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Special human vulnerability to low-cost collective punishment
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2012
Abstract
Guala notes that low-cost punishment is the main mechanism that deters free-riding in small human communities. This mechanism is complemented by unusual human vulnerability to gossip. Defenders of an evolutionary discontinuity supporting human sociality might seize on this as an alternative to enjoyment of moralistic aggression as a special adaptation. However, the more basic adaptation of language likely suffices.
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Special human vulnerability to low-cost collective punishment
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