Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:49:22.009Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Competitive morality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2013

Gilbert Roberts
Gilbert Roberts*
Affiliation:
Centre for Behaviour & Evolution, Institute of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, United Kingdom. Gilbert.Roberts@ncl.ac.ukhttp://www.ncl.ac.uk/cbe/people/profile/gilbert.roberts
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Baumard et al. argue that partner choice leads to fairness and mutualism, which then form the basis for morality. I comment that mutualism takes us only so far, and I apply the theory of competitive altruism in arguing how strategic investment in behaviours which make one a desirable partner may drive moral conduct.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , February 2013 , pp. 97 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, R. (1987) The biology of moral systems (Foundations of human behavior). Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Barclay, P. (2006) Reputational benefits for altruistic punishment. Evolution and Human Behavior 27(5):325–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bereczkei, T., Birkas, B. & Kerekes, Z. (2007) Public charity offer as a proximate factor of evolved reputation-building strategy: An experimental analysis of a real-life situation. Evolution and Human Behavior 28(4):277–84.Google Scholar
Johnstone, R. A. (1997) The tactics of mutual mate choice and competitive search. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 40(1):51–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurzban, R., DeScioli, P. & O'Brien, E. (2007) Audience effects on moralistic punishment. Evolution and Human Behavior 28(2):75–84. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.06.001.Google Scholar
Leimar, O. & Hammerstein, P. (2001) Evolution of cooperation through indirect reciprocity. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences 268(1468):745–53.Google Scholar
Lyle, H., Smith, E. & Sullivan, R. (2009) Blood donations as costly signals of donor quality. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 7(4):263–86. doi:10.1556/JEP.7.2009.4.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maynard Smith, J. & Harper, D. (2003) Animal signals. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milinski, M., Semmann, D., Bakker, T. C. M. & Krambeck, H. J. (2001) Cooperation through indirect reciprocity: Image scoring or standing strategy? Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences 268(1484):2495–501.Google Scholar
Miller, G. F. (2007) Sexual selection for moral virtues. Quarterly Review of Biology 82(2):97–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Noë, R. & Hammerstein, P. (1994) Biological markets: Supply and demand determine the effect of partner choice in cooperation, mutualism and mating. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 35(1):1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nowak, M. A. & Sigmund, K. (2005) Evolution of indirect reciprocity. Nature 437:1291–97.Google Scholar
Roberts, G. (1998) Competitive altruism: From reciprocity to the handicap principle. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 265(1394):427–31.Google Scholar
Roberts, G. (2005) Cooperation through interdependence. Animal Behaviour 70(4):901–908.Google Scholar
Roberts, G. (2008) Evolution of direct and indirect reciprocity. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences 275(1631):173–79.Google Scholar
Sherratt, T. N. & Roberts, G. (1998) The evolution of generosity and choosiness in cooperative exchanges. Journal of Theoretical Biology 193(1):167–77.Google Scholar
Sigmund, K. (2012) Moral assessment in indirect reciprocity. Journal of Theoretical Biology 299:25–30. doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.03.024.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sylwester, K. & Roberts, G. (2010) Cooperators benefit through reputation-based partner choice in economic games. Biology Letters 6(5):659–62. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2010.0209.Google Scholar
Van Vugt, M., Roberts, G. & Hardy, C. (2007) Competitive altruism: Development of reputation-based cooperation in groups. In: Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, ed. Dunbar, R. & Barrett, L., pp. 531–40. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar