Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Psychology of Altruistic Punishment

个人和集体都面临着合作问题，从出租车司机和顾客之间的关系到国家之间脆弱的联盟。定期解决这些问题的相对成功使现代社会成为可能。因此，人们如何解决合作问题，并在个人利益与所属群体利益冲突的情况下生存下来，是社会科学的一个核心问题。这个研究项目涉及最新的合作理论。研究合作问题最有前途的方法之一是利他惩罚理论。简而言之，利他主义惩罚是指即使在物质上昂贵且没有直接利益的情况下，也愿意惩罚叛逃者（拒绝为集体利益做出贡献的搭便车者）。本文将试图回答三个相互关联的问题：(1)是否有证据表明社会交换的适应框架涉及利他惩罚？(2)合作和利他惩罚的心理决定因素是什么？(3)这些心理因素在多大程度上解释了实验室实验中观察到的个体差异？对这三个问题的回答，不仅有助于阐明利他惩罚心理学的具体研究问题，而且有助于揭示合作问题是如何解决的。为了回答这三个研究问题，设计了一系列涉及经济决策任务的实验——具体来说，就是在小群体中提供集体商品，并根据参与者的意愿惩罚那些不做出贡献的人。参与者在两个关键的心理量表上进行测试，马基雅维利主义，衡量一个人为了个人利益而欺骗和操纵他人的倾向，以及社会随大流。在第二个系列的实验中，利他惩罚的情感成分将被调查。该项目预计，利他惩罚基本上是对违反规范的一种情绪反应。为了验证这一理论，参与者的情绪在实验中被操纵。这项研究将产生更广泛的影响，因为由此产生的心理学见解可以帮助实地研究人员调查现实生活中的合作问题，例如涉及渔业和其他共同资源管理的问题。更好地理解促成合作的机制最终会影响决策者设计制度的方式。社会在很大程度上依赖于正式的制度来保持完整，一个心理上现实的合作行为模型无疑将有助于校准解决合作问题的制度框架。

Individual human beings and collectives alike face cooperation problems ranging from the relation between the taxi driver and customer to fragile alliances between nations. Relative success in solving these problems on a regular basis has made modern society possible. Thus, how people solve cooperation problems and survive situations where their personal interests conflict with the interests of the groups to which they belong is a central question within the social sciences. This research project engages the most recent theories of cooperation. Among the most promising approaches to the cooperation problem is Altruistic Punishment theory. In a nutshell, altruistic punishment refers to the willingness to punish defectors (free riders, who refuse to contribute to a collective good) even when doing so is materially costly and provides no direct benefits. This dissertation will attempt to answer three interlinked questions: (1) Is there evidence for a framework of adaptation for social exchange that involves altruistic punishment? (2) What are the psychological determinants of cooperation and altruistic punishment? (3) To what extent do these psychological factors explain individual differences observed in the laboratory experiments? Answers to these three questions would shed light not only on the specific research question of the psychology of altruistic punishment but also on how cooperation problems are solved. In order to answer these three research questions a series of experiments have been designed that involve economic decision making tasks - specifically, providing collective goods in small groups and punishing, as the participants please, those who do not contribute. Participants are tested on two key psychological scales, Machiavellianism, which measures a person's tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain, and social conformism. In a second series of experiments, the affective components of altruistic punishment will be investigated. The project expects that altruistic punishment is basically an emotional response to a norm violation. In order to test this theory, the participants' mood is manipulated in experiments.This study will have broader impacts as the psychological insight resulting from this research could aid field researchers who investigate real life cooperation problems, such as those involving fisheries and management of other common pool resources. A better understanding of the mechanisms responsible for inducing cooperation can ultimately influence how policymakers design institutions. Societies rely heavily upon formalized institutions to remain intact, and a psychologically realistic model of cooperative behavior would undoubtedly help calibrate the institutional framework for addressing cooperation problems.