The SOCIAL CONTRACT

Trivers – Reciprocal Altruism and the Human Psychological System Humans have an acute sense sense of fairness and a built in “cheating detecting-module” We are good at solving baffling logical puzzles when cast in the light of social exchange, particularly if the goal is to detect cheating

D K37 drinking beer 25 yrs old drinking coke 16 yrs old “If a card has D on one side, it has a 3 on the other side” “If a person is drinking beer, he must be over 18” “People who stay overnight in the cabin must bring firewood” stays overnight carried wood does not stay overnight carried no wood Wason Selection Tasks: Choose the two cards you must flip over to see if the rule is being violated

What’s a simple alternative??? Gigerenzer and Hug (1992) presented the task below but framed it in 2 different context: (1)Imagine you were sent to a Swiss mountain climbing club to enforce the rule if staying overnight, bring firewood (2) You were a German sent to determine whether the Swiss used the same rule that Germans used stays overnight carried wood does not stay overnight carried no wood “People who stay overnight in the cabin must bring firewood”  90% correct 50% correct

(1)Pair up (2)Choose (flip a coin) who will divide the money ($20) and who will accept/reject (3)Play your respective roles - one divides the money and the other accepts or rejects the offer; if rejected neither get anything (4) Play as if the stake’s were real The Ultimatum Game

(1)Pair up (2)Choose (flip a coin) who will divide the money ($20) and who will accept/reject (3)Play your respective roles - one divides the money and the other accepts or rejects the offer; if rejected neither get anything (4) Play as if the stake’s were real The Ultimatum Game Mean = average percent offer to opponent

(1)Pair up (2)Choose (flip a coin) who will divide the money ($20) and who will accept/reject (3)Play your respective roles - one divides the money and the other accepts or rejects the offer; if rejected neither get anything (4) Play as if the stake’s were real The Ultimatum Game Its a bad bargain, but why turn down a bad bargain for an even worse outcome? An 80/20 split is vetoed 50% of the time

Pride and Reputation – establishing a reputation for tolerance for exploitation may lead to repeated future exploitation that could affect your prospects for survival and procreation – Pride may be an adaptation that gives up short-term success for long-term benefits......pride can be defined as one’s utility for one’s reputation… Frans de Waal

The Message from Trivers (1971) – Human emotions (and other behaviors) are part of an adaptive system designed to regulate Reciprocal Altruism. Guilt, gratitude, sympathy, friendship, etc. function to establish and continue (or calibrate) relationships with altruists while at the same time guarding against and reacting to exploitation of our own altruistic acts (i.e., cheating)

Reciprocity friendship hatred Moralistic aggression and indignation CHEATERS COOP Recipient INDIVIDUAL gratitude guilt Reparation For private/public transgression

Gratitude – is an I.O.U. that records what is owed. And by reflecting the level of the benefit received it calibrates the payment that is in order. Guilt – if an individual has cheated on a reciprocal relationship and has been found out, the partner may respond by cutting off all future acts of aid. Guilt is that emotion we feel to prevent us from cheating and to make reparations to compensate for misdeeds and show convincing evidence that we do not plan to cheat in the future. This view of guilt explains the long-standing, puzzling data that shows test subjects that believed they broke an expensive machine were more inclined to volunteer for painful experiments – but only if the damage was discovered

Gossip, grievances, and reputations – What is gossip? A fast and effective form of communication to build up our reputations...or have them torn down. Built up – The defense of your honor, say through fighting, prevents scores of neighbors from attempting to cheat you.  Most instance of males killing other males involve an audience. or Torn down – A hugely effective way to reward nice people and punish mean ones is to affect their reputation (and spread it via gossip). The evolution of the “grievance” – not just the sense of being wronged, but the urge to publicly articulate it – may have evolved to maximize the cost to others you may attempt to cheat you.