a social dilemma where a person maximises their goals over the goal of the community or society as a whole. If too many people do this the society will suffer long term losses. Human behaviour is shaped by reinforcements that are in conflict with the end result of threat behaviour. See mixed motive game.
SOCIAL TRAP: "The social trap occurs when too many people aim for individual goals and not goals of the community."
Cite this page: N., Pam M.S., "SOCIAL TRAP," in PsychologyDictionary.org, April 13, 2013, https://psychologydictionary.org/social-trap/ (accessed June 4, 2020).
