The property ‘instinct’

Abstract

Evolutionary theory and empirical studies suggest that many animals, including humans, have a genetic predisposition to acquire and retain property. This is hardly surprising because survival is closely bound up with the acquisition of things: food, shelter, tools and territory. But the root of these general urges may also run to quite specific and detailed rules about property acquisition, retention and disposition. The great variation in property-related behaviours across species may mask some important commonalities grounded in adaptive utility. Experiments and observations in the field and laboratory suggest that the legal rules of temporal priority and possession are grounded in what were evolutionarily stable strategies in the ancestral environment. Moreover, the preferences that humans exhibit in disposing of their property on their deaths, both by dispositions made in wills and by the laws of intestacy, tend to advance reproductive success as a result of inclusive fitness pay-offs.

Late Emergence of the First Possession Heuristic: Evidence From a Small‐Scale Culture

“…The first possession heuristic has been widely discussed as an early emerging ownership bias that may be innate and possibly shared with other animal species (Blumenthal, 2010;Brosnan, 2011;Friedman, 2008;Friedman & Neary, 2008;Stake, 2004). To date, developmental evidence supporting this claim has been derived primarily from children in Western industrialized populations.…”

“…The first possession heuristic remains relevant beyond childhood, playing a role in adult ownership attributions (Friedman, 2008; and forming the basis of a pivotal legal ruling in North American property law (Pierson v. Post, 1805). In fact, some suggest that respecting first possession may even be an evolved mechanism that humans share with primates and other animals (Brosnan, 2011;Stake, 2004). But the early emergence of the first possession heuristic has only been established in industrialized populations that have particular kinds of conventions surrounding private property (Henrich, Heine, & Norenzayan, 2010).…”

First Possession, History, and Young Children's Ownership Judgments

“…The findings show that children do not directly infer ownership from first possession, and they rule out many explanations for the first possession bias. Children do not adhere to a simple rule specifying that the first person observed or known to possess an object is its owner (contra Friedman, 2008;Friedman & Neary, 2008;Stake, 2004). They do not come to believe that a person owns an object because they form a visual association between the person and the object, and then resist revising this association (contra Blake & Harris, 2011, pp.…”

Distributive Justice and Evolution. Towards a Science of Equality

“…La nostra espècie mostra ara una creixent tendèn-cia a formar i mantenir parelles, com els simis menors (Henrich, Boyd i Richerson, 2012). Alguns sostenen que, de fet, els humans combinen aspectes de les tres estratègies reproductives dels altres simis, incloent-hi la promiscuïtat dels bonobos (Stewart i Thomas, 2013). Tant la cooperació entre pares en les espècies monòga-mes com l'organització social matriarcal dels bonobos estan associades amb una desigualtat reduïda.…”