Do humans really punish altruistically? A closer look
Eric J. Pedersen,Robert Kurzban,Robert Kurzban,Michael E. McCullough +3 more
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TLDR
The case for altruistic punishment in humans—a view that has gained increasing attention in the biological and social sciences— has been overstated.Abstract:
Some researchers have proposed that natural selection has given rise in humans to one or more adaptations for altruistically punishing on behalf of other individuals who have been treated unfairly, even when the punisher has no chance of benefiting via reciprocity or benefits to kin. However, empirical support for the altruistic punishment hypothesis depends on results from experiments that are vulnerable to potentially important experimental artefacts. Here, we searched for evidence of altruistic punishment in an experiment that precluded these artefacts. In so doing, we found that victims of unfairness punished transgressors, whereas witnesses of unfairness did not. Furthermore, witnesses’ emotional reactions to unfairness were characterized by envy of the unfair individual's selfish gains rather than by moralistic anger towards the unfair behaviour. In a second experiment run independently in two separate samples, we found that previous evidence for altruistic punishment plausibly resulted from affective forecasting error—that is, limitations on humans’ abilities to accurately simulate how they would feel in hypothetical situations. Together, these findings suggest that the case for altruistic punishment in humans—a view that has gained increasing attention in the biological and social sciences—has been overstated.read more
Citations
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Statistical physics of human cooperation
Matjaz Perc,Jillian J. Jordan,David G. Rand,Zhen Wang,Stefano Boccaletti,Attila Szolnoki,Attila Szolnoki +6 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review experimental and theoretical research that advances our understanding of human cooperation, focusing on spatial pattern formation, on the spatiotemporal dynamics of observed solutions, and on self-organization that may either promote or hinder socially favorable states.
Journal ArticleDOI
Statistical physics of human cooperation
Matjaz Perc,Jillian J. Jordan,David G. Rand,Zhen Wang,Stefano Boccaletti,Attila Szolnoki,Attila Szolnoki +6 more
TL;DR: Experimental and theoretical research is reviewed that advances the understanding of human cooperation, focusing on spatial pattern formation, on the spatiotemporal dynamics of observed solutions, and on self-organization that may either promote or hinder socially favorable states.
Journal ArticleDOI
Cultural group selection plays an essential role in explaining human cooperation: A sketch of the evidence.
Peter J. Richerson,Ryan Baldini,Adrian Bell,Kathryn Demps,Karl Frost,Vicken Hillis,Sarah Mathew,Emily K. Newton,Nicole Naar,Lesley Newson,Cody T. Ross,Paul E. Smaldino,Timothy M. Waring,Matthew R. Zefferman +13 more
TL;DR: This target article sketches the evidence from five domains that bear on the explanatory adequacy of cultural group selection and competing hypotheses to explain human cooperation and presents evidence, including quantitative evidence, that the answer to all of the questions is “yes” and argues that it is not clear that any extant alternative tocultural group selection can be a complete explanation.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Evolution of Altruism in Humans
TL;DR: This interdisciplinary body of research is brought together and the main theories that have been proposed to explain human prosociality are reviewed, with an emphasis on kinship, reciprocity, indirect reciprocities, punishment, and morality.
Journal ArticleDOI
Habits of Virtue: Creating Norms of Cooperation and Defection in the Laboratory
TL;DR: The authors found that subjects from environments that support cooperation are more prosocial, more likely to punish selfishness, and more trusting in general than those who do not support cooperation, suggesting that intuitive processes play a key role in the spillover.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Altruistic punishment in humans.
Ernst Fehr,Simon Gächter +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that negative emotions towards defectors are the proximate mechanism behind altruistic punishment and that cooperation flourishes if altruistic punishments are possible, and breaks down if it is ruled out.
Posted Content
Altruistic Punishment in Humans
Ernst Fehr,Simon Gaechter +1 more
TL;DR: It is shown experimentally that the altruistic punishment of defectors is a key motive for the explanation of cooperation, and that future study of the evolution of human cooperation should include a strong focus on explaining altruistic punished.
Journal ArticleDOI
On the social psychology of the psychological experiment: With particular reference to demand characteristics and their implications.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on some of the qualities peculiar to psychological experiments and point out that the demand characteristics perceived in any particular experiment will vary with the sophistication, intelligence, and previous experience of each experimental subject.
Journal ArticleDOI
Third Party Punishment and Social Norms
Ernst Fehr,Urs Fischbacher +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the characteristics and relative strength of third-party sanctions in a series of experiments and show that the notion of strong reciprocity extends to the sanctioning behavior of "unaffected" third parties.
Book Chapter
Behavioral Game Theory
TL;DR: A behavioral game theory that explains the initial deviations (and their disappearance) could be useful, especially if the learning process is modeled carefully and better data are gathered as mentioned in this paper. But, with experience, these deviations sometimes disappear.