What people learn from punishment: A cognitive model.

ABSTRACT: Authorities, from parents of toddlers to leaders of formal institutions, use punishment to communicate disapproval and enforce social norms. Ideally, from whether and how severely a transgression is punished, targets and observers infer shared social norms. Yet in light of every punitive choice, observers also evaluate the motives and legitimacy of the authority. Here, we show that the effects of punishment can only be understood by considering these inferences simultaneously. We measured human observers' joint inferences empirically in three preregistered experiments ([Formula: see text]) and developed a rational Bayesian model using an inverse planning framework that captures and explains these inferences and their interactions quantitatively and parsimoniously. When people have differen

SUBMITTER: Radkani S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12358846 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature