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Adherence to public institutions that foster cooperation

Author

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  • Arunas L. Radzvilavicius

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Taylor A. Kessinger

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Joshua B. Plotkin

    (University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract

Humans typically consider altruism a moral good and condition their social behavior on the moral reputations of others. Indirect reciprocity explains how social norms and reputations support cooperation: individuals cooperate with others who are considered good. Indirect reciprocity works when an institution monitors and publicly broadcasts moral reputations. Here we develop a theory of adherence to public monitoring in societies where individuals are, at first, independently responsible for evaluating the reputations of their peers. Using a mathematical model, we show that adherence to an institution of moral assessment can evolve and promote cooperation under four different social norms, including norms that previous studies found to perform poorly. We determine how an institution’s size and its degree of tolerance towards anti-social behavior affect the rate of cooperation. Public monitoring serves to eliminate disagreements about reputations, which increases cooperation and payoffs, so that adherence evolves by social contagion and remains robust against displacement.

Suggested Citation

  • Arunas L. Radzvilavicius & Taylor A. Kessinger & Joshua B. Plotkin, 2021. "Adherence to public institutions that foster cooperation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-23783-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23783-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Laura Schmid & Farbod Ekbatani & Christian Hilbe & Krishnendu Chatterjee, 2023. "Quantitative assessment can stabilize indirect reciprocity under imperfect information," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Gao, Meng & Li, Zhi & Wu, Te, 2023. "Evolutionary dynamics of friendship-driven reputation strategies," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 175(P1).
    3. Xiaochen Wang & Lei Zhou & Alex McAvoy & Aming Li, 2023. "Imitation dynamics on networks with incomplete information," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.

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