ABSTRACT
A core question within social psychology is why people or groups engage in social interactions with others. One psychological model that has been proposed to address this general question emphasizes the desire to more effectively obtain personally desired resources. Although it is possible for each individual or group to create all of the resources needed to live without interacting with others, there are clear advantages to specialization in the production of food and other life essentials. Robinson Crusoe may have been able to live alone on a desert island, but the quality of his life clearly would have been better if he had been able to cooperate with others with whom he could exchange resources.
