• Study finds that people are more willing to cooperate with strangers than they realize, with a global cooperation rate of 69% revealed in behavioural science experiments involving over 100,000 participants from 125 countries.
• Participants in the study were asked to choose between a personal payout of $100 or a community-oriented one of $70, with an additional $400 donated to climate change measures if both individuals independently chose to "cooperate," leading to a majority of 69% opting for the latter despite underestimating others' willingness to cooperate.
• The research team from the University of Bonn and Frankfurt stress the importance of cooperation for social wellbeing, highlighting that many challenges can only be overcome if individuals are willing to contribute to the common good beyond their own self-interest, as revealed in the first globally representative study on human cooperation.

Most people are willing to cooperate with strangers but underestimate the cooperative spirit of their fellow human beings, according to a study by a German research team.

This phenomenon is especially pronounced in Germany, according to the study, which was published in Science magazine on Thursday.

The Bonn-Frankfurt research team stress that cooperation is a fundamental prerequisite for social wellbeing. They said many challenges could only be overcome if people were willing to contribute to the common good beyond their own self-interest.

The study is based on behavioural science experiments involving more than 100,000 people from 125 representative country samples, according to the University of Bonn. It is said to be the first study in the world to examine human cooperation on a globally representative basis.

The same study was conducted around the world: each participant was paired with an unknown person from their own country and asked to choose between two options. The "do not cooperate" option yielded a guaranteed return of $100, while the "cooperate" option yielded only $70.

However, if both individuals - independently and without consultation - chose to "cooperate", an additional $400 was donated to climate change measures. Participants therefore faced a choice between a higher personal payout or a community-oriented one.

A clear majority of participants - an average of 69% - proved willing to forgo a higher personal sum in favour of contributing to climate measures. However, participants systematically underestimated the willingness of others to cooperate.

While the actual global cooperation rate stood at 69%, respondents expected, on average, only 47% of others to cooperate. This pessimistic misperception was found in 124 of the 125 countries studied, making it almost universal.

"Our results send an encouraging message: We are a more cooperative species than we think," the researchers concluded.