Third-party punishment
THEORY APPLICABLE TO BIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, AND SOCIOLOGY
Third party punishment; User:Mazdakg/sandbox; Altruistic punishment
Third-party punishment, or altruistic punishment, is punishment of a transgressor (first party) which is administered, not by a victim of the transgression (second party), but rather by a third party not directly affected by the transgression. It has been argued that third-party punishments are the essence of social norms, as they are an evolutionarily stable strategy, unlike second-party punishments.