Multiple motives behind single acts of co-operation

To understand co-operation in social dilemmas, we need to allow for individual variation along several motives and beliefs instead of declaring that co-operativeness is merely self-interested or is merely a consequence of one's culture or the situation. This paper describes three beliefs and eight motives for co-operation or non-co-operation based on research on social dilemmas from a number of disciplines. It also proposes a framework that describes how beliefs and various motives interact with a given situation leading to a specific behaviour.