To make sure I understand... do you predict that for any question, if a group of people G has a set of possible answers A, and G is attempting to come to consensus on one of those answers, G's ability to cooperate in that effort will anticorrelate (p > .95) with how unpleasant G's expected results of implementing any of A are?
That would surprise me, if so, but it wouldn't vastly shock me. Call it ~.6 confidence that the above is false.
I'm ~.7 confident that G's ability to cooperate in that effort would anticorrelate more strongly with the standard deviation within G of pre-existing individual identifications with political or social entities associated with a particular member of A.
It's partly so in my opinion. I expect a modest effect like that for most issues, but in a much more dramatic fashion on the most painful problems, where our instincts are highly involved and can easily tell us that all the answers are going to hurt - like sex.
Why else 'd you think that most of European classical tragic/dramatic literature touches on intimate dissatisfaction/suffering, and irrational behavior in regards to it?
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.