Fairness and cooperation among strangers depends on more than evolution, according to a new study published in the current issue of Science magazine. “Historical factors such as religion, commerce and punishment play a role,” says Carolyn Lesorogol, Ph.D., study co-author and associate professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
“From a diverse sample of 15 societies around the world, we found that societies that were larger, more integrated into markets, and where people practiced a world religion (Christianity, Islam) exhibited higher levels of fairness in anonymous, one-shot experimental games,” says Lesorogol. “They were also more likely to punish unfair offers made by others in the experiments.”
According to Lesorogol, this finding suggests that the emergence of institutions like markets and religions have played a role in enabling cooperative interactions among people who do not know each other.
“Such interactions have been fundamental to the development of large-scale, modern societies historically,” she says. “Our work supports the idea that the emergence of such norms and institutions (rather than an extension of kinship) has been of fundamental importance in the expansion of social interaction beyond small groups of individuals.”
Lesorogol and 14 other authors looked at communities around the world for the study, “Markets, Religion, Community Size, and the Evolution of Fairness and Punishment.” Lesorogol’s research focused on communities in Samburu district, Kenya.
The lead author of this study is Joseph Henrich, associate professor of psychology and economics at the University of British Columbia.
Read the study in Science.