Morality evolves in two steps, from selfish reciprocity to intrinsic fairness.
Evidence
Step 1: Partner choice favors individuals who share equally the costs and benefits of cooperative interactions (see sect. 2.1.4). At the psychological level, mutually advantageous reciprocity is motivated by selfish reasons and Machiavellian calculus. … Step 2: Competition among cooperative partners leads to the selection of a disposition to be intrinsically motivated to be fair (as discussed in this section). At the psychological level, mutually advantageous reciprocity is motivated by a genuine concern for fairness. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 73
Categorization
- SEED: Essay angle: the fumi-e ceremony targets exactly Step-1 vs Step-2 psychology — cheap observable apostasy destroys the partner-choice signal at step 2, not just the cooperation at step 1.
- XREF: connects to: Morality evolved because fair partners were preferred in cooperative interactions — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 4; Moral fairness may itself have been shaped by natural selection. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 12; Cooperation and morality are distinct categories. — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality: The…, 15 (+6 more)
Related
- Morality evolved as a propensity for fair cost-benefit sharing among cooperators. (similarity 0.91)
- Morality evolved because fair partners were preferred in cooperative interactions (similarity 0.90)
- Morality evolves from individual partner-choice competition, not group selection. (similarity 0.88)
- Morality may have evolved via partner choice over partner control (similarity 0.88)
- A disposition to fairness can evolve even when unshared, unlike a disposition to cooperate. (similarity 0.88)
- Morality is an evolved sense of fairness, not a late intellectual achievement (similarity 0.87)
- Fairness evolved as a psychological device because outside market options constrain benefit distribution. (similarity 0.87)
- Fairness is not reducible to mutualistic partner choice. (similarity 0.86)
- Morality extends beyond fairness among strangers to relational obligations (similarity 0.86)
- Morality is about fair cooperation, not maximizing welfare. (similarity 0.85)
- Moral fairness may itself have been shaped by natural selection. (similarity 0.85)
- Fairness evolves from partner choice, not partner control (similarity 0.85)
- Fairness evolved to distribute payoffs by input, not equally. (similarity 0.84)
- Partner-choice cooperation theory does not explain the intrinsic moral sense. (similarity 0.84)
- Cooperation and morality are distinct categories. (similarity 0.84)
Broader Connections
- Morality evolved as a propensity for fair cost-benefit sharing among cooperators.
#corroborates(0.85) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 266 - Morality evolves from individual partner-choice competition, not group selection.
#expands(0.75) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 605 - Fairness regulates rather than generates the moralized expression of evolved dispositions
#complicates(0.70) — Nicolas Baumard, A mutualistic approach to morality, 692