How cooperation is maintained in human societies: Punishment, study suggests
Humans are incredibly cooperative, but why do people cooperate and how is cooperation maintained? A new research study by UCLA anthropology professor Robert Boyd and his colleagues from the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico suggests cooperation in large groups is maintained by punishment. Boyd and his team report their research in the April 30 issue of the journal Science. The research is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Santa Fe Institute's Behavioral Sciences Program, the European Science Foundation and the University of Siena. Previous models of cooperation assumed that punishment of free-riders was uncoordinated and unconditional. One problem with these models was that the costs associated with punishment were often higher than the gains of cooperation. Thus, the cost of one group member's punishing a free-rider would be substantial and would not overweigh the gains…
