Commons dilemmas have an unforgiving logic: depleting renewable resources, such as a community's freshwater reservoir, will harm those who depend upon it. The proposes that most individuals understand this logic and therefore are inclined to conserve replenishable resources. Two studies tested this hypothesis by placing participants in either sustainable-fishing or over-fishing microworlds. Consistent with the hypothesis, when (computer-programmed) fishers in Study 1 harvested sustainably, participants also harvested sustainably. When faced with an over-fishing context, most participants who valued power and wealth sustained the resource over time. Participants less motivated by power and wealth went further by sacrificing more of their own harvest to sustain the fish population. A true conservation-orientation goes beyond protecting the resource for one's personal interests and this proposition was investigated in Study 2 with Prosocial or Proself individuals. Majorities of both groups sustained the resource at high levels for future generations of fishers even when their own financial outcomes would have doubled by depleting the resource. The was largely supported: members of small commons conserved the resource for themselves over time and for future generations and, when faced with a depleting resource, attempted to restore it.

中文翻译：

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公地困境中的保护导向

公地困境有一个无情的逻辑：耗尽可再生资源，例如社区的淡水水库，将损害依赖它的人们。该报告建议大多数人都理解这一逻辑，因此倾向于节省可补充资源。两项研究通过将参与者置于可持续捕捞或过度捕捞的微观世界中来测试这一假设。与假设一致，当研究 1 中的（计算机编程的）渔民可持续收获时，参与者也可持续收获。当面临过度捕捞的情况时，大多数重视权力和财富的参与者都会长期维持资源。不太受权力和财富驱动的参与者更进一步，牺牲更多自己的收获来维持鱼类种群。真正的保护导向不仅仅是为了个人利益而保护资源，这一命题在研究 2 中针对亲社会或亲自我个体进行了调查。这两个群体中的大多数都为后代渔民维持了高水平的资源，即使他们自己的财务成果会因资源耗尽而翻倍。这一做法得到了很大程度上的支持：小公地的成员随着时间的推移为自己和子孙后代保存资源，并在面临资源枯竭时尝试恢复资源。