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Human Brain Mapping Dec 2021Individuals who violate social norms will most likely face social punishment sanctions. Those sanctions are based on different motivation aspects, depending on the... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
Individuals who violate social norms will most likely face social punishment sanctions. Those sanctions are based on different motivation aspects, depending on the context. Altruistic punishment occurs if punishment aims to re-establish the social norms even at cost for the punisher. Retaliatory punishment is driven by anger or spite and aims to harm the other. While neuroimaging research highlighted the neural networks supporting decision-making in both types of punishment in isolation, it remains unclear whether they rely on the same or distinct neural systems. We ran an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis on functional magnetic resonance imaging data on 24 altruistic and 19 retaliatory punishment studies to investigate the neural correlates of decision-making underlying social punishment and whether altruistic and retaliatory punishments share similar brain networks. Social punishment reliably activated the bilateral insula, inferior frontal gyrus, midcingulate cortex (MCC), and superior and medial frontal gyri. This network largely overlapped with activation clusters found for altruistic punishment. However, retaliatory punishment revealed only one cluster in a posterior part of the MCC, which was not recruited in altruistic punishment. Our results support previous models on social punishment and highlight differential involvement of the MCC in altruistic and retaliatory punishments, reflecting the underlying different motivations.
Topics: Aggression; Altruism; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex; Decision Making; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Motivation; Punishment; Social Norms
PubMed: 34415078
DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25635 -
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) Mar 2020Imaging studies have distinguished the brain correlates of approach and avoidance behaviors and suggested the influence of individual differences in trait sensitivity to...
Imaging studies have distinguished the brain correlates of approach and avoidance behaviors and suggested the influence of individual differences in trait sensitivity to reward (SR) and punishment (SP) on these neural processes. Theoretical work of reinforcement sensitivity postulates that SR and SP may interdependently regulate behavior. Here, we examined the distinct and interrelated neural substrates underlying rewarded action versus inhibition of action in relation to SR and SP as evaluated by the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire. Forty-nine healthy adults performed a reward go/no-go task with approximately 2/3 go and 1/3 no-go trials. Correct go and no-go responses were rewarded and incorrect responses were penalized. The results showed that SR and SP modulated rewarded go and no-go, respectively, both by recruiting the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and left middle frontal gyrus (rACC/left MFG). Importantly, SR and SP influenced these regional activations in opposite directions, thus exhibiting an antagonistic relationship as suggested by the reinforcement sensitivity theory. Furthermore, mediation analysis revealed that heightened SR contributed to higher rewarded go success rate via enhanced rACC/left MFG activity. The findings demonstrate interrelated neural correlates of SR and SP to support the diametric processes of behavioral approach and avoidance.
Topics: Adult; Avoidance Learning; Female; Humans; Individuality; Inhibition, Psychological; Male; Punishment; Reinforcement, Psychology; Reward; Young Adult
PubMed: 31667492
DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhz194 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Nov 2021Cooperative behaviour has been extensively studied as a choice between cooperation and defection. However, the possibility to not participate is also frequently...
Cooperative behaviour has been extensively studied as a choice between cooperation and defection. However, the possibility to not participate is also frequently available. This type of problem can be studied through the optional public goods game. The introduction of the 'Loner' strategy' allows players to withdraw from the game, which leads to a cooperator-defector-loner cycle. While pro-social punishment can help increase cooperation, anti-social punishment-where defectors punish cooperators-causes its downfall in both experimental and theoretical studies. In this paper, we introduce social norms that allow agents to condition their behaviour to the reputation of their peers. We benchmark this with respect both to the standard optional public goods game and to the variant where all types of punishment are allowed. We find that a social norm imposing a more moderate reputational penalty for opting out than for defecting increases cooperation. When, besides reputation, punishment is also possible, the two mechanisms work synergically under all social norms that do not assign to loners a strictly worse reputation than to defectors. Under this latter set-up, the high levels of cooperation are sustained by conditional strategies, which largely reduce the use of pro-social punishment and almost completely eliminate anti-social punishment. This article is part of the theme issue 'The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling'.
Topics: Biological Evolution; Cooperative Behavior; Game Theory; Models, Theoretical; Punishment; Social Norms
PubMed: 34601913
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0293 -
Nature Communications Jun 2018Strong reciprocity explains prosocial cooperation by the presence of individuals who incur costs to help those who helped them ('strong positive reciprocity') and to...
Strong reciprocity explains prosocial cooperation by the presence of individuals who incur costs to help those who helped them ('strong positive reciprocity') and to punish those who wronged them ('strong negative reciprocity'). Theories of social preferences predict that in contrast to 'strong reciprocators', self-regarding people cooperate and punish only if there are sufficient future benefits. Here, we test this prediction in a two-stage design. First, participants are classified according to their disposition towards strong positive reciprocity as either dispositional conditional cooperators (DCC) or dispositional free riders (DFR). Participants then play a one-shot public goods game, either with or without punishment. As expected, DFR cooperate only when punishment is possible, whereas DCC cooperate without punishment. Surprisingly, dispositions towards strong positive reciprocity are unrelated to strong negative reciprocity: punishment by DCC and DFR is practically identical. The 'burden of cooperation' is thus carried by a larger set of individuals than previously assumed.
Topics: Adolescent; Cooperative Behavior; Emotions; Female; Game Theory; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Models, Psychological; Punishment; Young Adult
PubMed: 29921863
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04775-8 -
International Journal of Environmental... Oct 2021Construction safety is related to the life and health of construction workers and has always been a hot issue of concern for government and construction units. The...
Construction safety is related to the life and health of construction workers and has always been a hot issue of concern for government and construction units. The government can use "construction safety education" to reduce the probability of safety accidents in the construction process and avoid the loss of life and property of construction workers. To encourage construction units to provide safety education for construction workers before construction starts and promote construction workers to actively participate in safety education. In this paper, a tripartite evolutionary game model of government-construction units-construction workers is established, and the factors affecting each party's behavior strategy are comprehensively analyzed. Firstly, evolutionary game theory is used to investigate the influence of different behavior strategies among government, construction units, and construction workers on the behavior strategies of the other two parties. Secondly, according to the events in different situations, the influence of critical factors on the evolution process of the model is analyzed. On this basis, combined with the construction experience and construction data of actual construction projects, the established model and preliminary conclusions are verified. Finally, a sensitivity analysis of all parameters is carried out. The results show that: (1) The government's enhancement of reward and punishment is conducive to promoting the choice of "providing safety education" for construction orders and the choice of "actively participating in safety education" for construction workers, but the excessive reward will lead to the government's unwillingness of participation; (2) The reasonable reward and punishment mechanism set by the government must meet the condition that the sum of rewards and punishments for all parties is more significant than their speculative gains, to ensure the construction safety under the evolutionary stability; (3) Increasing welfare subsidies for construction workers who choose to participate in safety education actively is an effective way to avoid unwilling participation of construction workers.
Topics: Accidents; China; Construction Industry; Game Theory; Humans; Punishment; Reward
PubMed: 34639703
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph181910392 -
Current Biology : CB Jun 2015An important, and perhaps uniquely human, mechanism for maintaining cooperation against free riders is third-party punishment. Our closest living relatives, chimpanzees,...
An important, and perhaps uniquely human, mechanism for maintaining cooperation against free riders is third-party punishment. Our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, will not punish third parties even though they will do so when personally affected. Until recently, little attention has been paid to how punishment and a sense of justice develop in children. Children respond to norm violations. They are more likely to share with a puppet that helped another individual as opposed to one who behaved harmfully, and they show a preference for seeing a harmful doll rather than a victim punished. By 6 years of age, children will pay a cost to punish fictional and real peers, and the threat of punishment will lead preschoolers to behave more generously. However, little is known about what motivates a sense of justice in children. We gave 3- and 5-year-old children--the youngest ages yet tested--the opportunity to remove items and prevent a puppet from gaining a reward for second- and third-party violations (experiment 1), and we gave 3-year-olds the opportunity to restore items (experiment 2). Children were as likely to engage in third-party interventions as they were when personally affected, yet they did not discriminate among the different sources of harm for the victim. When given a range of options, 3-year-olds chose restoration over removal. It appears that a sense of justice centered on harm caused to victims emerges early in childhood and highlights the value of third-party interventions for human cooperation.
Topics: Child, Preschool; Humans; Models, Psychological; Moral Development; Neuropsychological Tests; Punishment; Social Justice
PubMed: 26096976
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.05.014 -
Journal of the International... Nov 2022Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with altered sensitivity to reward and punishment. Few studies have investigated whether this results in aberrant learning. The...
OBJECTIVES
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with altered sensitivity to reward and punishment. Few studies have investigated whether this results in aberrant learning. The ability to learn from rewarding and aversive experiences is essential for flexibly adapting to changing environments, yet individuals with AN tend to demonstrate cognitive inflexibility, difficulty set-shifting and altered decision-making. Deficient reinforcement learning may contribute to repeated engagement in maladaptive behavior.
METHODS
This study investigated learning in AN using a probabilistic associative learning task that separated learning of stimuli via reward from learning via punishment. Forty-two individuals with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5 restricting-type AN were compared to 38 healthy controls (HCs). We applied computational models of reinforcement learning to assess group differences in learning, thought to be driven by violations in expectations, or prediction errors (PEs). Linear regression analyses examined whether learning parameters predicted BMI at discharge.
RESULTS
AN had lower learning rates than HC following both positive and negative PE ( < .02), and were less likely to exploit what they had learned. Negative PE on punishment trials predicted lower discharge BMI ( < .001), suggesting individuals with more negative expectancies about avoiding punishment had the poorest outcome.
CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study to show lower rates of learning in AN following both positive and negative outcomes, with worse punishment learning predicting less weight gain. An inability to modify expectations about avoiding punishment might explain persistence of restricted eating despite negative consequences, and suggests that treatments that modify negative expectancy might be effective in reducing food avoidance in AN.
Topics: Humans; Punishment; Anorexia Nervosa; Reward; Computer Simulation; Affect
PubMed: 34839845
DOI: 10.1017/S1355617721001326 -
Brain : a Journal of Neurology May 2018The cerebral correlates of altruistic decisions have increasingly attracted the interest of neuroscientists. To date, investigations on the neural underpinnings of...
The cerebral correlates of altruistic decisions have increasingly attracted the interest of neuroscientists. To date, investigations on the neural underpinnings of altruistic decisions have primarily been conducted in healthy adults undergoing functional neuroimaging as they engaged in decisions to punish third parties. The chief purpose of the present study was to investigate altruistic decisions following focal brain damage with a novel altruistic decision task. In contrast to studies that have focused either on altruistic punishment or donation, the Altruistic Decision Task allows players to anonymously punish or donate to 30 charitable organizations involved with salient societal issues such as abortion, nuclear energy and civil rights. Ninety-four Vietnam War veterans with variable patterns of penetrating traumatic brain injury and 28 healthy veterans who also served in combat participated in the study as normal controls. Participants were asked to invest $1 to punish or reward real societal organizations, or keep the money for themselves. Associations between lesion distribution and performance on the task were analysed with multivariate support vector regression, which enables the assessment of the joint contribution of multiple regions in the determination of a given behaviour of interest. Our main findings were: (i) bilateral dorsomedial prefrontal lesions increased altruistic punishment, whereas lesions of the right perisylvian region and left temporo-insular cortex decreased punishment; (ii) altruistic donations were increased by bilateral lesions of the dorsomedial parietal cortex, whereas lesions of the right posterior superior temporal sulcus and middle temporal gyri decreased donations; (iii) altruistic punishment and donation were only weakly correlated, emphasizing their dissociable neuroanatomical associations; and (iv) altruistic decisions were not related to post-traumatic personality changes. These findings indicate that altruistic punishment and donation are determined by largely non-overlapping cerebral regions, which have previously been implicated in social cognition and moral experience such as evaluations of intentionality and intuitions of justice and morality.10.1093/brain/awy064_video1awy064media15758316955001.
Topics: Aged; Altruism; Brain Injuries, Traumatic; Brain Mapping; Decision Making; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Mental Status Schedule; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Punishment; Retrospective Studies; Tomography Scanners, X-Ray Computed; Trauma Severity Indices; Veterans
PubMed: 29590314
DOI: 10.1093/brain/awy064 -
PLoS Computational Biology Jul 2018Motor decision-making is an essential component of everyday life which requires weighing potential rewards and punishments against the probability of successfully...
Motor decision-making is an essential component of everyday life which requires weighing potential rewards and punishments against the probability of successfully executing an action. To achieve this, humans rely on two key mechanisms; a flexible, instrumental, value-dependent process and a hardwired, Pavlovian, value-independent process. In economic decision-making, age-related decline in risk taking is explained by reduced Pavlovian biases that promote action toward reward. Although healthy ageing has also been associated with decreased risk-taking in motor decision-making, it is currently unknown whether this is a result of changes in Pavlovian biases, instrumental processes or a combination of both. Using a newly established approach-avoidance computational model together with a novel app-based motor decision-making task, we measured sensitivity to reward and punishment when participants (n = 26,532) made a 'go/no-go' motor gamble based on their perceived ability to execute a complex action. We show that motor decision-making can be better explained by a model with both instrumental and Pavlovian parameters, and reveal age-related changes across punishment- and reward-based instrumental and Pavlovian processes. However, the most striking effect of ageing was a decrease in Pavlovian attraction towards rewards, which was associated with a reduction in optimality of choice behaviour. In a subset of participants who also played an independent economic decision-making task (n = 17,220), we found similar decision-making tendencies for motor and economic domains across a majority of age groups. Pavlovian biases, therefore, play an important role in not only explaining motor decision-making behaviour but also the changes which occur through normal ageing. This provides a deeper understanding of the mechanisms which shape motor decision-making across the lifespan.
Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Aging; Choice Behavior; Computer Simulation; Conditioning, Classical; Decision Making; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Mobile Applications; Motor Activity; Punishment; Reward; Task Performance and Analysis; Video Games
PubMed: 29979685
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006304 -
International Journal of Environmental... Jan 2023Physical and other types of punishment remain common in Bangladesh, despite overwhelming evidence of their harm and worldwide efforts to decrease their use. One of the...
Physical and other types of punishment remain common in Bangladesh, despite overwhelming evidence of their harm and worldwide efforts to decrease their use. One of the strategic priorities of Save the Children in Bangladesh's Child Protection Program is to protect children from physical and humiliating punishment in homes, schools, and other settings. Save the Children in Bangladesh selected the Positive Discipline in Everyday Parenting (PDEP) Program to provide parents with alternatives to physical punishment that comply with human rights standards while strengthening relationships and understanding of child development. High-risk communities where children are particularly vulnerable were selected for this project. The PDEP program was delivered to 857 parents living in lower socioeconomic areas of Bangladesh, including ethnic minority groups, and parents living in urban slums of Dhaka and rural brothel areas. Due to the low levels of education of the participants (almost two-thirds of participants had not completed elementary school), simplified pre and posttests were utilized. Following program completion, parents' approval of both physical punishment and punishment in general declined; they were less likely to view typical parent-child conflicts as intentional misbehavior and were less reactive to frustration. In addition, parents indicated an increased understanding of the positive discipline and more confidence in their parenting skills. Before taking PDEP, 64% of the parents often felt like they just did not know what to do as a parent, compared to 34% following program completion. PDEP demonstrated the potential to decrease the use of physical and humiliating punishments by parents living in high-risk communities in Bangladesh.
Topics: Humans; Child; Parenting; Bangladesh; Ethnicity; Minority Groups; Child Abuse; Violence; Punishment
PubMed: 36767241
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20031873