Study with respondents from 42 very different countries shows that fellow citizens are generally preferred

以來自42個極度不同國家受訪者的研究顯示，同胞通常更受歡迎。

In our globalized world, cooperation between citizens of different countries should actually be a matter of course. But around the world, people prefer to cooperate with their own fellow citizens rather than with foreigners. This was the result of a study by an international team of researchers led by Angelo Romano and Matthias Sutter from the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.

在咱們全球化的世界中，不同國家公民間的合作。說實在的，應該是理所當然。不過世界各地，人們更喜歡與自己的同胞，而不是與外國人合作。這是由一支來自德國馬克斯普朗克集體主義價值研究所，Angelo Romano及Matthias Sutter領導之國際研究團隊的一項研究結果。

Under the "America first" banner, Donald Trump was able to conquer the White House as the President in 2017. Two thirds of US citizens supported his approach which forced national interests into the political foreground. But Americans are not the only ones to be focused on their own country.

於2017年，在"美國優先"的旗幟下，唐納•川普能攻取了白宮，成為美國總統。三分之二的美國公民支持其，強行使國家利益成為政治前題的處理方式。不過，美國人並非唯一著重自己國家的人。

In a large-scale study involving more than 18,400 participants from 42 nations, an international team of researchers investigated whether and to what extent people in a cooperative game prefer to collaborate with their own fellow citizens. The countries involved ranged from Sweden, Pakistan and South Korea through to Bolivia, Nigeria and New Zealand.

在一項涉及來自42個國家、18,400多名參與者的大規模研究中，一支國際研究人員團隊調查研究了，於合作之遊戲中的人，是否更喜歡與自己的同胞合作，及達什麼程度。此些國家包括了，範圍從瑞典、巴基斯坦及韓國到玻利維亞、尼日利亞及紐西蘭。

The results were clear: In 39 of the countries examined, most participants significantly preferred to collaborate with fellow citizens rather than with people from other countries. In the remaining three countries (Poland, Peru and Hong Kong), there was also a visible link between the willingness to cooperate and having the same nationality.

結果很明顯：39個在此些接受調查的國家中，大多數參與者明顯更喜歡與同胞，而不是與來自其他國家的人合作。在其餘的三個國家中(波蘭、秘魯及香港)，在合作意願與擁有相同國籍間，也有一種明顯關聯性。

The tendency to prefer fellow citizens didn’t depend on whether the participants were able to decide anonymously or whether their behaviour would be made public. The nationality of the game partner and the cultural differences were also irrelevant.

更喜歡同胞的傾向並非取決於，參與者是否能不具名決定，或他們的行為是否會被公開。競賽夥伴的國籍及文化差異，也無關聯。

However, the researchers also identified differences between the individual test subjects. For example, the willingness to cooperate with foreigners varied significantly more within individual nations than between the averages of different countries. It was greater among women than men, and among more educated participants compared to those with lower levels of education.

不過，此些研究人員也確認了，個別受測試對象之間的差異。譬如，與外國人合作的意願，在個別國家中，變化顯著比在不同國家的平均值之間更大。在女性中，變化比男性大，且相較於那些受教育程度較低的，在受教育程度較高的參與者中，變化也較大。

Conversely, religious affiliation, certain environmental conditions which could lead to increased national cohesion or the quality of state institutions made no difference. According to the research findings, the behaviour was motivated less by general xenophobia than by what scientists call in-group bias.

相反地，宗教信仰、某些可能導致民族凝聚力增強的環境條件或國家機構特質，並沒有導致區別。根據此些研究結果，這種行為，由普遍仇外心理所激發，比由科學家們稱為群體內偏見激發的少。

This means that people tend to show greater solidarity towards others if they perceive them to be part of the same group, in this case citizens of the same country.

這意味著，倘若自認為是相同群體的一部分(在這種情況下，是相同國家的公民)，人們傾向對其他人展現較強烈的團結性。

During the investigation, researchers put participants through a variant of the so-called prisoners' dilemma, a standard experiment in game theory: Participants worked together in pairs. Both were provided with a small amount of money and asked to decide how much of this they would keep and how much they would hand over to the unknown fellow player – without knowing what the other would do.

在此調查研究中，研究人員們使參與者們經歷了一種，所謂囚犯左右為難的變式，這是博弈理論中的一種標準實驗：參與者成對地一起賭博。兩人皆被提供一筆小錢，並被要求決定保留多少，及未知對方會做什麼的情況下，會將多少交給不熟悉的賭博夥伴。

In the process, the amount handed over was doubled, in other words, participants benefitted twice from a generous partner.

在此過程中，交出的金額翻了一番。換句話說，參與者從慷慨的夥伴獲益了兩倍。

The best result for both can be achieved if they cooperate and hand over all of their money. Solo players, however, achieve the best result by acting egoistically and keeping their money, while the other player hands over all of their money to the solo player.

倘若他們合作並交出所有的錢，則能獲得雙方的最佳結果。不過，單獨進行的賭徒，藉由自負地行事及保留他們的錢，來獲得最佳結果。而另一位賭徒將他們所有的錢交給單獨進行的賭徒。

The worst result for both occurs if neither hands over any money at all. Whether and how much money is handed over to the unknown fellow player is therefore a matter of trust and cohesion. Obviously, both is clearly more pronounced within individual countries than across different nations.

倘若雙方皆全然沒有交出任何錢，則會出現最糟糕的結果。因此，是否及將多少錢交給不熟悉的賭博夥伴，是一個信任與凝聚力的問題。顯然，無疑地這兩件事，在個別國家內是比跨越不同國家更為顯著。

In light of global challenges like climate change or the coronavirus pandemic, this global distribution of national parochialism is bad news. After all, mankind must cooperate across borders in order to come lastingly to grips with these problems.

鑑於像氣候變遷或冠狀病毒大流行等，諸多全球性挑戰。這種國家狹隘主義的全球分佈是個壞消息。畢竟，為了持久解決此些問題，人類必須跨界合作。

"While high levels of cooperation within states is desirable, in future we must focus even more strongly on the question of how we can promote cooperation between strangers, independently of their nationality," says Matthias Sutter. He also identifies a high demand for more research in this area.

也認同在此領域，高度需要更多研究的Matthias Sutter宣稱：「儘管，國家內部的高程度合作是值得做的。不過，於未來人們必須更加著重，如何能促進陌生人之間的合作問題，而無關他們的國籍。」

網址：https://www.mpg.de/17299130/national-parochialism?c=2249

翻譯: 許東榮