  In a laboratory experiment we compare voluntary cooperation in Iceland and
the US. We furthermore compare the associated thought processes across
cultures. The two countries have similar economic performance, but survey
measures show that they differ culturally. Our hypotheses are based on two such
measures, The Inglehart cultural world map and the Knack and Keefers scale of
civic attitudes toward large-scale societal functioning. We prime the
participants with different social foci, emphasizing in one a narrow grouping
and in the other a larger social unit. In each country we implement this using
two different feedback treatments. Under group feedback, participants only know
the contributions by the four members of their directly cooperating group.
Under session feedback they are informed of the contributions within their
group as well as by everyone else in the session. Under group feedback,
cooperation levels do not differ between the two cultures. However, under
session feedback cooperation levels increase in Iceland and decline in the US.
Even when contribution levels are the same members of the two cultures differ
in their motives to cooperate: Icelanders tend to cooperate unconditionally and
US subjects conditionally. Our findings indicate that different cultures can
achieve similar economic and societal performance through different cultural
norms and suggest that cooperation should be encouraged through culturally
tailored suasion tactics. We also find that some decision factors such as
Inequity Aversion do not differ across the two countries, which raises the
question whether they are human universals.
