{"title":"The social benefits of “anti-social” punishment","authors":"Alain Schläpfer","doi":"10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2025.106655","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Punishment of defectors is believed to be a key factor in sustaining cooperation among unrelated individuals. However, several studies have shown that humans also frequently punish those that act cooperatively, a phenomenon termed anti-social punishment. While subsequent work has suggested reasons why anti-social punishment may be individually optimal, it is universally considered to be detrimental to cooperation and thus indeed “anti-social”. This study contradicts this view, showing that punishment of cooperators can be a positive factor in sustaining cooperation rates when used by conditional cooperators against those who cooperate unconditionally. This suggests that judging whether a punitive act is beneficial or detrimental to cooperation is more complex than previously thought.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55159,"journal":{"name":"Evolution and Human Behavior","volume":"46 1","pages":"Article 106655"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Evolution and Human Behavior","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513825000042","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Punishment of defectors is believed to be a key factor in sustaining cooperation among unrelated individuals. However, several studies have shown that humans also frequently punish those that act cooperatively, a phenomenon termed anti-social punishment. While subsequent work has suggested reasons why anti-social punishment may be individually optimal, it is universally considered to be detrimental to cooperation and thus indeed “anti-social”. This study contradicts this view, showing that punishment of cooperators can be a positive factor in sustaining cooperation rates when used by conditional cooperators against those who cooperate unconditionally. This suggests that judging whether a punitive act is beneficial or detrimental to cooperation is more complex than previously thought.
期刊介绍：
Evolution and Human Behavior is an interdisciplinary journal, presenting research reports and theory in which evolutionary perspectives are brought to bear on the study of human behavior. It is primarily a scientific journal, but submissions from scholars in the humanities are also encouraged. Papers reporting on theoretical and empirical work on other species will be welcome if their relevance to the human animal is apparent.
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