Editing Punishment (section)

=== In socio-biology ===
Punishment is sometimes called ''[[revenge|retaliatory]]'' or ''[[moralistic aggression]]'';<ref>{{Cite journal|last=T.H., G.A.|first=Clutton-brock, Parker|date=1995|title=Punishment in animal societies|journal=Nature|volume=373|issue=6511|pages=209–216|doi=10.1038/373209a0|pmid=7816134|bibcode=1995Natur.373..209C|s2cid=21638607}}</ref> it has been observed in all{{clarify|date=October 2011|reason= 1. does source say AND support "ALL"? 2. Does source say CHEATING and punishment for CHEATING has been observed in ALL social animals? 3. Does source establish what counts as cheating among all social animals?}} species of [[social animal]]s, leading evolutionary biologists to conclude that it is an [[evolutionarily stable strategy]], selected because it favors [[cooperation|cooperative behavior]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Mary Stohr|author2=Anthony Walsh|author3=Craig Hemmens|title=Corrections: A Text/Reader|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LDcB7-EVi0cC&pg=PA3|year=2008|publisher=Sage|isbn=978-1-4129-3773-3|page=3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fehr, Gätcher|first=Ernst, Simon|date=10 January 2002|title=Altruistic punishment in humans|journal=Nature|volume=415|issue=6868|pages=137–140|doi=10.1038/415137a|pmid=11805825|bibcode=2002Natur.415..137F|s2cid=4310962}}</ref>

However, other evolutionary biologists have argued against punishment to favour cooperation. Dreber et al. demonstrate that while the availability of costly punishment can enhance cooperative behavior, it does not improve the group's average payoff. Additionally, there is a significant negative relationship between the overall payoff and the employment of costly punishment. Individuals who achieve the highest total payoffs generally avoid using costly punishment. This indicates that employing costly punishment in cooperative games may be disadvantageous and suggests that it may have evolved for purposes other than promoting cooperation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dreber |first1=Anna |last2=Rand |first2=David G. |last3=Fudenberg |first3=Drew |last4=Nowak |first4=Martin A. |date=March 2008 |title=Winners don't punish |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=452 |issue=7185 |pages=348–351 |doi=10.1038/nature06723 |issn=1476-4687 |pmc=2292414 |pmid=18354481|bibcode=2008Natur.452..348D }}</ref>

Achieving a certain proportion of trust in the population can lead to self-governance without the need for punishment.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Battu |first1=Balaraju |last2=Rahwan |first2=Talal |date=2023-01-21 |title=Cooperation without punishment |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=1213 |doi=10.1038/s41598-023-28372-y |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=9867775 |pmid=36681708|bibcode=2023NatSR..13.1213B }}</ref>

==== Examples against sociobiological use ====

There are also arguments against the notion of punishment requiring intelligence, based on studies of punishment in very small-brained animals such as [[insect]]s. There is proof of [[honey bee]] workers with mutations that makes them fertile laying eggs only when other honey bees are not observing them, and that the few that are caught in the act are killed.{{Citation needed|date=February 2017}} This is corroborated by [[computer simulation]]s proving that a few simple reactions well within mainstream views of the extremely limited intelligence of insects are sufficient to emulate the "political" behavior observed in [[great ape]]s. The authors argue that this [[falsifiability|falsifies]] the claim that punishment evolved as a strategy to deal with individuals capable of knowing what they are doing.<ref>''How the Body Shapes the Way We Think: A New View of Intelligence'', Rolf Pfeifer, Josh Bongard, foreword by Rodney Brooks. 2006</ref>

In the case of more complex brains, the notion of evolution selecting for specific punishment of intentionally chosen breaches of rules and/or wrongdoers capable of intentional choices (for example, punishing [[human]]s for murder while not punishing lethal [[virus]]es) is subject to criticism from [[coevolution]] issues. That punishment of individuals with certain characteristics (including but, in principle, not restricted to mental abilities) selects against those characteristics, making evolution of any mental abilities considered to be the basis for penal responsibility impossible in populations subject to such selective punishment. Certain scientists argue that this disproves the notion of humans having a biological feeling of intentional transgressions deserving to be punished.<ref>[[Friedrich Nietzsche]] (1886). ''Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future''</ref><ref>Allen, Elizabeth, et al. (1975). "Against 'Sociobiology'". [letter] New York Review of Books 22 (Nov. 13).</ref><ref>Dawkins, Richard (1979). ''Twelve misunderstandings of kin selection''</ref><ref>"Observational Learning in Octopus vulgaris." Graziano Fiorito, Pietro Scotto. 1992.</ref><ref>Aliens of the deep sea, documentary. 2011.</ref>