CILS Lecture Young Scientist: Giulia Andrighetto (Rome)
Abstract:
Theoretical, empirical and ethnographic studies have demonstrated that punishment in human societies promotes and sustains cooperation in large groups of unrelated individuals and more generally plays a crucial role in the maintenance of social order (Fehr and Gachter, 2002; Boyd and Richerson, 1992; Boyd, Gintis and Bowles, 2010). Although these studies have provided key insights, they have largely looked at punishment from the classical economic perspective, as a way of changing people's conduct by increasing the cost of undesired behaviour (Becker, 1968). I claim that this way of considering punishment – that I refer to as instrumental punishment – is incomplete and not likely to maintain social order, at least at reasonable costs for the social system. Instead, I argue that punishment is effective in regulating people's behaviour not only through economic incentives, but also for the normative request it asks people.
In this talk, I will explore, by means of cognitive modelling and agent based simulation, the specific ways in which instrumental punishment and normative punishment favour the achievement of social order and the spreading of social norms in social systems.
Organized by:
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
CILS – Center for Integrative Life Sciences
Luisenstraße 50m 10117 Berlin
