%0 Journal Article %A Qirko, Hector %T Altruistic punishment in modern intentional communities %D 2020 %J Interaction Studies %V 21 %N 3 %P 412-427 %@ 1572-0373 %R https://doi.org/10.1075/is.19011.qir %K punishment %K strong reciprocity %K intentional communities %K free-riding %K self-maximization models %K cooperation %I John Benjamins %X Abstract

Evolutionists studying human cooperation disagree about how to best explain it. One view is that humans are predisposed to engage in costly cooperation and punishment of free-riders as a result of culture/gene coevolution via group selection. Alternatively, some researchers argue that context-specific cognitive mechanisms associated with traditional neo-Darwinian self- and kin-maximization models sufficiently explain all aspects of human cooperation and punishment. There has been a great deal of research testing predictions derived from both positions; still, researchers generally agree that more naturalistic data are needed to complement mathematical modeling and laboratory and field experiments. Most of these data have been obtained from small-scale forager and other societies, but modern intentional communities offer another productive source of information. This exploratory study describes context-specific patterns of punishment in 46 American intentional communities that cast doubt on the prediction that people are predisposed to punish free-riders in naturalistic interactions. %U https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/is.19011.qir