Another observation that may or may not be related to the "children are much less cooperative tha adults-thesis" is this: children are some of the "best" soldiers in terms of ruthlesness and willingless to kill (something it can be very hard getting well trained adult soldiers to do - even in "it's him or me" situations).
I must admit that I am basing my statement on children soldiers primarily on anecdotal evidence (the pol pot regime, wars in africa, etc) - maybe someone on the list knows otherwise Anyway. If true, thi´s could point to the explanation that children are simply less socialised / civilised than adults. - jacob braestrup > Why are adults so much more cooperative than children? A contrarian > might dispute this, but I'd say it's pretty obvious. Kids resort to > violence very quickly, adults very slowly. Kids go out of their way to > hurt other kids' feelings; adults try to avoid saying anything that > might get back to someone they don't like. Kids steal stuff from other > kids much more readily than adults would. Etc. > > A few explanations: > > 1. Adults have a much higher absolute IQ than kids (i.e., kids' IQs are > age-adjusted, adults' IQs are not), so they are smart enough to > recognize the indirect effects of their behavior. > > 2. Adults have lower time preference than kids. > > 3. Adults have had more time to learn about indirect consequences. > > 4. Adults are just less spiteful. > > 5. Adults face harsher punishment. > > 6. The child and adult worlds are in two very different coordination > equilibria. Notice how drastically the 12th-grade high school culture > differs from the 1st-year college culture. > > Other ideas? > -- > Prof. Bryan Caplan > Department of Economics George Mason University > http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > "He wrote a letter, but did not post it because he felt that no one > would have understood what he wanted to say, and besides it was not > necessary that anyone but himself should understand it." > Leo Tolstoy, *The Cossacks* > > -- NeoMail - Webmail
