Grand Challenges in Social Physics: In Pursuit of Moral Behavior

Methods of statistical physics have proven valuable for studying the evolution of cooperation in social dilemma games. However, recent empirical research shows that cooperative behavior in social dilemmas is only one kind of a more general class of behavior, namely moral behavior, which includes rec...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in physics 2018-10, Vol.6
Main Authors: Capraro, Valerio, Perc, Matjaž
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
cooperation
evolutionary game theory
network science
public good
social dilemma
statistical physics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Methods of statistical physics have proven valuable for studying the evolution of cooperation in social dilemma games. However, recent empirical research shows that cooperative behavior in social dilemmas is only one kind of a more general class of behavior, namely moral behavior, which includes reciprocity, respecting others' property, honesty, equity, efficiency, as well as many others. Inspired by these experimental works, we here open up the path toward studying other forms of moral behavior with methods of statistical physics. We argue that this is a far-reaching direction for future research that can help us answer fundamental questions about human sociality. Why did our societies evolve as they did? What moral principles are more likely to emerge? What happens when different moral principles clash? Can we predict the break out of moral conflicts in advance and contribute to their solution? These are amongst the most important questions of our time, and methods of statistical physics could lead to new insights and contribute toward finding answers.
ISSN:2296-424X
2296-424X
DOI:10.3389/fphy.2018.00107