Rationality & Society

Read in February’26 issue:

✒️ How to integrate theories of norm emergence
🪪 A rational case for using first names
🙏 Why criminals target the devout
📈 How government and collective action anchor share prices

#BehavioralScience #GameTheory @journals.sagepub.com

🔗 journals.sagepub.com/toc/rssa/38/1

What kind of mind is needed to sustain #cooperation?

🪞 Naïve belief that others think like me — or
🧠 Complex #TheoryOfMind that helps us read their motives?

Wu finds that in sequential #PrisonersDilemma, cooperation breaks down when players model each other's minds.

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João Souto-Maior shows that Black–White #educational #inequality can paradoxically emerge even when people don't discriminate by race.

#ABM study of #OpportunityHoarding where #diffusion clashes with #network #segregation and #consolidation of #race and #SES:

#OpenAccess 🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

The Adaptive Rationality of Interpersonal Commitment - István Back, Andreas Flache, 2008 Why are people inclined to build friendships and maintain durable, non-reproductive relationships? Previous computational modeling work showed that it can be an...

Back & Flache ask whether #evolutionary models can explain why people stay committed to long-term partners even when they sometimes don’t cooperate.

✍️ #Reciprocity sustains #cooperation by punishing defection; #commitment -- by choosing and sticking with cooperative partners.

#ThrowbackThursday

Jonas Stein?
Doctor Jonas Stein!

R&S former Managing editor, now Dr. Jonas Stein, in the midst of brilliantly defending his thesis, supervised by R&S Editor in Chief, Prof. Andreas Flache.

🔗 Reconciling epistemic and identity diversity share.google/s9XwzsqS84CK...

THE INDIRECT EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH: - Werner Güth, Hartmut Kliemt, 1998 Besides opportunistically rational choice, emotion and commitment to norms influence human choice behavior. Traditionally economists have opted for the rational...

If people act #rationally given their preferences, why would they be #cooperative, fair and committed when they can be selfish?

Güth & Kliemt explain that social #preferences persist during #evolution when they lead to objectively better outcomes than pure self-interest.

#ThrowbackThursday

The quality and integrity of Rationality and Society rely on the time, care, and expertise of our volunteer reviewers. Their thoughtful evaluations help ensure contributions are rigorous, clear, and engaging. The Editorial Team warmly thanks our referees for their invaluable reviews in 2024/2025 ⤵️

The Voluntary Provision of Snowmobile Trails on Private Land in Sweden - Sten Anttila, Charlotta Stern, 2005 A snowmobile trail canalizes snow-covered land to create a path of snowmobile travel. This form of communication infrastructure yields two kinds...

As the R&S managing editor has to work from home while snowfalls lock up the Dutch transportation system, she finds herself pondering how #snowmobile trails are organized ❄️

Cue a #ThrowbackThursday read by Anttila & Stern on how local #SelfOrganization solves this #CommonPool resource problem

Is #morality "rational"?

Even "broad" #RationalChoice theory doesn't fully resolve a paradox: Cheating can be seen as rational, but following a "Never lie" norm can’t 🤔

Palacio-Vera offers a way out: Reconsidering what’s rational and combining theoretical frameworks.

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Do #prosocial people sustain #cooperation?

Bouman & Dijkstra @rug.nl ran an #experiment with repeated #SocialDilemma where enough resourceful players needed to invest in #PublicGood.

Takeaway: When others don’t contribute, altruists quickly learn to free-ride.

#OpenAccess: doi.org/10.1177/1043...

THE EVOLUTION OF FAIRNESS NORMS - Ken G. Binmore, 1998 The evidence is strong that modern hunter-gatherer societies approximate the Marxian ideal in which each contributes according to ability and receives according...

Modern hunter-gatherers live by “to each according to need” rule, even though it’s not enforced by leaders or police. Why? Is #fairness ⚖️ a ‘natural duty’?

Binmore traces the #evolution of this #SocialNorm back to prehistoric times, when care and resources were shared among kin.

#ThrowbackThursday

Academic housekeeper (she/her)

With #EqualPay and no #GenderInequality in workload, is #labor #discrimination in #academia overcome?

No, say Yabut & Arapoc. Low-promotable academic housework – committee, community, admin – falls more on the shoulders of married women.

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“Bregretful” from the start 🇬🇧

Even before the UK left the EU, some #Brexit supporters were rethinking their vote.

@sofizqsan.bsky.social & Kara trace who changed their minds in 2017–2019 — and what that says about using #referendums to settle complex issues.

#OpenAccess: doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Read in November’25 issue:

🇬🇧 Who regretted #Brexit?
🎓 What gender are “ #academic housekeepers”?
🤝 When do #altruists turn free-riders?
🤔 What explains #morality?
🧠 Does #TheoryOfMind hinder #cooperation?

#BehavioralScience #GameTheory @journals.sagepub.com

🔗 journals.sagepub.com/toc/rssa/37/4

Can Emotionality and Rationality be Reconciled? - LYNN SMITH-LOVIN, 1993 Economists invoke emotions narrowly to solve commitment problems; sociologists view emotions as a more pervasive basic feature of social life. A complete approa...

So what are #emotions?

🔨 Tools that rational agents use for #strategic calculation?
🧲 Or forces that shape #social life — directing attention, defining what counts as #rational #choice?

Smith-Lovin argues that emotions frame rationality itself. 🎞

🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1043...

Emotions as Strategic Signals - Don Ross, Paul Dumouchel, 2004 In this article, we ask how much, if anything, of Robert Frank’s (1988, 2004) theory of emotions as evolved strategic commitment devices can sur...

Frank saw #emotions as adding weight to promises and threats — enabling #cooperation in #PrisonersDilemma. But his #GameTheory model was criticized.

Ross & Dumouchel reframe emotions as #SocialSignals that help us coordinate on “which game” we’re playing.

🔗 journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

"I don't tip because society says I have to”?

In the paper following the renowned book “Passions Within Reason”, Frank explains why we commit to tipping and other #SocialNorms that go against our #SelfInterest.

Opening #ThrowbackThursday 🧵 on #emotions in #rationality:
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When someone faints on the street, 🧑🏽‍🤝‍🧑🏻 several people can jump to help — even if just one person's help is needed. But how to make sure there is at least one #volunteer among #bystanders?

Konrad shows how team discussion can solve the volunteer's #dilemma.

Read #OpenAccess: doi.org/10.1177/1043...

⚔️ Is #Germany split 50/50 on #immigration and Islam?

Windzio finds: “conservative-skeptical” and “open-trusting” Germans aren’t opposites in how they think of #minorities or state institutions — but their political views reflect different #moral values.

#polarization

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The Effect of Structural Embeddedness on the Division of Household Labor: A Game-Theoretic Model Using a Network Approach - Yoosik Youm, Edward O. Laumann, 2003 Various economic and sociological approaches have attempted to solve the puzzle of persistent gender inequality in the division of housework, but...

#PayGap and unequal division of household labor both contribute to a vicious circle of #GenderInequality.

Youm & Laumann highlight a surprising factor that can break it: partners’ overlapping friendship circles.

#ThrowbackThursday on #EqualPayDay:

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Launching a #startup and worried your #crowdfunding campaign might fall short? Ask for less — lower targets often get overfunded 💰. Why?

Barrachina & Jiménez-Fernández explain the equity crowdfunding paradox with #GameTheory.

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Caplan’s "rational irrationality" has faced many critiques. Why are people #rational in daily life but irrational on #election day 🗳️?

In defense, Manor argues that political beliefs differ from other ones in two key ways — how they connect to action and how we form them.

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Evergreens:

📣 Why people embrace #populism?

💬 "the general public tends to see `major problems' that experts doubt are problems at all"

🤥 Do populist politicians really believe what they say?

💬 "[electoral] competition <...> selects for politicians who genuinely share [their voters'] biases"

The Logic of Collective Belief - Bryan Caplan, 2003 Many political failure arguments implicitly assume that voters are irrational. This article argues that this assumption is both theoretically and...

If better policies are out there, sticking to your guns is irrational… right? 🤔

Wrong, says Caplan. It’s rational to be biased in politics — when your vote doesn’t change the outcome, why bother scrutinizing beliefs?

#ThrowbackThursday on #VoterBehavior, #PublicChoice, and rational irrationality:

What’s common between USB 💻 and birthday candles 🎂?

Industry standards & social norms are results of consensus 🤝. How to reach it?

Renzini’s #GameTheory #ABM shows: choosing popular partners in #SocialNetworks boosts coordination while chasing personal gain weakens it.

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