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Nature 415, 125-128 (10 January 2002) | doi:10.1038/415125a
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Behavioural science: Homo reciprocans
Samuel Bowles1 & Herbert Gintis2
Abstract
Humans are often generous, but cooperation unravels when others take advantage of them. Many people punish such 'free riders', even if they do not benefit personally, and this 'altruistic punishment' sustains cooperation.
Garrett Hardin1 famously described a group of herders whose pursuit of self-interest leads to overgrazing of a pasture, driving it to ruin. His term for the process, the 'tragedy of the commons', underlined its inexorable nature.
- Samuel Bowles is at the Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
e-mail: Email: bowles@santafe.edu - Herbert Gintis is at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA.
e-mail: Email: hgintis@mediaone.net
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