Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Human behaviour

Punisher pays

The tendency of humans to punish perceived free-loaders, even at a cost to themselves, is an evolutionary puzzle: punishers perish, and those who benefit the most are those who have never punished at all.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Winners don't punish.

POPPERFOTO/GETTY IMAGES

References

  1. Trivers, R. L. Q. Rev. Biol. 46, 35–57 (1971).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Yamagishi, T. J. Pers. Social Psychol. 51, 110–116 (1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Fehr, E. & Gächter, S. Nature 415, 137–140 (2002).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Gürerk, Ö., Irlenbusch, B. & Rockenbach, B. Science 312, 108–111 (2006).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Sigmund, K. Trends Ecol. Evol. 22, 593–600 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Dreber, A., Rand, D. G., Fudenberg, D. & Nowak, M. A. Nature 452, 348–351 (2008).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Axelrod, R. & Hamilton, W. D. Science 211, 1390–1396 (1981).

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Herrmann, B., Thöni, C. & Gächter, S. Science 319, 1362–1367 (2008).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Sanfey, A. G., Rilling, J. K., Aronson, J. A., Nystrom, L. E. & Cohen, J. D. Science 300, 1755–1758 (2003).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Rockenbach, B. & Milinski, M. Nature 444, 718–723 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Milinski, M., Rockenbach, B. Punisher pays. Nature 452, 297–298 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/452297a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/452297a

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing