A Short Note on Cooperation and Competition

Contrary to popular belief, people cooperate when their goals are different and compete when they are similar. Cooperation means that, in the context of working toward the accomplishment of a single, overarching goal, division of labor ensures that everyone can find his or her unique spot. Competition, on the other hand, occurs when two or more people feel suitable to occupy the same spot, and only meritocratic rivalry can objectively decide which of them is more justified in those feelings. Thus, the respective prevalence of cooperation and competition reflects the respective degrees of uniqueness and sameness, or diversity and similarity, within a given group of individuals acting to attain a given set of goals.