title: Special human vulnerability to low-cost collective punishment.
abstract: Guala notes that low-cost punishment is the main mechanism that deters free-riding in small human communities. This mechanism is complemented by unusual human vulnerability to gossip. Defenders of an evolutionary discontinuity supporting human sociality might seize on this as an alternative to enjoyment of moralistic aggression as a special adaptation. However, the more basic adaptation of language likely suffices.
authors.affiliation: University of Cape Town, School of Economics, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. don.ross@uct.ac.za
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ross
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005716:Game Theory; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011678:Punishment / Q000523:psychology*; D012919:Social Behavior