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costly signaling

Essays tagged “costly signaling”. Follow an idea across the archive.

Essays on costly signaling

2 essays

Jul 8, 2026ACX

Your Book Review: The Book Of Abraham

A deep dive into the Book of Abraham, focusing on how Joseph Smith's translations of Egyptian papyri were definitively proven false by Egyptologists, yet Mormonism continues to thrive—raising questions about whether instrumental rationality trumps epistemic rationality.

108 min read 16,711 words

Mar 31, 2011LW

Guilt: Another Gift Nobody Wants

Scott proposes that guilt evolved as a costly signal to prove trustworthiness to potential cooperation partners, explaining why guilt involves public self-punishment and can even occur when someone hasn't done anything wrong.

15 min read 2,285 words

cooperation costly signaling evolutionary psychology