I should also note there’s a difference between competence rewarded, and incompetence punished. I suspect the second happens a lot more than the first.
One important difference is that “punish the outlier” is compatible with punishing notable incompetence and not compatible with rewarding the particularly competent. But this is pretty theoretical—there’s at least some evidence that primitive societies _DO_ honor as role models those who are expert (as long as they’re expert at conventional things).
I should also note there’s a difference between competence rewarded, and incompetence punished. I suspect the second happens a lot more than the first.
One important difference is that “punish the outlier” is compatible with punishing notable incompetence and not compatible with rewarding the particularly competent. But this is pretty theoretical—there’s at least some evidence that primitive societies _DO_ honor as role models those who are expert (as long as they’re expert at conventional things).