IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nathum/v6y2022i9d10.1038_s41562-022-01354-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Third-party punishment by preverbal infants

Author

Listed:
  • Yasuhiro Kanakogi

    (Osaka University)

  • Michiko Miyazaki

    (Otsuma Women’s University)

  • Hideyuki Takahashi

    (Osaka University)

  • Hiroki Yamamoto

    (Osaka University
    Kyoto University)

  • Tessei Kobayashi

    (NTT Communication Science Laboratories)

  • Kazuo Hiraki

    (The University of Tokyo)

Abstract

Third-party punishment of antisocial others is unique to humans and seems to be universal across cultures. However, its emergence in ontogeny remains unknown. We developed a participatory cognitive paradigm using gaze-contingency techniques, in which infants can use their gaze to affect agents displayed on a monitor. In this paradigm, fixation on an agent triggers the event of a stone crushing the agent. Throughout five experiments (total N = 120), we show that eight-month-old infants punished antisocial others. Specifically, infants increased their selective looks at the aggressor after watching aggressive interactions. Additionally, three control experiments excluded alternative interpretations of their selective gaze, suggesting that punishment-related decision-making influenced looking behaviour. These findings indicate that a disposition for third-party punishment of antisocial others emerges in early infancy and emphasize the importance of third-party punishment for human cooperation. This behavioural tendency may be a human trait acquired over the course of evolution.

Suggested Citation

  • Yasuhiro Kanakogi & Michiko Miyazaki & Hideyuki Takahashi & Hiroki Yamamoto & Tessei Kobayashi & Kazuo Hiraki, 2022. "Third-party punishment by preverbal infants," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 6(9), pages 1234-1242, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:6:y:2022:i:9:d:10.1038_s41562-022-01354-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-022-01354-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-022-01354-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41562-022-01354-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Natacha Mendes & Nikolaus Steinbeis & Nereida Bueno-Guerra & Josep Call & Tania Singer, 2018. "Author Correction: Preschool children and chimpanzees incur costs to watch punishment of antisocial others," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(4), pages 312-312, April.
    2. Carpenter, Bob & Gelman, Andrew & Hoffman, Matthew D. & Lee, Daniel & Goodrich, Ben & Betancourt, Michael & Brubaker, Marcus & Guo, Jiqiang & Li, Peter & Riddell, Allen, 2017. "Stan: A Probabilistic Programming Language," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 76(i01).
    3. Yasuhiro Kanakogi & Yasuyuki Inoue & Goh Matsuda & David Butler & Kazuo Hiraki & Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi, 2017. "Preverbal infants affirm third-party interventions that protect victims from aggressors," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 1(2), pages 1-7, February.
    4. John K. Kruschke, 2021. "Bayesian Analysis Reporting Guidelines," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(10), pages 1282-1291, October.
    5. Ernst Fehr & Simon Gächter, 2002. "Altruistic punishment in humans," Nature, Nature, vol. 415(6868), pages 137-140, January.
    6. Julia Marshall & Daniel A. Yudkin & Molly J. Crockett, 2021. "Children punish third parties to satisfy both consequentialist and retributive motives," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(3), pages 361-368, March.
    7. Ernst Fehr & Urs Fischbacher, "undated". "Third Party Punishment and Social Norms," IEW - Working Papers 106, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    8. Natacha Mendes & Nikolaus Steinbeis & Nereida Bueno-Guerra & Josep Call & Tania Singer, 2018. "Preschool children and chimpanzees incur costs to watch punishment of antisocial others," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(1), pages 45-51, January.
    9. Jillian J. Jordan & Moshe Hoffman & Paul Bloom & David G. Rand, 2016. "Third-party punishment as a costly signal of trustworthiness," Nature, Nature, vol. 530(7591), pages 473-476, February.
    10. J. Kiley Hamlin & Karen Wynn & Paul Bloom, 2007. "Social evaluation by preverbal infants," Nature, Nature, vol. 450(7169), pages 557-559, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Valerio Capraro & Hélène Barcelo, 2021. "Punishing defectors and rewarding cooperators: Do people discriminate between genders?," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 7(1), pages 19-32, September.
    2. Hezhi Chen & Zhijia Zeng & Jianhong Ma, 2020. "The source of punishment matters: Third-party punishment restrains observers from selfish behaviors better than does second-party punishment by shaping norm perceptions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-10, March.
    3. Hoem Sjursen, Ingrid, 2018. "Accountability and taxation: Experimental evidence," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 24/2018, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    4. Mischkowski, Dorothee & Glöckner, Andreas & Lewisch, Peter, 2018. "From spontaneous cooperation to spontaneous punishment – Distinguishing the underlying motives driving spontaneous behavior in first and second order public good games," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 59-72.
    5. Yuzhen Li & Jun Luo & He Niu & Hang Ye, 2023. "When punishers might be loved: fourth-party choices and third-party punishment in a delegation game," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 94(3), pages 423-465, April.
    6. Sjursen, Ingrid Hoem, 2023. "Accountability and taxation: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 386-432.
    7. Sueur, Cédric & Piermattéo, Anthony & Pelé, Marie, 2021. "Eye image effect in the context of pedestrian safety: a French questionnaire study," OSF Preprints d6w7v, Center for Open Science.
    8. Christian Thöni, 2014. "Inequality aversion and antisocial punishment," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 76(4), pages 529-545, April.
    9. Angelsen, Arild & Naime, Julia, 2024. "The mixed impacts of peer punishments on common-pool resources: Multi-country experimental evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    10. Christine Clavien & Colby J Tanner & Fabrice Clément & Michel Chapuisat, 2012. "Choosy Moral Punishers," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(6), pages 1-6, June.
    11. Cason, Timothy N. & Mui, Vai-Lam, 2015. "Rich communication, social motivations, and coordinated resistance against divide-and-conquer: A laboratory investigation," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 146-159.
    12. Cubitt, Robin P. & Drouvelis, Michalis & Gächter, Simon & Kabalin, Ruslan, 2011. "Moral judgments in social dilemmas: How bad is free riding?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 253-264.
    13. Wang, Cynthia S. & Sivanathan, Niro & Narayanan, Jayanth & Ganegoda, Deshani B. & Bauer, Monika & Bodenhausen, Galen V. & Murnighan, Keith, 2011. "Retribution and emotional regulation: The effects of time delay in angry economic interactions," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 46-54, September.
    14. Andras Molnar & Shereen J. Chaudhry & George Loewenstein, 2020. ""It's Not about the Money. It's about Sending a Message!" Unpacking the Components of Revenge," CESifo Working Paper Series 8102, CESifo.
    15. Cameron, Lisa & Chaudhuri, Ananish & Erkal, Nisvan & Gangadharan, Lata, 2009. "Propensities to engage in and punish corrupt behavior: Experimental evidence from Australia, India, Indonesia and Singapore," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(7-8), pages 843-851, August.
    16. Leibbrandt, Andreas & López-Pérez, Raúl & Spiegelman, Eli, 2023. "Reciprocal, but inequality averse as well? Mixed motives for punishment and reward," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 91-116.
    17. Simon Halliday, 2011. "Rarer Actions: Giving and Taking in Third-Party Punishment Games," Working Papers 211, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    18. William Heller & K. Sieberg, 2008. "Functional unpleasantness: the evolutionary logic of righteous resentment," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 399-413, June.
    19. Juan Camilo Cárdenas, 2008. "Social Preferences Among the People of Sanquianga in Colombia," Documentos CEDE 4985, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    20. Fluet, Claude & Galbiati, Rpbertp, 2016. "Lois et normes : les enseignements de l'économie comportementale," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 92(1-2), pages 191-215, Mars-Juin.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:6:y:2022:i:9:d:10.1038_s41562-022-01354-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.