EAPSI: A Cross-cultural Study of the Relationship Between Social Ecology and Evolved Cognitive Systems for Forgiveness

社会关系是人类生活的重要组成部分。然而，即使是最牢固的关系也可能在一方伤害或冒犯另一方的情况下受到胁迫。而不是放弃这些关系，人们往往以宽恕作为回应。因为宽恕对于维持有价值的合作关系至关重要，研究人员认为人类拥有进化的心理机制，旨在实现宽恕。这些机制利用两个标准来决定一个人是否会原谅或放弃一段关系：关系的价值，以及犯罪者再次利用关系的可能性。该项目的目的是调查这些宽恕机制在不同文化景观中的运作，因为文化在它们提供的社会机会方面有所不同，从而影响关系价值。文化为新的关系伙伴提供的机会很少，这会间接地提高现有关系的价值，使人们更愿意原谅;当新的关系稀缺时，外部激励会给某人另一个机会。相比之下，在新关系丰富的文化中，个人可能不太愿意容忍有害的伴侣。该项目将在日本科比大学与宽恕研究专家Yohsuke Ohtsubo博士合作进行。日本是研究这一现象的理想之地，它培育了一个新的社会关系很难找到的社会，使其成为美国的最佳陪衬，一个有机会形成许多新的社会关系的社会。该项目旨在从社会生态学的角度解释宽恕的跨文化差异，强调行为和心理往往是个体为应对当地环境条件而采取的博弈论策略的产物。此外，该项目还进一步研究了支持宽恕和合作的心理机制的进化设计。该奖项是由美国国家科学基金会（NSF）和日本科学促进会（Japan Society for the Promotion of Science）共同资助的东亚和太平洋暑期研究所（East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes）项目，旨在资助美国研究生的暑期研究。

Social relationships are a key component of human life. However, even the strongest of relationships can come under duress in the event that one partner harms or offends the other. Rather than abandoning these relationships, people frequently respond by forgiving. Because forgiveness is crucial in maintaining valuable cooperative relationships, researchers have suggested that humans possess evolved psychological mechanisms designed for achieving forgiveness. These mechanisms utilize two criteria in determining whether an individual will forgive or abandon a relationship: the value of the relationship, and the likelihood that the offender will exploit them again. The purpose of this project is to investigate the operation of these forgiveness mechanisms across diverse cultural landscapes, as cultures vary in terms of the social opportunities they offer, consequently impacting relationship value. Cultures that offer few opportunities for new relationship partners commensurately raise the value of existing relationships, making people more willing to forgive; when new relationships are scarce, there is external incentive to give someone another chance. In contrast, in cultures where new relationships are plentiful, individuals may be less motivated to tolerate a harmful partner. This project will be conducted at Kobe University in Japan in collaboration with Dr. Yohsuke Ohtsubo, an expert in forgiveness research. Japan is the ideal place to study this phenomenon, fostering a society where new social relationships are difficult to find, making it an optimal foil to the United States, a society that affords the opportunity to form many new social relationships. This project aims to explain cross-cultural variation in forgiveness using a socio-ecological perspective, emphasizing that behavior and psychology are often the product of game theoretic strategies that individuals adopt in response to local environmental conditions. In addition, this project furthers research on the evolved design of psychological mechanisms undergirding forgiveness and cooperation.This award ,under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program, supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.