In this way, defection seems to have two social meanings:
Defecting proactively is betrayal.
Defecting reactively is punishment.
We seem to have strong negative opinions of the former and somewhat positive opinions of the latter. I think in your salesman example you’re talking about punishment being crucial. In fact, the defection of the customer is only necessary as a response to the salesman’s original defection.
I am curious as to whether you have a similarly real life example of where proactive defection (i.e. betrayal) is crucial (for some societal or group benefit)?
Defecting proactively is betrayal. Defecting reactively is punishment.
We seem to have strong negative opinions of the former and somewhat positive opinions of the latter.
And for this reason we tend to be predisposed to interpreting the behavior of enemies as ‘proactive/betrayal’ and our own as ‘reactive/punishment’ (where we acknowledge that we have defected at all).
In this way, defection seems to have two social meanings:
Defecting proactively is betrayal. Defecting reactively is punishment.
We seem to have strong negative opinions of the former and somewhat positive opinions of the latter. I think in your salesman example you’re talking about punishment being crucial. In fact, the defection of the customer is only necessary as a response to the salesman’s original defection.
I am curious as to whether you have a similarly real life example of where proactive defection (i.e. betrayal) is crucial (for some societal or group benefit)?
And for this reason we tend to be predisposed to interpreting the behavior of enemies as ‘proactive/betrayal’ and our own as ‘reactive/punishment’ (where we acknowledge that we have defected at all).