Humans Are Not Naturally Selfish

Humans display a greater tendency toward honesty, sharing, and cooperation than game theoretic agents, which are based on the assumption of pure selfishness. Despite this, many economic systems have been built on the premise that humans will act solely in their self-interest. Experiments show that when placed in situations where game theory predicts defection, humans often choose to cooperate instead. Additionally, the naming of the game significantly impacts human behavior; labeling it as the 'Wall Street game' leads to more defection, while calling it the 'community game' fosters cooperation, revealing that human actions are influenced by perceived incentives within their environment.