Data from: Human punishment is not primarily motivated by inequality aversion

Previous theorizing about punishment has suggested that human punishment is motivated by inequality per se. However, the research supporting such an interpretation contains important methodological confounds. The current research seeks to remove these confounds and, in doing so, finds that human punishment does not appear to be motivated by inequality per se. Instead, human punishment seems to respond primarily to the infliction of costs, with inequality only becoming relevant in cases where welfare is traded off between individuals.

既往关于惩罚的理论研究指出，人类的惩罚行为本质上源于对不平等的考量。然而，支持该论断的相关研究存在显著的方法学混淆问题。本研究旨在消除这些方法学混淆，经此操作后发现，人类的惩罚行为本质上并非源于对不平等的考量。相反，人类的惩罚行为似乎主要针对他人施加的成本，仅当个体间存在福利权衡的场景中，不平等才会与惩罚行为产生关联。