title: When the strong punish: why net costs of punishment are often negligible.
abstract: In small-scale societies, punishment of adults is infrequent and employed when the anticipated cost-to-benefit ratio is low, such as when punishment is collectively justified and administered. In addition, benefits may exceed costs when punishers have relatively greater physical and social capital and gain more from cooperation. We provide examples from the Tsimane horticulturalists of Bolivia to support our claims.
authors.affiliation: Integrative Anthropological Sciences, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210, USA. vonrueden@umail.ucsb.edu
authors.forename: Christopher R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: von Rueden
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gurven
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005716:Game Theory; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011678:Punishment / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior