No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Competitive morality
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2013
Abstract
Baumard et al. argue that partner choice leads to fairness and mutualism, which then form the basis for morality. I comment that mutualism takes us only so far, and I apply the theory of competitive altruism in arguing how strategic investment in behaviours which make one a desirable partner may drive moral conduct.
- Type
- Open Peer Commentary
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013
References
Alexander, R. (1987) The biology of moral systems (Foundations of human behavior). Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Barclay, P. (2006) Reputational benefits for altruistic punishment. Evolution and Human Behavior 27(5):325–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bereczkei, T., Birkas, B. & Kerekes, Z. (2007) Public charity offer as a proximate factor of evolved reputation-building strategy: An experimental analysis of a real-life situation. Evolution and Human Behavior 28(4):277–84.Google Scholar
Johnstone, R. A. (1997) The tactics of mutual mate choice and competitive search. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 40(1):51–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kurzban, R., DeScioli, P. & O'Brien, E. (2007) Audience effects on moralistic punishment. Evolution and Human Behavior 28(2):75–84. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.06.001.Google Scholar
Leimar, O. & Hammerstein, P. (2001) Evolution of cooperation through indirect reciprocity. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences 268(1468):745–53.Google Scholar
Lyle, H., Smith, E. & Sullivan, R. (2009) Blood donations as costly signals of donor quality. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 7(4):263–86. doi:10.1556/JEP.7.2009.4.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maynard Smith, J. & Harper, D. (2003) Animal signals. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milinski, M., Semmann, D., Bakker, T. C. M. & Krambeck, H. J. (2001) Cooperation through indirect reciprocity: Image scoring or standing strategy? Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences 268(1484):2495–501.Google Scholar
Miller, G. F. (2007) Sexual selection for moral virtues. Quarterly Review of Biology 82(2):97–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Noë, R. & Hammerstein, P. (1994) Biological markets: Supply and demand determine the effect of partner choice in cooperation, mutualism and mating. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 35(1):1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nowak, M. A. & Sigmund, K. (2005) Evolution of indirect reciprocity. Nature 437:1291–97.Google Scholar
Roberts, G. (1998) Competitive altruism: From reciprocity to the handicap principle. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B: Biological Sciences 265(1394):427–31.Google Scholar
Roberts, G. (2005) Cooperation through interdependence. Animal Behaviour 70(4):901–908.Google Scholar
Roberts, G. (2008) Evolution of direct and indirect reciprocity. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, B: Biological Sciences 275(1631):173–79.Google Scholar
Sherratt, T. N. & Roberts, G. (1998) The evolution of generosity and choosiness in cooperative exchanges. Journal of Theoretical Biology 193(1):167–77.Google Scholar
Sigmund, K. (2012) Moral assessment in indirect reciprocity. Journal of Theoretical Biology 299:25–30. doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.03.024.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sylwester, K. & Roberts, G. (2010) Cooperators benefit through reputation-based partner choice in economic games. Biology Letters 6(5):659–62. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2010.0209.Google Scholar
Van Vugt, M., Roberts, G. & Hardy, C. (2007) Competitive altruism: Development of reputation-based cooperation in groups. In: Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, ed. Dunbar, R. & Barrett, L., pp. 531–40. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Target article
A mutualistic approach to morality: The evolution of fairness by partner choice
Related commentaries (28)
A strange(r) analysis of morality: A consideration of relational context and the broader literature is needed
Bargaining power and the evolution of un-fair, non-mutualistic moral norms
Baumard et al.'s moral markets lack market dynamics
Beyond economic games: A mutualistic approach to the rest of moral life
Biological evolution and behavioral evolution: Two approaches to altruism
Can mutualistic morality predict how individuals deal with benefits they did not deserve?
Competitive morality
Cooperation and fairness depend on self-regulation
Disentangling the sense of ownership from the sense of fairness
Does market competition explain fairness?
Ego function of morality and developing tensions that are “within”
Evidence for partner choice in toddlers: Considering the breadth of other-oriented behaviours
From mutualism to moral transcendence
From partner choice to equity – and beyond?
Heterogeneity in fairness views: A challenge to the mutualistic approach?
Intertemporal bargaining predicts moral behavior, even in anonymous, one-shot economic games1
Modeling justice as a natural phenomenon
More to morality than mutualism: Consistent contributors exist and they can inspire costly generosity in others
Mutualism is only a part of human morality
Non-mutualistic morality
Not all mutualism is fair, and not all fairness is mutualistic
Partner selection, coordination games, and group selection
Sense of fairness: Not by itself a moral sense and not a foundation of a lot of morality
The emotional shape of our moral life: Anger-related emotions and mutualistic anthropology
The paradox of the missing function: How similar is moral mutualism to biofunctional understanding?
You can't have it both ways: What is the relation between morality and fairness?
Your theory of the evolution of morality depends upon your theory of morality
“Fair” outcomes without morality in cleaner wrasse mutualism
Author response
Partner choice, fairness, and the extension of morality