Sarah Peacey

Humans are unusual in cooperating on a large scale, so often cooperate with unrelated individuals. Reputation, based on factors such as gossip or even social group affiliation, is a unique human feature that may underpin some human cooperative systems. My research examines the role of reputation in cooperation over a range of ecological and cultural circumstances: (i) Cross-cultural examination of ethnographic literature using phylogenetic methods to examine how societies use reputational punishment/rewards, (ii) public goods games, (iii) observational study of traditional societies (e.g. the Saami in Norway and the role of cooperation and reputation in reindeer herding practices).