The civil war in Syria has been raging since 2011 and has led to the internal displacement of roughly half of Syria’s population. We ask whether individual traumatization levels affect the ways people interact with each other. Drawing on a modified ultimatum as well as a modified prisoners’ dilemma game, we are specifically interested in people’s punishment behavior. We find that internally displaced people suffer from higher traumatization levels, are less likely to cooperate, but more likely to punish cooperators, i.e. behave as anti-social punishers. This is bad news for Syria, as it is likely to become an obstacle for post-civil war development prospects.
