"The power of punishment: construction and destruction of social capital in the lab in a cross-societal perspective" (научный семинар ЛИА)

Докладчик: Бенедикт Херрманн (университет Ноттингема)

In trying to understand why some social groups are more successful in achieving a high level of social capital so far the focus of experimental research has been on the nice side of human behaviour. Trust, trustworthiness, and readiness to cooperate have been the issue of the debate. Unfortunately such research can hardly explain how groups could protect themselves against exploitation by free-riders.
Altruistic punishment of free-loaders offers the possibility to solve this dilemma. Punishment, however, can be used for many different sorts of purpose and not only for fairness driven punishment of free-loaders. As we show in a cross societal comparison, outcomes can become very diverse if the option to punish each other is given.