The Public Goods Game

A game called the public goods game is played in which people try to double their money and divide it up among others. The early experiments showed that initially, when people play this game, they're assuming that the others will do the generous thing. But if they see that some people are free riding, then they start to contribute less. On the first trial, about half the money gets donated, but as you repeat it, that goes down to something very low. People learn that other people are jerks. And they don't like it. They want to punish them. Punishment is the key word.