Psychological Foundations: Modeling Morality

Psychological Models

The NeoThymos system is grounded in four categories of psychological model -

Category	Model Represents…
cognitive appraisal theory	emotional responses to stimuli
emotional state models	continuous affective internal states
personality psychology	structure of individual differences
models of moral judgement	moral cognition, standards and norms
In this article we are concerned with models of moral judgement specifically, Morality as Cooperation (MAC).

MAC - Morality as Cooperation

Developed by anthropologist Dr. Oliver Scott Curry and his colleagues at the University of Oxford’s Institute of Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology, the Morality as Cooperation (MAC) theory provides a groundbreaking evolutionary framework for understanding human ethics.

Evolution of cooperation

The theory posits that morality is not an arbitrary cultural construct, but rather a collection of biological and cultural solutions to the universal problems of cooperation that emerge from social living. Drawing extensively from evolutionary game theory and cooperative game theory, MAC identifies how different types of social dilemmas—from helping relatives (kin selection) to reciprocal exchanges (reciprocal altruism)—have shaped distinct moral intuitions across human societies.

MAC Theory Overview

The MAC model specifies seven universal moral domains that correspond to different cooperation problems:

• Family - protecting & nurturing family (kin altruism)
• Group - supporting your group (mutualism)
• Reciprocity - returning favors (reciprocal altruism)
• Heroism - being brave (competitive altruism)
• Deference - deferring to superiors (dominance hierarchy coordination)
• Fairness - dividing resources fairly (coordination games)
• Property - respecting property (conflict resolution)

Each domain represents an evolutionarily stable solution to specific cooperation challenges identified in game-theoretic models, from the Prisoner’s Dilemma to coordination games.

Critical distinctions:

• Reciprocity and Fairness are often conflated but operate on completely different logic. Reciprocity is personal and relational (managing long-term ledgers with specific known partners). Fairness is impersonal and abstract (applying equal principles to all, including strangers).
• Heroism and Deference are complementary opposites — both resolve conflict without violence, but through dominance display vs. submission respectively.
• The last four; Heroism, Deference, Fairness and Property are all related to the same problem - conflict resolution.

Empirical Validation

This comprehensive framework was validated through cross-cultural research and formally presented in Curry et al.’s influential 2019 paper, “Is It Good to Cooperate? Testing the Theory of Morality-as-Cooperation in 60 Societies,” published in Current Anthropology, demonstrating that these moral foundations appear consistently across diverse human societies, supporting the theory’s claim that cooperation—not arbitrary cultural variation—lies at the heart of human morality.