Engineering Human Cooperation

doi:10.1007/S12110-007-9012-2

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Engineering Human Cooperation

Journal Article•DOI•

Engineering Human Cooperation

Terence C. Burnham¹, Brian Hare²•Institutions (2)

Harvard University¹, Max Planck Society²

04 Jul 2007-Human Nature (Springer US)-Vol. 18, Iss: 2, pp 88-108

TL;DR: In a laboratory experiment, a public goods game is used to examine the hypothesis that human subjects use an involuntary eye-detector mechanism for evaluating the level of privacy and Kismet produces a significant difference in behavior that is not consistent with existing economic models of preferences, either self- or other-regarding.

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Abstract: In a laboratory experiment, we use a public goods game to examine the hypothesis that human subjects use an involuntary eye-detector mechanism for evaluating the level of privacy. Half of our subjects are “watched” by images of a robot presented on their computer screen. The robot—named Kismet and invented at MIT—is constructed from objects that are obviously not human with the exception of its eyes. In our experiment, Kismet produces a significant difference in behavior that is not consistent with existing economic models of preferences, either self- or other-regarding. Subjects who are “watched” by Kismet contribute 29% more to the public good than do subjects in the same setting without Kismet.

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Journal Article•DOI•

The cultural origins of human cognition

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Joan C. Stevenson

01 May 2001-American Journal of Human Biology

2,276 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Cues of being watched enhance cooperation in a real-world setting

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Melissa Bateson¹, Daniel Nettle², Gilbert Roberts²•Institutions (2)

Newcastle University¹, University of Newcastle²

22 Sep 2006-Biology Letters

TL;DR: This paper examined the effect of an image of a pair of eyes on contributions to an honesty box used to collect money for drinks in a university coffee room and found that people paid nearly three times more for their drinks when eyes were displayed rather than a control image.

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Abstract: We examined the effect of an image of a pair of eyes on contributions to an honesty box used to collect money for drinks in a university coffee room. People paid nearly three times as much for their drinks when eyes were displayed rather than a control image. This finding provides the first evidence from a naturalistic setting of the importance of cues of being watched, and hence reputational concerns, on human cooperative behaviour.

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1,062 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

ReviewFeature ReviewHuman cooperation

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David G. Rand, Martin A. Nowak

01 Aug 2013-Trends in Cognitive Sciences

TL;DR: It is shown that automatic, intuitive responses favor cooperative strategies that reciprocate: it is argued that this behavior reflects the overgeneralization of cooperative strategies learned in the context of direct and indirect reciprocity.

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920 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

The promise of Mechanical Turk: How online labor markets can help theorists run behavioral experiments

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David G. Rand¹•Institutions (1)

Harvard University¹

21 Apr 2012-Journal of Theoretical Biology

TL;DR: This paper introduces online labor markets as a tool for behavioral experimentation, and reviews numerous replication studies indicating that AMT data is reliable, and presents two new experiments on the reliability of self-reported demographics.

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656 citations

Cites background from "Engineering Human Cooperation"

...…(see Appendix A for a detailed discussion of this issue), or (ii) are better interpreted in the context of reciprocity and reputation, for example subjects’ extreme sensitivity to subtle cues suggesting that they are being watched (Burnham and Hare, 2007; Burnham, 2003; Haley and Fessler, 2005)....
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..., 2009b; Rockenbach and Milinski, 2006) (see Appendix A for a detailed discussion of this issue), or (ii) are better interpreted in the context of reciprocity and reputation, for example subjects’ extreme sensitivity to subtle cues suggesting that they are being watched (Burnham and Hare, 2007; Burnham, 2003; Haley and Fessler, 2005)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Modularity in cognition: Framing the debate

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H. Clark Barrett¹, Robert Kurzban²•Institutions (2)

University of California, Los Angeles¹, University of Pennsylvania²

01 Jul 2006-Psychological Review

TL;DR: It is proposed that modularity, cleanly defined, provides a useful framework for directing research and resolving debates about individual cognitive systems and the nature of human evolved cognition.

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Abstract: Modularity has been the subject of intense debate in the cognitive sciences for more than 2 decades. In some cases, misunderstandings have impeded conceptual progress. Here the authors identify arguments about modularity that either have been abandoned or were never held by proponents of modular views of the mind. The authors review arguments that purport to undermine modularity, with particular attention on cognitive architecture, development, genetics, and evolution. The authors propose that modularity, cleanly defined, provides a useful framework for directing research and resolving debates about individual cognitive systems and the nature of human evolved cognition. Modularity is a fundamental property of living things at every level of organization; it might prove indispensable for understanding the structure of the mind as well.

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606 citations

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Book•

Attachment and Loss

[...]

John Bowlby

01 Jan 1969

18,243 citations

"Engineering Human Cooperation" refers background in this paper

...Fourth, this mechanism may continue to function even in settings where the ancestral relationship between the presence of eyes and optimal behavior does not exist (e.g., anonymous and one-shot laboratory settings) (Bowlby 1969, 1973; Tooby and Cosmides 1989, 1990; Wilson 1975, 1978)....
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...…including altruism and spite, in what can be labeled the “evolutionary legacy hypothesis,” which suggests that the human brain reflects, in part, ancestral conditions that may vary systematically from modern environments (Bowlby 1969, 1973; Tooby and Cosmides 1989, 1990; Wilson 1975, 1978)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions.

[...]

J. R. Stroop¹•Institutions (1)

Peabody College¹

01 Jan 1992-Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

15,981 citations

Book•

The Selfish Gene

[...]

Richard Dawkins¹•Institutions (1)

University of Chicago¹

01 Jan 1976

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors take up the concepts of altruistic and selfish behaviour; the genetical definition of selfish interest; the evolution of aggressive behaviour; kinship theory; sex ratio theory; reciprocal altruism; deceit; and the natural selection of sex differences.

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Abstract: Science need not be dull and bogged down by jargon, as Richard Dawkins proves in this entertaining look at evolution. The themes he takes up are the concepts of altruistic and selfish behaviour; the genetical definition of selfish interest; the evolution of aggressive behaviour; kinship theory; sex ratio theory; reciprocal altruism; deceit; and the natural selection of sex differences. Readership: general; students of biology, zoology, animal behaviour, psychology.

...read moreread less

10,880 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

A theory of fairness, competition and cooperation

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Ernst Fehr¹, Klaus M. Schmidt²•Institutions (2)

University of Zurich¹, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich²

01 Aug 1999-Quarterly Journal of Economics

TL;DR: This paper showed that if some people care about equity, the puzzles can be resolved and that the economic environment determines whether the fair types or the selesh types dominate equilibrium behavior in cooperative games.

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Abstract: There is strong evidence that people exploit their bargaining power in competitivemarkets butnot inbilateral bargainingsituations. Thereisalsostrong evidence that people exploit free-riding opportunities in voluntary cooperation games. Yet, when they are given the opportunity to punish free riders, stable cooperation is maintained, although punishment is costly for those who punish. This paper asks whether there is a simple common principle that can explain this puzzling evidence. We show that if some people care about equity the puzzles can be resolved. It turns out that the economic environment determines whether the fair types or the selesh types dominate equilibrium behavior.

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8,783 citations

Posted Content•

Choices, Values, and Frames

[...]

Daniel Kahneman¹, Amos Tversky•Institutions (1)

University of British Columbia¹

01 Jan 2000-Research Papers in Economics

TL;DR: Prospect theory as mentioned in this paper is an alternative to the classical utility theory of choice, and has been used to explain many complex, real-world puzzles, such as the principles of legal compensation, the equity premium puzzle in financial markets, and the number of hours that New York cab drivers choose to drive on rainy days.

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Abstract: This book presents the definitive exposition of 'prospect theory', a compelling alternative to the classical utility theory of choice. Building on the 1982 volume, Judgement Under Uncertainty, this book brings together seminal papers on prospect theory from economists, decision theorists, and psychologists, including the work of the late Amos Tversky, whose contributions are collected here for the first time. While remaining within a rational choice framework, prospect theory delivers more accurate, empirically verified predictions in key test cases, as well as helping to explain many complex, real-world puzzles. In this volume, it is brought to bear on phenomena as diverse as the principles of legal compensation, the equity premium puzzle in financial markets, and the number of hours that New York cab drivers choose to drive on rainy days. Theoretically elegant and empirically robust, this volume shows how prospect theory has matured into a new science of decision making.

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7,802 citations

"Engineering Human Cooperation" refers background in this paper

...Tinbergen Over the past several decades, evidence has accumulated that documents the divergence between human economic behavior and that predicted by mainstream economic theory (Kahneman 2003; Kahneman and Tversky 1984; Thaler 1992)....
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...The success of behavioral economics is driven, in part, by the ability to document “anomalies”—deviations between actual human behavior and that predicted by mainstream models (Kahneman 2003; Kahneman and Tversky 1984; Thaler 1992)....
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