Reply #93: Experimental support for the cooperative model envisioned by DK

[Mairead]

(I've mentioned this research before. This article comes from a March '98 issue of Science News)

In new social situations, most individuals try to cooperate and share, according to this view. Those who don't had better beware: Cooperators dispense harsh punishments to people perceived as cheats, liars, or freeloaders. Shared beliefs about what makes for a fair division of some commodity orchestrate decisions about who gets how much of the stuff. Populationwide precepts of fairness apply both to meting out the spoils of hunting in foraging bands and to allocating U.S. tax dollars for welfare benefits. (emphasis added)

http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1200/n13_v153/20481262/p1/article.jhtml