Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- 1 Introduction to evolutionary psychology
- 2 Mechanisms of evolutionary change
- 3 Sexual selection
- 4 The evolution of human mate choice
- 5 Cognitive development and the innateness issue
- 6 Social development
- 7 The evolutionary psychology of social behaviour – kin relationships and conflict
- 8 The evolutionary psychology of social behaviour – reciprocity and group behaviour
- 9 Evolution, thought and cognition
- 10 The evolution of language
- 11 The evolution of emotion
- 12 Evolutionary psychopathology and Darwinian medicine
- 13 Evolutionary psychology and culture
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
8 - The evolutionary psychology of social behaviour – reciprocity and group behaviour
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- 1 Introduction to evolutionary psychology
- 2 Mechanisms of evolutionary change
- 3 Sexual selection
- 4 The evolution of human mate choice
- 5 Cognitive development and the innateness issue
- 6 Social development
- 7 The evolutionary psychology of social behaviour – kin relationships and conflict
- 8 The evolutionary psychology of social behaviour – reciprocity and group behaviour
- 9 Evolution, thought and cognition
- 10 The evolution of language
- 11 The evolution of emotion
- 12 Evolutionary psychopathology and Darwinian medicine
- 13 Evolutionary psychology and culture
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
Summary
Key concepts reciprocal altruism, xenophobia, game theory, prisoner's dilemma, evolutionarily stable strategy, tit-for-tat, stereotyping, ethnocentrism, self-concept
Most animals live relatively solitary lives, occasionally meeting up only to copulate, threaten or fight with each other. But some species live in groups where they constantly interact. Students of animal behaviour have long asked what benefits do individual organisms accrue from living in such social groups? According to evolutionist Richard Alexander, ‘Complex sociality should be expected to arise only when confluences of interest produce benefits that override the costs of conflicting interests’ (Alexander, 1987, p. 65). He sees the seeds of animal social behaviour as arising out of the need for cooperative defence and the production of mutual offspring. In recent years theories concerning altruism, which have been developed to explain animal social behaviour, have also been used by evolutionary psychologists to study human social behaviour. So do we thrive in the company of others for the same reasons as other social animals?
Why are we kind to other people?
In chapter 7 we outlined the ways in which self-sacrificing behaviour towards relatives may, in the long run, aid an individual's inclusive fitness via direct and indirect selection. Yet it is a common feature of our species that we frequently show kindness to those with whom we share no genes by common descent.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Evolutionary PsychologyAn Introduction, pp. 194 - 215Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004