In this blog post, we’ll examine why we should live with integrity—and how that is ultimately a choice we make for ourselves—by looking at the free-rider problem in group projects.
Why Does the Free-Rider Problem Occur?
University group projects, commonly referred to as “team projects,” are an abbreviation for “team play” or “team project,” and their original purpose is to provide students with the experience of collaborating with others to produce results. However, contrary to this intent, the “free-rider” problem—where individuals attempt to benefit from others’ efforts without contributing—consistently arises in actual group projects. Free-riding refers to the act of capitalizing on others’ achievements without contributing any preparation or effort; a person who does not actively participate in group assignments but seeks to share in the results is called a “free rider.” This “free-riding” problem was also featured in the popular webtoon ‘Cheese in the Trap’, which depicts college life, and resonated with many college students. Furthermore, various surveys of college students consistently identify free-riding in group projects as one of the most dreaded issues of college life, and a significant number of students reported having experienced free-riding during team projects. These findings demonstrate that the free-riding problem is far more serious than anticipated.
Considering that free-riders not only harm fellow team members but also prevent the educational purpose of group projects from being properly fulfilled—and that team members find it difficult to receive fair evaluations proportional to their contributions—it is clear that free-riding is a critical issue that universities must address. So, how can this problem be solved?
To find a solution to free-riding, we must first examine its causes. As explained earlier, free-riding is the behavior of relying on others without making any preparation or effort. Because it is a group assignment rather than an individual one, students develop the expectation that someone else will ultimately do the work for them, and since the outcome—whether good or bad—is attributed to the entire team, their sense of responsibility to actually do the work weakens. From the student’s perspective, it is easy to feel that their lack of effort goes unnoticed, while conversely, even if they work hard, their individual contribution is not sufficiently recognized. This phenomenon can also be explained by what psychology refers to as the “bystander effect.” In other words, the more people there are around, the more an individual’s sense of responsibility tends to diminish. Therefore, the causes of free-riding can be summarized as follows: first, a structure where responsibility is dispersed; and second, the fact that one’s role is not clearly defined, making it difficult to tangibly feel the benefits or costs resulting from one’s efforts.
So, what is needed to solve these problems? The most important thing is to ensure that responsibility is neither concentrated on specific individuals nor blurred. To achieve this, roles must be assigned in a rational and clear manner. Furthermore, once roles are assigned, each person’s responsibilities and tasks should be specifically documented and shared so that it is clear who is responsible for what. It can also be effective to have individuals directly report and document the progress of their own roles, and to reflect this in their individual evaluations. In other words, individual participation and sense of responsibility should be evaluated separately from the team’s overall results. Only when one’s role and contribution are clearly evident can the benefits resulting from effort and the losses resulting from responsibility become equally clear.
Why Should We Live Righteously?
However, this raises a question: Why must we participate diligently in group projects? Why must we avoid causing harm to other group members? If we expand this question a bit further, it ultimately leads to the question, “Why should we live righteously?”
For the purposes of this discussion, I will define “right” as “not causing harm to others.” When we act rightly, others benefit or, at the very least, suffer no harm. On the other hand, as the agents of these actions, we may gain benefits, experience no change, or sometimes even suffer losses. So why should we act rightly, even at the cost of personal loss?
Paradoxically, the reason is for our own benefit. The first of these benefits is long-term gain. While we may sometimes appear to act altruistically by sacrificing our own interests, in reality, we often choose such actions because the long-term benefits outweigh the short-term losses.
An example of this is the food-sharing custom of the Aché tribe in Paraguay. In the Aché tribe, a successful hunter willingly shares his food with other tribe members. Although this immediately reduces his own food supply, it yields greater benefits in the long run. A person who willingly shares food gains a reputation as a skilled hunter and a capable contributor to the community; as this reputation grows, he earns the trust of the community. This can lead to various future benefits, such as mate selection or gaining influence within the community. In tribal societies, such future rewards were likely considered to be of greater value than the present loss. Evolutionary biology explains the mechanism behind this altruistic behavior as “costly signaling.”
However, this explanation does not imply that all altruistic behavior is the result of thorough calculation. Evolutionary biology explains that such behavior has become established as a behavioral strategy formed over a long period of time, and people today do not necessarily act based on conscious calculation. Nevertheless, from a long-term perspective, the fact that gaining trust and maintaining cooperative relationships within a community can be of great benefit to the individual still holds significant meaning.
Another benefit is our emotional well-being. By acting correctly, we can avoid feelings of guilt or a guilty conscience, and our capacity for empathy also guides us toward proper behavior. Empathy refers to the ability to understand and share the emotions of others. When we engage in behavior that harms others, we empathize to some extent with their feelings, and as a result, we too feel discomfort and guilt. Conversely, when we help or show consideration for others, we experience satisfaction and positive emotions. Ultimately, it can be argued that we act altruistically to avoid this discomfort and to gain positive emotions. This, too, can be interpreted as behavior aimed at our own emotional benefit.
In this context, the case of psychopaths is often cited. However, while in the past, psychopathic behavior was frequently explained by oversimplifying brain function or specific metrics, current research suggests it is difficult to generalize such metrics. Nevertheless, various studies report that individuals with certain psychopathic tendencies may exhibit differences in their capacity for empathy or in the way they experience guilt, and that these characteristics may be linked to antisocial behavior. Ultimately, a lack of empathy can weaken psychological restraints against behavior that harms others; conversely, it can be argued that most people strive to live righteously according to their own beliefs thanks to their capacity for empathy and their conscience.
Meanwhile, we spend our entire lives constantly interacting with others. Our actions influence the behavior of others, and their reactions, in turn, influence us. The theory of reciprocity in evolutionary biology explains that, within these repeated interactions, people act altruistically in anticipation of favorable responses and future cooperation from others. Conversely, concerns about potential disadvantages or retaliation resulting from improper behavior also serve as important factors regulating our actions. The food-sharing custom of the Aché tribe in Paraguay, discussed earlier, can also be understood through this principle. The expectation that, even though one shares food now, other tribe members will help when one fails to hunt in the future is what sustains this custom. Ultimately, this, too, can be viewed as behavior that serves one’s own long-term interests.
Doing the right thing is ultimately a choice for oneself
As we’ve seen so far, the reason we act rightly is ultimately deeply connected to our own self-interest. One might ask, “Do we really act so calculatingly every time we do the right thing?” Of course, people do not act by calculating costs and benefits at every moment. This is because, through long-term education, socialization, and repeated experiences, right conduct has become ingrained as a natural habit and set of values.
That said, there is no need to feel guilty about the fact that such behavior is ultimately linked to one’s own interests. In fact, even if we act rightly for our own benefit, the accumulation of such actions helps sustain society and allows communities to endure on the basis of trust. Ultimately, acting for others and acting for oneself are not opposing concepts; in the long run, they are heading in the same direction. Moving forward, we must continue to live righteously—for the sake of others, and ultimately, for ourselves.
