We study the forces that shape and sustain cooperative societies.

What are the psychological mechanisms that support cooperation in humans? How do cooperative abilities develop in children? Do cooperative abilities develop similarly across different cultures? How do other animals solve cooperative dilemmas? 

These are some of the questions that we tackle in the Cooperation Lab at Boston College. Using a variety of methods that capture people's behavior in cooperative dilemmas, we hope to better understand how cooperative behavior is sustained in humans, how it develops in children and how it evolves.