ProSocial Essentials:
Cooperation by Design
Thank you for helping us spread the word. This kit has everything you need to share the course with your network — an email, social posts, a short blurb, and answers to common questions. Use whatever fits your needs, and adapt the voice to your own.
About the course
A quick summary you can refer back to as you write or adapt copy for your own audience.
What is ProSocial Essentials?
ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design is a new self-paced online course from ProSocial World. It's a practical introduction to why cooperation breaks down in groups — and what to do about it.
Most attempts to fix group problems focus on the people: better communication, clearer expectations, more effort. While those things are important, they don't often stick because the conditions people are operating in keep shaping behavior in ways nobody is noticing. The course teaches you to see those conditions clearly, and to start working with them.
It draws on research from behavioral and evolutionary science as well as Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize-winning work on cooperation and the commons. The course consists of four short modules, each building on the last. It ends with a concrete experiment participants can try in their own context.
Who it's for
Anyone who works with groups — team leaders and managers, facilitators, community organizers, coaches, therapists, and nonprofit professionals. No prior knowledge of ProSocial methods is required.
Email to share
You can use the template below to send to your list, adapted to your voice. Choose whichever subject line fits.
Email body
Hi [First Name],
I wanted to share something from the team at ProSocial World — a new self-paced course called ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design.
Most of us have experienced groups that struggle despite everyone's best efforts. We improve communication, run a workshop, try to get everyone on the same page. Sometimes it works. But often, the same patterns come back. That's because what's usually missing isn't effort or goodwill, but an understanding of the conditions people are operating in.
Groups shape behavior in ways we often don't see. They make certain responses feel easier, safer, or more rewarding than others. Over time, those patterns become self-reinforcing. ProSocial Essentials teaches you to see those patterns clearly, and empowers you to begin working with them.
It's about two hours, self-paced, and draws on Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize-winning research. It also offers a small experiment you can try in your own context.
It's designed for anyone who works with groups: team leaders, facilitators, community organisers, coaches, therapists, nonprofit professionals. No prior knowledge of ProSocial methods required.
Find out more and enroll here →
[Your sign-off]
Short blurb
For newsletters, event programs, podcast show notes, or anywhere you need a brief description.
2–3 sentence version
ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design is a new self-paced course from ProSocial World on why cooperation breaks down — and what to do about it. It draws on behavioral and evolutionary science as well as Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize-winning research to give you a practical way to see and shift the conditions shaping your group. Two hours, certificate included. courses.prosocial.world/course/essentials
Paragraph version
ProSocial World has just launched ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design — a self-paced online course for anyone who works with groups. Most group problems persist not because of who's in the group, but because of the conditions that have formed around them: the invisible pressures that make certain behaviors easier, safer, or more rewarding than others. The course teaches you to see those conditions and begin working with them. It draws on evoluionary and behavioral science as well as Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize-winning research, takes about two hours to complete, and ends with a concrete experiment you can try in your own context. Self-paced · Certificate included · courses.prosocial.world/course/essentials
Images
Click on the link below to access a Google Drive folder with a number of images you can use in your posts and emails.
Course images
FAQ
For when people in your network have questions.
Social posts
Adapt these to your own voice — a personal sentence at the start is often received better than posting as-is.
Post Option 1
Sharing this because I think it's useful for anyone who works with groups.
ProSocial World just launched a new self-paced course — ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design. It's a 2-hour introduction to why cooperation breaks down, grounded in Elinor Ostrom's Nobel Prize-winning research.
The core idea: most group problems aren't people problems. They're conditions problems. The course gives you a practical way to see that distinction — and do something with it.
courses.prosocial.world/course/essentials
#Cooperation #GroupDynamics #ProSocial #Facilitation #Leadership
Post Option 2
ProSocial World just launched a new course — ProSocial Essentials: Cooperation by Design.
Two hours, self-paced, grounded in real science. It's about why groups keep struggling even when everyone's trying — and what's actually possible when you understand the conditions shaping things.
courses.prosocial.world/course/essentials
Post Option 3
Your group isn't struggling because of bad people. It's struggling because of the environment it's in. 🌱
ProSocial Essentials is a 2-hour course that helps you see what's really going on in your teams, communities, and relationships — and gives you tools to shift it.
Grounded in real science with practical tools you can apply today. Certificate included.
courses.prosocial.world/course/essentials