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The effect of a context‐specific prime for cooperation on goal commitment and team performance were examined. In the first experiment, the participants (n = 139) performed the Lost on the Moon simulation (Hall & Watson, 1970) individually and as a team (n = 50). The teams were randomly assigned to a condition where they were assigned the same goal. They were then primed (n = 23) through a photograph of cooperation or to the control condition (n = 27). Consistent with NASA’s directions for performing the simulation, performance was measured by how well a team performed relative to the answers of experts, namely, staff at NASA. The results showed that a primed behavioural goal to cooperate has a positive effect on team performance. These results were replicated in a second and third experiment involving a social dilemma where both a pro‐social, group‐centric goal and a pro‐self, egocentric goal could …