The Foundations of Human Sociality

Foundations of Human Sociality

Experiments in 15 Small-Scale Societies

Funded by The Preferences Network, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Economic experiments conducted for decades in the west have revealed consistent deviations from predictions of narrowly economically self-interested behavior. Until recently it was difficult to determine whether this finding resulted from universal human motives, or was a property of the university students used as subjects and the developed nature of their societies. Beginning in 1997, we undertook a cross-cultural experimental study in fifteen small-scale societies scattered across the world including Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Indonesia. We found that there was considerably more variation in behavior across societies than had previously been reported and that it correlated positively with the societies' degree of involvement in the market.

Principal Investigators: Joseph Henrich, Robert Boyd

Advisors on Experimentation and Game Theory: Samuel Bowles, Colin Camerer, Catherine Eckel, Ernst Fehr, Herbert Gintis

Field Workers: Michael Alvard, Abigail Barr, Jean Ensminger, Francisco Gil-White, Michael Gurven, Joseph Henrich, Kim Hill, Frank Marlowe, Richard McElreath, John Q. Patton, Natalie Smith, David Tracer