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Direct and indirect punishment among strangers in the field.

ABSTRACT: Many interactions in modern human societies are among strangers. Explaining cooperation in such interactions is challenging. The two most prominent explanations critically depend on individuals' willingness to punish defectors: In models of direct punishment, individuals punish antisocial behavior at a personal cost, whereas in models of indirect reciprocity, they punish indirectly by withholding rewards. We investigate these competing explanations in a field experiment with real-life interactions among strangers. We find clear evidence of both direct and indirect punishment. Direct punishment is not rewarded by strangers and, in line with models of indirect reciprocity, is crowded out by indirect punishment opportunities. The existence of direct and indirect punishment in daily life indicates the importance of both means for understanding the evolution of cooperation.

SUBMITTER: Balafoutas L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4234623 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Direct and indirect punishment among strangers in the field.

Balafoutas Loukas L Nikiforakis Nikos N Rockenbach Bettina B

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20141027 45

Many interactions in modern human societies are among strangers. Explaining cooperation in such interactions is challenging. The two most prominent explanations critically depend on individuals' willingness to punish defectors: In models of direct punishment, individuals punish antisocial behavior at a personal cost, whereas in models of indirect reciprocity, they punish indirectly by withholding rewards. We investigate these competing explanations in a field experiment with real-life interactio ...[more]

PMID: 25349390

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Project description:BackgroundFamily members resemble each other in their propensity for aggression. In twin studies, approximately 50% of the variance in aggression can be explained by genetic influences. However, if there are genotype-environment correlation mechanisms, such as environmental manifestations of parental and sibling genotypes, genetic influences may partly reflect environmental influences. In this study, we investigated the importance of indirect polygenic score (PGS) effects on aggression.MethodsWe modeled the effect of PGSs based on 3 genome-wide association studies: early-life aggression, educational attainment, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The associations with aggression were tested in a within- and between-family design (37,796 measures from 7740 individuals, ages 3-86 years [mean = 14.20 years, SE = 12.03], from 3107 families, 55% female) and in a transmitted/nontransmitted PGS design (42,649 measures from 6653 individuals, ages 3-61 years [mean = 11.81 years, SE = 8.68], from 3024 families, 55% female). All participants are enrolled in the Netherlands Twin Register.ResultsWe found no evidence for contributions of indirect PGS effects on aggression in either a within- and between-family design or a transmitted/nontransmitted PGS design. Results indicate significant direct effects on aggression for the PGSs based on early-life aggression, educational attainment, and ADHD, although explained variance was low (within- and between-family: early-life aggression R2 = 0.3%, early-life ADHD R2 = 0.6%, educational attainment R2 = 0.7%; transmitted/nontransmitted PGSs: early-life aggression R2 = 0.2%, early-life ADHD R2 = 0.9%, educational attainment R2 = 0.5%).ConclusionsPGSs included in the current study had a direct (but no indirect) effect on aggression, consistent with results of previous twin and family studies. Further research involving other PGSs for aggression and related phenotypes is needed to determine whether this conclusion generalizes to overall genetic influences on aggression.

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Direct and indirect punishment among strangers in the field.

Publications

Direct and indirect punishment among strangers in the field.

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