Kyle Thomas

Who they are

Thomas is the first author of a four-author paper whose best-known name is Steven Pinker, and this site credits first authors. The others are Peter DeScioli and Omar Sultan Haque.

The paper's framing is that research on human cooperation has concentrated on altruism, where one person bears a cost to benefit another, and on the reciprocity that evolved to solve it. Thomas and colleagues took up the complementary case of mutualism, where two parties can benefit each other at the same time, and asked what makes coordination safe enough to attempt.

The design holds information constant and varies only publicity. Participants chose between working alone for a certain profit and working together for a higher profit received only if their partner chose the same. The payoffs were broadcast over a loudspeaker, or given to both by a messenger, or revealed to each separately. More participants attempted the risky coordination in the loudspeaker condition.

Key papers

Thomas, K. A., DeScioli, P., Haque, O. S., & Pinker, S. (2014). "The psychology of coordination and common knowledge." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(4), 657-676. First author.

Key ideas

Common knowledge as its own category, not simply more knowledge. See Common Knowledge.

Publicity is the variable, content is not. The information was identical in all three conditions and only its public delivery changed behaviour.

The authors extend the account to public protest, performative speech acts and self-conscious emotional expression. The extension to consumer boycotts is ours, and it is a leap from a two-person game with fixed payoffs.

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