follow-through by making contributions visible, creating natural consequences for cooperation or free-riding without needing heavy-handed enforcement.

5. Graduated Responding to Helpful and Unhelpful Behaviour

When groups provide appropriate recognition for positive contributions while addressing problematic behaviours proportionally, they create environments where cooperation is reinforced while exploitation is limited. This balance builds trust that risk-taking will be rewarded, mistakes will be treated fairly and outright transgressions and exploitation will not be allowed to continue.

6. Fast and Fair Conflict Resolution

When tensions can be addressed quickly through accessible processes, conflict becomes an opportunity for learning rather than a destructive force. This principle selects for constructive engagement with differences rather than avoidance or escalation. We are at our most vulnerable in the midst of conflict, and sturdy conflict resolution systems build trust that conflict will not escalate out of control.

7. Authority to Self-Govern

When groups have the autonomy to implement the first six principles in ways that fit their specific context, they develop ownership and intrinsic motivation. This principle creates the meta-conditions needed for the other principles to function effectively as groups learn that they can trust the broader environment not to excessively interfere with their functioning.

8. Collaborative Relations with Other Groups

When groups extend these principles to their relationships with other groups, cooperation can scale beyond face-to-face interactions by creating shared purpose between groups, equity between groups and so on. This principle enables the development of nested networks of cooperation that can address complex challenges no single group could solve alone.

Putting the Principles into Action

These principles describe functions, not forms—there are many ways to implement each one depending on your context. A family therapy session, community organization, and corporate team might implement "fair and inclusive decision-making" quite differently, but the trust-building function remains the same.

I will be writing much more about putting these principles into action in future editions of our changemaker series of articles. But in the meantime, you can get started by asking your group one or more of these planning questions:

Shared Identity and Purpose: What do we most care about as a group, and how can we create a sense of belonging and safety?

Fair Distribution: How will we ensure fairness in this group? How can we create a situation where everybody benefits?

Decision-Making: How will we decide in a way that involves those who need and want to be involved?

Monitoring: How can we be aware of what each other are doing? How can our behaviours be transparent?

Graduated Responding: How should we respond to one another to encourage cooperation and discourage unhelpful behaviours?

Conflict Resolution: How should we resolve the inevitable conflicts and differences that will arise within our group?

Authority to Self-Govern: How can we take responsibility for managing our own affairs? How should we protect ourselves from undue influence from outside the group?

Collaborative Relations: How can we have better relations with other groups? How can we contribute to building whole systems that work?

Evolution, Not Revolution

The beauty of these principles is that they work with human nature rather than against it. They don't demand perfect altruism or unrealistic levels of selflessness. Instead, they create conditions where cooperation becomes the naturally selected behaviour because it ultimately better serves individuals' interests within a group context.

By understanding and implementing these principles, you create an environment where trust can flourish and cooperation becomes the path of least resistance. Much like natural selection shapes species over time, these principles shape social dynamics—not through force or control, but by altering the conditions that select which behaviours thrive and which fade away.

Whether you're struggling with team conflict, community engagement, or organizational effectiveness, these principles offer a framework for creating lasting positive change—because cooperation that evolves naturally lasts longer than cooperation that's commanded from above.

In summary

I have argued that the ProSocial Core Design Principles offer a framework for naturally evolving cooperation through trust-building mechanisms rather than top-down control. These principles—shared purpose, fair distribution, inclusive decision-making, transparent monitoring, graduated responding, conflict resolution, self-governance, and collaborative relations between groups using the same principles—create environments where cooperative behaviours become more likely, and self-serving behaviours become less likely.

And yet, as I write this, I see many social institutions moving in the opposite direction. We witness increasing polarization rather than shared purpose, growing inequality instead of fair distribution, exclusionary rather than inclusive decision-making, and opacity rather than transparency. When our social systems have become misaligned with what creates healthy cooperation, it's possible for destructive behaviours to be selected and reinforced. As my dear friend and colleague David Sloan Wilson likes to say: “Evolution does not always take us where we want to go.”

But this trend isn't inevitable. These principles have endured across cultures and through millennia. From the Water Court of Valencia's irrigation systems (functioning since 960 CE) to the Balinese subak water temples (operating for over 1,000 years), human societies have repeatedly discovered and implemented these principles to solve complex cooperation problems. One thing I find most promising about these principles is how they transcend traditional political divides—valuing both individual agency and collective wellbeing. What we're experiencing now may be a challenging period in cultural evolution, but our choices matter. The actions we take to implement these principles—in our teams, communities, and institutions—will shape the direction of our shared future.

I’m curious

Do you see these principles strengthening or weakening in your community? What forces are driving that change, and what might reverse it?