JAN 28

5: JAN 28.

Assigned

• Wrangham C10 – “The Evolution of Right and Wrong” – 1st half (198-212; 14) Key concepts: Good Samaritan Problem, emotions as moral guides, interference, baby prosociality, Ultimatum Game, reverse dominance hierarchies, self-protection, conformity, obedience, shame, guilt, and embarrassment.

In Class

• Writing Workshop on Practice Writing
• Wrangham's broader argument in "The Goodness Paradox"

Wrangham's broader argument in "The Goodness Paradox"

• Here are a couple of topics from earlier chapters that it will be helpful for you to know about:

• Claims about aggression in humans.
• A bit of history on the self-domestication hypothesis.
• Bonobos!
• The Tyrant Problem
• Capital Punishment as a solution

Wrangham C10 – “The Evolution of Right and Wrong”

• C10 - Self-dom is a broad gene/culture theory, but also shaped morality. Coalitionary aggression could also police conformity to expectations. Values! Proactive aggression is a source of social control.

• Kullabak story.

• Humans very groupish. 90%chimp 10% bee. But group benefits aren’t the only motivation for morality. Also, perhaps, self-interest in avoiding negative judgements from a dominant groups or value consensus. “We evolved to fear the killing power of the men in the group” 200.

• Note mention of Tomasello and Henrich. Different but compatible theories Evo. Psych and Cultural Evolution.

• part of the “goodness paradox” is that people who commit genocide are often conventionally moral in other areas of their lives. “Most violence is motivated by moral emotions.” 202.

• Three problems:

• 1. Why are we so prosocial. Good Samaritan problem
• 2. Emotions as moral guides - how do we classify actions as “right” and “wrong”?
• 3. Interfering with others

• 1st Problem. Good Sam problem - Why have we evolution to be nicer to one another than other mammals? Maybe “Veneer Theory”, 203-204, but toddlers are spontaneously helpful and babies are deeply prosocial (watch video on babies). 3yr olds will disobey commands that involve harm. (Digression on baby prosociality and theory of mind. Helper and hinderer puppet shows: Yale Theory of Mind & Baby prosociality Basic Puppet set up for prosociality studies on babies. )

• Ultimatum Game (205)- also demonstrates that we are not strictly rational about sharing. Donor’s offer about 1/2, anticipating Decider’s sense of fairness. (Culturally variable.). The Ultimatum Game gives us a way of measuring deviation from "neutral" rationality (rationality without considering social expectations).

• Group selection theory might help solve the Good Sam problem, but group selection might not benefit the whole group. Example of control of women in some Hunter-gatherer society. “We need other mechanisms to explain how self-sacrificing behavior evolved (the Good Sam problem)

• 2nd Problem. How do we classify actions as right or wrong? 208: We are both utilitarian and deontological (duty to a principle). Trolley problem v. Organ donor. (Digression to show "The Trolley Problem" The Trolley Problem)

• Three biases that help explain how we classify actions right or wrong:

• Inaction bias - we favor omission over commission.
• Side Effect bias - we favor avoiding intentional harm.
• Noncontact bias - we have a bias against physical contact with someone being harmed.

• research: thought to be connected to nonmoral cognitive bias. Others add that they may confer benefits.

• 3rd Problem. Interfering with others. We are we so committed to values that we engage in 3rd party punishment in some situations and avoid interference in others.

• Chimps - Passion and Pom, and Prof. young mother Gilka. Passion charges her and kills her baby, Otta. Not atypical for chimps. Sudden violent behavior toward a chimp without obvious provocation. Thought to be a strategy (show of violence) for securing food. Point: males police some of this behavior, but not much. Very little 3rd party punishment.

• By contrast, humans punish (differently) and are more generous.

• 1st half of reading ends here.

• Theories that help with these three theoretical problems:

• Boehm’s theory - reverse dominance hierarchy - is that Homo sapiens used coalitionary proactive aggression to control alpha males. This would produce a selection pressure against alpha male reactive aggression. Then, with the discover of “coalitionary power”, males use that power to enforce expectations on pain of execution. Read at bot 213: in hunter-gather groups (and human societies prior to about 200 years ago) you can be killed for LOTS of things. (Note this also gives an account of patriarchy.). “Once men dominate the society through their control of death, their word becomes law.” “Some three hundred thousand years ago, males discovered absolute power.” 215.

• Reverse dominance hierarchy - a social hierarchy based on reversing power of the dominant members by use of a coalition of proactively aggressive males or females.

• 216-221: Wrangham’s “solutions” to the three puzzles.

• 1. Prosociality - Good Samaritan problem - Following Boehm, W argues that coalitions of militant egalitarians would cut down bullies. Two further possibilities: they might do it from judgements about the good of the group (enforcing cooperation) or from self-interest of the coalition of males. Either way prosocial behavior would be rewarded.

• 2. Emotions as moral guides - how do we classify actions as “right” and “wrong”? The three biases seem like defenses against a possible accusation. "I did nothing" "That wasn't my goal" "I never touched them". Makes sense in a linguistic world of gossip and reputation, especially if there is a proactively aggressive coalition of men policing things. Could be origin of "inner voice" of conscience. Helps us steer clear of moral mobs.

• 3. Interfering with others. Why do we monitor each other's behavior and intervene sometimes? W claims this reflects a bias toward conformity, that is, not wanting to be seen as a nonconformist (or the moral mob will get you). Shame, embarassment, guilt, pain from being ostracized, all only human responses. read about embarassment 219. Cyberball research 220.