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Culture: The missing piece in theories of weak and strong reciprocity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2012

Dwight Read
Dwight Read
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095. [email protected]://www.anthro.ucla.edu/people/faculty?lid=886
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Abstract

Guala does not go far enough in his critique of the assumption that human decisions about sharing made in the context of experimental game conditions accurately reflect decision-making under real conditions. Sharing of hunted animals is constrained by cultural rules and is not “spontaneous cooperation” as assumed in models of weak and strong reciprocity. Missing in these models is the cultural basis of sharing that makes it a group property rather than an individual one.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , February 2012 , pp. 35 - 36
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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