Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 20, 2026
08:05
A Procedure to Study Stress-Induced Relapse of Heroin Seeking after Punishment-Imposed Abstinence
Published on: March 23, 2022
2.9K
People prefer coordinated punishment in cooperative interactions.
Lucas Molleman1,2,3, Felix Kölle4,5, Chris Starmer6
1Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany. l.s.molleman@uva.nl.
Nature Human Behaviour
|September 4, 2019
Summary
Many people prefer to punish free-riders only when others do too, especially those hesitant to punish initially. This coordinated punishment supports theories explaining cooperation through group enforcement.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Social Psychology
- Game Theory
Background:
- Human groups maintain cooperation despite exploitation risks.
- Theoretical models suggest coordinated punishment curbs free-riding.
- Empirical evidence on conditioning punishment on others' behavior is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether humans prefer to condition their punishment of peers on the punishment behavior of others.
- To examine how individual punishment decisions are impacted by others' punishment actions in controlled settings.
- To differentiate preferences for conditional punishment from conditional cooperation.
Main Methods:
- Conducted two large-scale decision-making experiments (total N=4,320) under minimal, controlled conditions.
- Designed experiments to isolate and measure preferences for conditional punishment.
- Included an additional experiment to assess the relationship with conditional cooperation preferences.
Main Results:
- The most common preference observed was to punish a peer only if a third individual also punishes.
- Coordinated punishment was particularly prevalent among individuals who were reluctant to initiate punishment.
- Preferences for conditional punishment were found to be distinct from preferences for conditional cooperation.
Conclusions:
- Provides direct empirical evidence that many individuals prefer coordinated punishment strategies.
- Highlights the significant role of conditional preferences in both positive and negative reciprocity.
- Offers strong support for theoretical models explaining cooperation via coordinated peer punishment.
Related Concept Videos
02:13Cooperative Binding of Transcription Regulators
7.2K
Transcriptional regulators bind to specific cis-regulatory sequences in the DNA to regulate gene transcription. These cis-regulatory sequences are very short, usually less than ten nucleotide pairs in length. The short length means that there is a high probability of the exact same sequence randomly occurring throughout the genome. Since regulators can also bind to groups of similar sequences, this further increases the chances of random binding. Transcriptional regulators form...
7.2K
01:58Cooperative Allosteric Transitions
8.6K
Cooperative allosteric transitions can occur in multimeric proteins, where each subunit of the protein has its own ligand-binding site. When a ligand binds to any of these subunits, it triggers a conformational change that affects the binding sites in the other subunits; this can change the affinity of the other sites for their respective ligands. The ability of the protein to change the shape of its binding site is attributed to the presence of a mix of flexible and stable segments in the...
8.6K
01:58Cooperative Allosteric Transitions
3.0K
3.0K
01:27Punishment
885
Negative reinforcement and punishment are often confused but serve distinct functions in behavior modification. Reinforcement, whether positive or negative, increases the likelihood of a desired behavior, while punishment decreases it.
Punishment can be positive or negative. Positive punishment involves adding an undesirable stimulus, such as scolding, to decrease a behavior. Negative punishment involves removing a desirable stimulus, such as taking away a favorite toy, to decrease behavior....
Punishment can be positive or negative. Positive punishment involves adding an undesirable stimulus, such as scolding, to decrease a behavior. Negative punishment involves removing a desirable stimulus, such as taking away a favorite toy, to decrease behavior....
885
08:05A Procedure to Study Stress-Induced Relapse of Heroin Seeking after Punishment-Imposed Abstinence
2.9K
A procedure that demonstrates a robust acute food deprivation-induced relapse to heroin seeking after punishment-imposed abstinence is described. A punishment-imposed abstinence model was successfully implemented using the seek and take chain schedule for heroin self-administration. Heroin-seeking tests are then performed following 24 h of food-deprivation...
2.9K
02:54Coordination Compounds and Nomenclature
26.3K
In most main group element compounds, the valence electrons of the isolated atoms combine to form chemical bonds that satisfy the octet rule. For instance, the four valence electrons of carbon overlap with electrons from four hydrogen atoms to form CH4. The one valence electron leaves sodium and adds to the seven valence electrons of chlorine to form the ionic formula unit NaCl (Figure 1a). Transition metals do not normally bond in this fashion. They primarily form coordinate covalent bonds, a...
26.3K