The Neural Basis of Altruistic Punishment
Abstract
Many people voluntarily incur costs to punish violations of social norms. Evolutionary models and empirical evidence indicate that such altruistic punishment has been a decisive force in the evolution of human cooperation. We used H 2 15 O positron emission tomography to examine the neural basis for altruistic punishment of defectors in an economic exchange. Subjects could punish defection either symbolically or effectively. Symbolic punishment did not reduce the defector's economic payoff, whereas effective punishment did reduce the payoff. We scanned the subjects' brains while they learned about the defector's abuse of trust and determined the punishment. Effective punishment, as compared with symbolic punishment, activated the dorsal striatum, which has been implicated in the processing of rewards that accrue as a result of goal-directed actions. Moreover, subjects with stronger activations in the dorsal striatum were willing to incur greater costs in order to punish. Our findings support the hypothesis that people derive satisfaction from punishing norm violations and that the activation in the dorsal striatum reflects the anticipated satisfaction from punishing defectors.
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Altruistic punishment is a prominent solution to the challenge of free riding.
“Free riding poses a major challenge to self-governance, and a prominent solution to this challenge has been altruistic punishment.”
From Cooperation without punishment (2023) · cites this paper as [31]
Neuro-economic experiments show that moralistic emotions have a physiological basis.
“Neuro-economic experiments show that these emotions have a physiological basis 15-17 .”
From Evolution of indirect reciprocity (2005) · cites this paper as [17]
Neurobiological variables have only rarely been used as predictors of individual differences in altruism.
“and neurobiological variables have only rarely been used as predictors of individual differences in altruism (de Quervain et al., 2004;Harbaugh et al., 2007;Hare et al., 2010;Moll et al., 2006;Tricomi et al., 2010).”
From Linking Brain Structure and Activation in Temporoparietal Junction to Explain the Neurobiology of Human Altruism (2012) · cites this paper as de Quervain et al., 2004
The striatum displays signals related to making a decision to punish someone for acting unfairly.
“The striatum displays signals that are related to making a decision to punish someone for acting unfairly 96, 97, as well as related to observing a punishment meted out to someone who has acted unfairly 98.”
From The social brain and reward: Social information processing in the human striatum (2014) · cites this paper as [96]
Increased dorsal striatum activity is associated with a decision to punish a partner who has acted unfairly, even when we must incur a cost to punish the partner.
“Increased dorsal striatum activity is associated with a decision to punish a partner who has acted unfairly, even when we must incur a cost to punish the partner 96, 97.”
From The social brain and reward: Social information processing in the human striatum (2014) · cites this paper as [96]
A previous imaging study reported enhanced activation in dorsal striatum (caudate nucleus) when individuals punished defectors in a sequential Prisoner's Dilemma game.
“These findings complement those of a previous imaging study that reported enhanced activation in dorsal striatum (caudate nucleus) when individuals punished defectors (by delivering ‘punishment points’) in a sequential Prisoner's Dilemma game21.”
From Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others (2006) · cites this paper as [21]
Enhanced activation in ventral striatum to a signal indicating that a defector is receiving pain is in agreement with the hypothesis that humans derive satisfaction simply from seeing justice administered.
“The findings of enhanced activation in ventral striatum to a signal indicating that a defector is receiving pain are in agreement with the hypothesis that humans derive satisfaction simply from seeing justice administered15,21, even if the instrument of punishment is out of their control.”
From Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others (2006) · cites this paper as [21]
It has been shown that people reward others for cooperative behaviour but punish violations of social fairness even at a personal cost, an effect likely to be mediated by neural mechanisms that provide intrinsic motivation (satisfaction) from punishing violators.
“It has been shown that people reward others for cooperative behaviour but punish violations of social fairness even at a personal cost15,16, an effect likely to be mediated by neural mechanisms that provide intrinsic motivation (that is, satisfaction) from punishing violators21.”
From Empathic neural responses are modulated by the perceived fairness of others (2006) · cites this paper as [21]
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- Authors
- de Quervain, D. J.-F., Fischbacher, U., Treyer, V., Schellhammer, M., Schnyder, U., Buck, A., & Fehr, E.
- Affiliations
- Division of Psychiatry Research, University of Zurich, Lenggstrasse 31, 8029 Zurich, Switzerland.
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Fischbacher, Urs
- Fehr, Ernst
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 2004-08-27
- Volume
- 305
- Issue
- 5688
- Pages
- 1254-1258
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W1825286732
- Cited by
- 1,768
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 63 · 2022: 64 · 2021: 80 · 2020: 97 · 2019: 59 · 2018: 68 · 2017: 64 · 2016: 59 · 2015: 89 · 2014: 95 · 2013: 103 · 2012: 119
- FWCI
- 249.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Keywords
- altruistic punishment, social norms, evolution of cooperation, dorsal striatum, symbolic punishment, breach of trust, economic exchange
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Altruism, Brain Mapping, Caudate Nucleus, Corpus Striatum, Emotions, Frontal Lobe, Games, Experimental, Humans, Male, Personal Satisfaction, Punishment, Surveys and Questionnaires, Reward, Thalamus, Tomography, Emission-Computed, Prefrontal Cortex
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