The Neural Basis of Altruistic Punishment

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 305; no. 5688; pp. 1254 - 1258
• Main Authors: Dominique J. -F. de Quervain, Fischbacher, Urs, Treyer, Valerie, Schellhammer, Melanie, Schnyder, Ulrich, Buck, Alfred, Fehr, Ernst
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 27.08.2004; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Adult; Altruism; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Behavior; Behavior Standards; Behavioral neuroscience; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological altruism; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain Mapping; Caudate nucleus; Caudate Nucleus - diagnostic imaging; Caudate Nucleus - physiology; Cheating; Cooperation; Cooperation (Economics); Corpus Striatum - diagnostic imaging; Corpus Striatum - physiology; Desire; Economic sanctions; Economics; Emotions; Endowments; Frontal Lobe - diagnostic imaging; Frontal Lobe - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Games, Experimental; Human acts; Human behavior; Human behaviour; Humans; Likert Scales; Male; Motivation; Neurology; Norms; Personal Satisfaction; Prefrontal Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Prefrontal Cortex - physiology; Psychological aspects; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Punishment; Reward; Sanctions; Statistical Data; Surveys and Questionnaires; Thalamus; Thalamus - diagnostic imaging; Thalamus - physiology; Tomography; Tomography, Emission-Computed; Violations; Radionuclide study; Human; Punishment; Social norm; Social behavior; Topography; Central nervous system; Altruism; Encephalon; Emission tomography
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1100735

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.