Altruism and Complexity

Marlow and Berbesque find that "third-party" punishment occurs more often in more complex societies. Second party punishment is defined as punishing those who cheat, or do not cooperate with you. Third party punishment is defined as punishing those who cheat or don't cooperate with others. Perhaps the more complex a society you have, the more control you need over the people and the more control you need, the more sophisticated mechanisms of punishment you need?

Altruism

I just read a post at greater good discussing recent research reported in the New York Times that identifies pet-owners willingness to give affection and love to their pets as evidence of "pure altruism". We give our pets love and affection with no expectation that the pet will give anything in return. Therefore generosity must carry its own rewards i.e. positive emotions, rather than being a means to some favorable end.

On the other hand, perhaps what the pet "gives" is similar to what humans "give" when they practice empathy. Although it appears that the pet gives nothing back, perhaps the mere reception of their love is a gift to us?