Building the Leviathan--Voluntary centralisation of punishment power sustains cooperation in humans

Scientific Reports
Jörg GrossArno Riedl

Abstract

The prevalence of cooperation among humans is puzzling because cooperators can be exploited by free riders. Peer punishment has been suggested as a solution to this puzzle, but cumulating evidence questions its robustness in sustaining cooperation. Amongst others, punishment fails when it is not powerful enough, or when it elicits counter-punishment. Existing research, however, has ignored that the distribution of punishment power can be the result of social interactions. We introduce a novel experiment in which individuals can transfer punishment power to others. We find that while decentralised peer punishment fails to overcome free riding, the voluntary transfer of punishment power enables groups to sustain cooperation. This is achieved by non-punishing cooperators empowering those who are willing to punish in the interest of the group. Our results show how voluntary power centralisation can efficiently sustain cooperation, which could explain why hierarchical power structures are widespread among animals and humans.

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Citations

Sep 8, 2016·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Carsten K W De DreuSimon Columbus
Oct 17, 2018·Psychological Science·Jörg GrossShaul Shalvi
May 20, 2020·Scientific Reports·Hiroki OzonoKazumi Shimizu
Jun 20, 2020·Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin·Jörg Gross, Carsten K W De Dreu
Apr 20, 2019·Science Advances·Jörg Gross, Carsten K W De Dreu
Jul 31, 2019·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Maayan Stavans, Renée Baillargeon
Oct 31, 2020·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Jörg Gross, Robert Böhm

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