Department of Sociology/ICS, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Department of Sociology, University of Leipzig, Germany.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2021 Nov 22;376(1838):20200294. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0294. Epub 2021 Oct 4.
Why do people adorn themselves with elaborate body piercings or tattoos, wear obstructing garbs, engage in life-threatening competitions and other wasteful and harmful but socially stipulated practices? Norms of cooperation and coordination, which promote the efficient attainment of collective benefits, can be explained by theories of collective action. However, social norms prescribing wasteful and harmful behaviours have eluded such explanations. We argue that signalling theory constitutes the basis for the understanding of the emergence of such norms, which we call signalling norms. Signalling norms emerge as a result of the uncertainty about who is a friend and who is a foe. The need to overcome this uncertainty arises when different groups compete for scarce resources and individuals must be able to identify, trust and cooperate with their fellow group members. After reviewing the mechanisms that explain the emergence of cooperation and coordination norms, we introduce the notion of signalling norms as markers of group distinction. We argue that adherence to signalling norms constitutes a commitment promoting parochial cooperation rather than a quality-revealing signal facilitating partner choice. We formalize our argument in a game-theoretic model that allows us to specify the boundary conditions for the emergence of signalling norms. Our paper concludes with a discussion of potential applications of our model and a comparison of signalling norms with related concepts. This article is part of the theme issue 'The language of cooperation: reputation and honest signalling'.
人们为什么要佩戴精美的身体穿孔饰品或纹身，穿戴着碍手碍脚的衣物，参与危及生命的竞赛以及其他浪费且有害但却为社会所规定的行为呢？能够促进集体利益有效实现的合作与协调规范，可以用集体行动理论来解释。然而，规定浪费和有害行为的社会规范却无法用这些理论来解释。我们认为，信号传递理论是理解这些规范（我们称之为信号传递规范）出现的基础。信号传递规范的出现是由于对谁是朋友、谁是敌人存在不确定性。当不同群体争夺稀缺资源时，就会产生克服这种不确定性的需求，而个人必须能够识别、信任并与自己所属群体的成员合作。在回顾了解释合作与协调规范出现的机制之后，我们提出了信号传递规范的概念，将其作为群体区分的标志。我们认为，遵守信号传递规范是促进狭隘合作的承诺，而不是促进伙伴选择的质量揭示信号。我们在一个博弈论模型中形式化了我们的论点，该模型允许我们指定信号传递规范出现的边界条件。我们的论文最后讨论了我们模型的潜在应用，并比较了信号传递规范与相关概念。本文是主题为“合作的语言：声誉与诚实信号”的特刊的一部分。
