A value-based framework for understanding cooperation

Understanding the roots of human cooperation, a social phenomena embedded in pressing issues including climate change and social conflict, requires an interdisciplinary perspective. We propose a unifying value-based framework for understanding cooperation, integrating neuroeconomic models of decision making with psychological variables involved in cooperation. We propose that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex serves as a neural integration hub for value computation during cooperative decisions, receiving inputs from various neuro-cognitive processes such as attention, memory and learning. Next, we describe findings from social and personality psychology highlighting factors that shape the value of cooperation, including research on cultural contexts and norms, personal and social identity, and intergroup relations. Our approach advances theoretical debates about cooperation by highlighting how previous findings are accommodated within a general value-based framework and offers novel predictions.