RESEARCH AND RESOURCES ON COOPERATION IN APOCALYPTIC TIMES
Research
The Cooperation in the Apocalypse research team uses science and scholarship to understand human behavior in times of crisis.
How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting cooperation?
Do crises bring people together or pull them apart? We collected data at 4 time points from the same cohort of 497 paid participants, starting on March 6th, before the pandemic was declared, through April 2. We found that perceived interdependence increased, but cooperation decreased by some measures and increased by others. We are collecting data on an ongoing basis which will allow us to investigate how these variables continue to change or not as the pandemic unfolds.
PRE-PRINT AVAILABLE ON PSYARXIV
Does SARS-CoV-2 alter social behavior?
SARS-CoV-2 is under evolutionary pressure to alter human social behavior in ways that propagate the virus. Our team is investigating whether people are more social when they are most infectious through survey data, social media data and contact tracing data.
PUBLISHED IN PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
The Ik of Uganda are an exemplar of the resilience of cooperation
Richard Dawkins held them up as a paragon of selfishness in his 1976 classic, The Selfish Gene, but new research by The Human Generosity Project shows that the Ik are actually an exemplar of the resilience of cooperation and sharing after famine and hardship.
PUBLISHED IN EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES
Institutional SUPPORT
The Cooperation in the Apocalypse research team is supported by the Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative at Arizona State University, The Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Alliance and The Human Generosity Project. With additional support from the Indiana University College of Arts & Sciences.
Arizona State University
The ASU Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative brings together scholars from across the disciplines who are joined by a shared interest in understanding the fundamental principles that drive cooperation.
Interdisciplinary network
The goal of ZAMA is to reduce the global burden of zombification and contribute to apocalypse prevention and preparedness through interdisciplinary engagement.
Interdisciplinary network
The Human Generosity Project is the first large-scale transdisciplinary research project to investigate the interrelationship between biological and cultural influences on human generosity.
TEAM
The Cooperation in the Apocalypse Research team is grounded in psychology, but spans many universities and disciplines. More team member bios coming soon.
Athena Aktipis
Psychology, ASU
Athena is the Chair of the Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Alliance, Co-Director of the Human Generosity Project and Director of the Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative. She is an Associate Professor of Psychology at ASU.
Joe Alcock
Emergency Medicine, UNM
Joe has first hand experience with the zombie apocalypse as an Emergency Medicine Physician. He is an Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico and the host of the podcast Evolution Medicine.
Jessica Ayers
Psychology, ASU
Jessica's apocalypse plan is a secret so don't ask. She is a graduate student in the Aktipis Lab at ASU studying how genetic conflict and fitness interdependence manifest in human behavior.
Lee Cronk
Anthropology, Rutgers U
Lee has spent years of his life in the field doing research on cooperation in small scale societies. He is a Professor at Rutgers and Co-Director of the Human Generosity Project.
Diego Guevara Beltran
Psychology, ASU
Diego sports the apocalypse casual look most days. He is a graduate student in the Aktipis Lab at ASU studying empathy, fitness interdependence and food sharing.
Peter Todd
Psychology, Indiana U
Peter loves Braaains...
He is the Director of the Cognitive Science Program at Indiana University and Provost Professor in Psychological and Brain Sciences
Geoffrey Miller
Psychology, UNM
Geoffrey knows his existential risk. He is an Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico and the author of several books.
Keith Tidball
Natural Resources, Cornell U
Keith's go bag is packed. He is the Assistant Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Program Leader of the New York State Extension Disaster Education Network.
Pamela Winfrey
Research curator, ASU
Pam defies the divisions between science and art. She is the scientific research curator for the Aktipis Lab and Maley Lab, worked at the Exploratorium for decades and is also an author, playwright and director.
Emily Zarka
English Literature, ASU
Emily's doctorate is in monsters. She is faculty at ASU and she is the host of the PBS show Monstrum.
Cristina Baciu
Project Management, ASU
Cristina can't stop studying. She is a research program manager in the Aktipis and Maley labs at ASU and a doctoral student at NAU.
RESOURCES
Other research groups and organizations studying cooperation in apocalyptic times.
Generosity in the time of COVID-19
Wiepking is coordinating an international team of researchers to investigate changes in generosity and charitable giving during COVID-19. You can find more information about this project at the Global Generosity Research website.
Compassion during times of catastrophe
Zaki, the author of The War For Kindness, wrote an academic review of cooperation during times of crisis that is in press at Trends in Cognitive Science and currently available on PsyArXiv: Catastrophe compassion: Understanding and extending prosociality under crisis
Are people selfish or cooperative in the time of COVID-19?
Nettle & Saxe are investigating people's lay theories about cooperation and selfishness during pandemics. They are finding that people expect others to behave more selfishly in ongoing work they they have written about on this blog post.
