Trust in leaders, sense of belonging stir people to safeguard common goods, analysis shows - full text

"Every day, people donate to charities, volunteer to clean up city parks, or scale back their driving to curb air pollution. But some take these public goods for granted and ride free on the efforts of others. They watch public television but never make a donation to fund it. Or they run their lawn sprinklers during a drought while their neighbors follow government pleas to limit water consumption.

"A new report in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, examines more than 25 years' worth of studies on the use and support of public goods ranging from radio broadcasts to drinking water. Psychological researcher Craig Parks (Washington State University, Pullman) and his co-authors emphasize the urgent need to broaden thoughtful use of public goods, noting that charitable contributions are at historic lows, fossil fuel reserves are shrinking, and climate change threatens the planet's future...."

http://phys.org/news/2013-07-leaders-people-safeguard-common-goods.html 

Parks, et al. (2013). "Cooperation, Trust, and Antagonism." Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Full text.

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