Back
The reputation of punishers.
Journal article

The reputation of punishers.

  • Raihani NJ Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, WC1E 6BT, UK. Electronic address: nicholaraihani@gmail.com.
  • Bshary R Institut de Biologie, Eco-Ethologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, CH-2000, Switzerland.
  • 2015-01-12
Published in:
  • Trends in ecology & evolution. - 2015
fairness
partner choice.
punishment
reputation
Altruism
Animals
Choice Behavior
Cooperative Behavior
Game Theory
Humans
Punishment
English Punishment is a potential mechanism to stabilise cooperation between self-regarding agents. Theoretical and empirical studies on the importance of a punitive reputation have yielded conflicting results. Here, we propose that a variety of factors interact to explain why a punitive reputation is sometimes beneficial and sometimes harmful. We predict that benefits are most likely to occur in forced play scenarios and in situations where punishment is the only means to convey an individual's cooperative intent and willingness to uphold fairness norms. By contrast, if partner choice is possible and an individual's cooperative intent can be inferred directly, then individuals with a nonpunishing cooperative reputation should typically be preferred over punishing cooperators.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/44565
Statistics
Document views: 56 File downloads: