My dad is the type of guy who never sits down. He always has some sort of project that he is working on and 100 more ideas working in the background of his OCD brain. He has worked for Milton CAT since he was 17 years old, so you could say he is a bit of a handyman. I can’t count on my fingers how many of my and my sister’s birthday parties were adorned with tractor decorations, toys, and oh yes, real backhoes and excavators! As you can see, while my dad did not necessarily get the son he always wanted, he certainly raised some tractor-loving, mud-loving, daughters!
My dad always has been, and I imagine always will be, the guy that everyone goes to for help with home repairs, lawn care, and even big remodel projects. He truly spends all of his free time getting his hands dirty with one thing or another. He is always the first to volunteer his time with projects in the community. Even if he is not physically on-site helping with certain projects, he is always happy to lend out equipment for others to use. This man is truly the most selfless guy I know, and I believe it has a lot to do with him genuinely loving his job, and the opportunities it affords him to take part in.
When I heard that my elementary school was looking to begin a project where a pond with fish, waterfalls, and a garden would be added to our courtyard, we all know the first person I ran to. My dad! He was thrilled to help with this beautiful undertaking and began making plans almost immediately. During the first few weeks of planning, participation was quite impressive but as the actual task of tearing up land and laying down cement came around, others’ involvement declined. In the end, the project that my dad and I were SO excited about, came to an abrupt end as we did not have the help we needed to complete the project as originally planned.
As I have come to learn through this week’s lesson, this is a perfect example of the public goods problem. While my dad had zero reservations about helping with the school’s ambitious plans, it seems that others were not so sure of the project’s success or worth. In weighing out their options to contribute their time as is defined by the public goods dilemma, they must have avoided contributing for one of the two reasons outlined by our reading. Either they did not see value in helping as they would likely benefit from the project’s completion without assisting, or they were concerned that the project would fail due to lack of participation (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2017, pg. 447-448).
It breaks my heart that the latter of these two concerns came to fruition. On the bright side, while the plans for a full pond and waterfall were not carried out, there was still a beautiful garden installed.
Reference
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.
This is a perfect example of public goods dilemma. This dilemma occurs when people decide whether or not to contribute their time, money, and effort to a project that could benefit everyone. This dilemma could also play a role in tragedy of the commons. This happens when each person persues their own interest. Considering people can also be recources of supply, support, and aid. You and your dad had a resource delimma. This story can be well defined as your point states due to the public good problem. People most likey did not participate because of the risk that their time and effort would mean nothing. During the process, you realized there was a resource dilemma which was not enough hands. This could also be because people were acting in their own self interests- in other words they simply did not want to help. A social trap could aslo be a factor such as people believing this project would consume a lot of their time (Long-term) when there are other things they would rather be doing (short-term). (Gruman, 2016, p. 354-355)
Reference
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied social psychology: Understanding and Addressing social and Practical problems. SAGE Publications.