Reputation and socio-ecology in humans

Gossip is believed to be an informal device that alleviates the problem of cooperation in humans. Communication about previous acts and passing on reputational information could be valuable for conditional action in cooperation problems and pose a punishment threat to defectors. It is an open question, however, what kind of mechanisms can make gossip honest and credible and reputational information reliable, especially if intense competition for reputations does not exclusively dictate passing on honest information. We propose two mechanisms that could support the honesty and credibility of gossip under such a conflict of interest. One is the possibility of voluntary checks of received evaluative information from different sources and the other is social bonding between the sender and the receiver. We tested the efficiency of cross-checking and social bonding in a laboratory experiment where subjects played the Prisoner's Dilemma with gossip interactions. Although individuals had confidence in gossip in both conditions, we found that, overall, neither the opportunities for cross-checking nor bonding were able to maintain cooperation. Meanwhile, strong competition for reputation increased cooperation when individuals' payoffs depended greatly on their position relative to their rivals. Our results suggest that intense competition for reputation facilitates gossip functioning as an informal device promoting cooperation. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling’.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating mechanisms that could support credible reputations and cooperation: cross-checking and social bonding

Samu

Takács

2021

“…Drawing on Chapais' [85] distinction between contextindependent versus context-dependent human universals, we hypothesize reputations for cultural group unity will be a context-independent universal, likely to manifest in all human societies, whereas reputations for social and material success, neural capital, and dominance are more likely to be context-dependent universals, promoted or suppressed by socio-ecological or cultural evolutionary processes [86].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The content and structure of reputation domains across human societies: a view from the evolutionary social sciences

Garfield

Schacht

Post

et al. 2021

Reputations are an essential feature of human sociality and the evolution of cooperation and group living. Much scholarship has focused on reputations, yet typically on a narrow range of domains (e.g. prosociality and aggressiveness), usually in isolation. Humans can develop reputations, however, from any collective information. We conducted exploratory analyses on the content, distribution and structure of reputation domain diversity across cultures, using the Human Relations Area Files ethnographic database. After coding ethnographic texts on reputations from 153 cultures, we used hierarchical modelling, cluster analysis and text analysis to provide an empirical view of reputation domains across societies. Findings suggest: (i) reputational domains vary cross-culturally, yet reputations for cultural conformity, prosociality, social status and neural capital are widespread; (ii) reputation domains are more variable for males than females; and (iii) particular reputation domains are interrelated, demonstrating a structure consistent with dimensions of human uniqueness. We label these features: cultural group unity , dominance , neural capital , sexuality , social and material success and supernatural healing . We highlight the need for future research on the evolution of cooperation and human sociality to consider a wider range of reputation domains, as well as their social, ecological and gender-specific variability. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling’.

“…While most models investigate a simplified system of 'good' versus 'bad' reputation (see IR), real-life reputation systems are more complex [50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59]. Romano et al [60] investigate how differences across social ecologies, institutions and cultures influence the workings of reputation systems. Their interdisciplinary review also contrasts empirical insights from various disciplines about ecological factors that shape reputations with the way models address the questions of reputation-based cooperation.…”

Section: This Issue's Contributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling

Számadó¹,

Balliet

Giardini

et al. 2021

Self Cite

Large-scale non-kin cooperation is a unique ingredient of human success. This type of cooperation is challenging to explain in a world of self-interested individuals. There is overwhelming empirical evidence from different disciplines that reputation and gossip promote cooperation in humans in different contexts. Despite decades of research, important details of reputation systems are still unclear. Our goal with this theme issue is to promote an interdisciplinary approach that allows us to explore and understand the evolution and maintenance of reputation systems with a special emphasis on gossip and honest signalling. The theme issue is organized around four main questions: What are the necessary conditions for reputation-based systems? What is the content and context of reputation systems? How can reputations promote cooperation? And, what is the role of gossip in maintaining reputation systems and thus cooperation? This article is part of the theme issue ‘The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling’.