Negative Reciprocity: The Coevolution of Memes and Genes

Abstract

A preference for negative reciprocity is an important part of the human emotional repertoire. We model its role in sustaining cooperative behavior but highlight an intrinsic free-rider problem: the fitness benefits of negative reciprocity are dispersed throughout the entire group, but the fitness costs are borne personally. Evolutionary forces tend to unravel people's willingness to bear the personal cost of punishing culprits. In our model, the countervailing force that sustains negative reciprocity is a meme consisting of a group norm together with low-powered (and low-cost) group enforcement of the norm. The main result is that such memes coevolve with personal tastes and capacities so as to produce the optimal level of negative reciprocity.

Equilibrium vengeance

“…The answer may depend the specific form of adjustment dynamics. 15 Friedman and Singh (2004a) suggests that short run dynamics enforcing PBE are entirely cultural (e.g., imitation or belief learning), and that the longer run dynamics enforcing EPBE also are mostly cultural (e.g., family moral codes) with some genetic components (e.g., capacity for anger). A relatively uncontroversial form of group selection (Wright's shifting balance) may promote convergence to the efficient EPBE.…”

“…The idea is that within broad limits, social (and perhaps genetic) forces shape Self's emotional response to violation of trust. We assume v max > 0 is large enough not to be a binding constraint; see Friedman and Singh (2004a) for a supporting discussion. In general one considers a distribution or measure over the space of types, but (for reasons discussed above in connection with Fig.…”

The Pacification of Institutional Investors

“…As Westphal (1998) noted, it is also a subtle form of flattery: by expressing agreement with another's opinion, one affirms his or her judgment or intellect. In fact, there is evidence that people will often reciprocate favors received from those whom they dislike (Regan, 1971;Cialdini, 2001) and in spite of significant economic costs to themselves (Fehr and Gachter, 2000;Friedman and Singh, 2004). Ingratiatory behavior may also entail rendering more tangible favors, which again elicits positive regard for the ingratiator and creates a feeling of indebtedness by invoking norms of reciprocity.…”

Self-Mapping in Treating Suicide Ideation: A Case Study

“…The behavior associated with the meme would serve a replicative function preserving the meme in the culture. Emotions also play a role in maintaining the self (Damasio, 1999;Donald, 2001;Leary & Tangney, 2003), and emotional valence has been identified with respect to memes in urban legends (Heath, Bell, & Sternberg, 2001) and negative reciprocity (Freidman & Sing, 2004).…”