Fair and unfair punishers coexist in the Ultimatum Game
In the Ultimatum Game, a proposer suggests how to split a sum of money with a responder. If the responder rejects the proposal, both players get nothing. Rejection of unfair offers is regarded as a form of punishment implemented by fair-minded individuals, who are willing to impose the cooperation n...
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| Format: | Article |
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Nature Publishing Group
2014
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29812/ |
| _version_ | 1848793857592918016 |
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| author | Brañas-Garza, Pablo Espín, Antonio M. Exadaktylos, Filippos Herrmann, Benedikt |
| author_facet | Brañas-Garza, Pablo Espín, Antonio M. Exadaktylos, Filippos Herrmann, Benedikt |
| author_sort | Brañas-Garza, Pablo |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In the Ultimatum Game, a proposer suggests how to split a sum of money with a responder. If the responder rejects the proposal, both players get nothing. Rejection of unfair offers is regarded as a form of punishment implemented by fair-minded individuals, who are willing to impose the cooperation norm at a personal cost. However, recent research using other experimental frameworks has observed non-negligible levels of antisocial punishment by competitive, spiteful individuals, which can eventually undermine cooperation. Using two large-scale experiments, this note explores the nature of Ultimatum Game punishers by analyzing their behavior in a Dictator Game. In both studies, the coexistence of two entirely different sub-populations is confirmed: prosocial punishers on the one hand, who behave fairly as dictators, and spiteful (antisocial) punishers on the other, who are totally unfair. The finding has important implications regarding the evolution of cooperation and the behavioral underpinnings of stable social systems. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:06:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-29812 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:06:58Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-298122020-05-04T16:52:33Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29812/ Fair and unfair punishers coexist in the Ultimatum Game Brañas-Garza, Pablo Espín, Antonio M. Exadaktylos, Filippos Herrmann, Benedikt In the Ultimatum Game, a proposer suggests how to split a sum of money with a responder. If the responder rejects the proposal, both players get nothing. Rejection of unfair offers is regarded as a form of punishment implemented by fair-minded individuals, who are willing to impose the cooperation norm at a personal cost. However, recent research using other experimental frameworks has observed non-negligible levels of antisocial punishment by competitive, spiteful individuals, which can eventually undermine cooperation. Using two large-scale experiments, this note explores the nature of Ultimatum Game punishers by analyzing their behavior in a Dictator Game. In both studies, the coexistence of two entirely different sub-populations is confirmed: prosocial punishers on the one hand, who behave fairly as dictators, and spiteful (antisocial) punishers on the other, who are totally unfair. The finding has important implications regarding the evolution of cooperation and the behavioral underpinnings of stable social systems. Nature Publishing Group 2014-08-12 Article PeerReviewed Brañas-Garza, Pablo, Espín, Antonio M., Exadaktylos, Filippos and Herrmann, Benedikt (2014) Fair and unfair punishers coexist in the Ultimatum Game. Scientific Reports, 4 (6025). ISSN 2045-2322 http://www.nature.com/articles/srep06025 doi:10.1038/srep06025 doi:10.1038/srep06025 |
| spellingShingle | Brañas-Garza, Pablo Espín, Antonio M. Exadaktylos, Filippos Herrmann, Benedikt Fair and unfair punishers coexist in the Ultimatum Game |
| title | Fair and unfair punishers coexist in the Ultimatum Game |
| title_full | Fair and unfair punishers coexist in the Ultimatum Game |
| title_fullStr | Fair and unfair punishers coexist in the Ultimatum Game |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fair and unfair punishers coexist in the Ultimatum Game |
| title_short | Fair and unfair punishers coexist in the Ultimatum Game |
| title_sort | fair and unfair punishers coexist in the ultimatum game |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29812/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29812/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29812/ |