Abstract
The chapters in this section offer fascinating insights into the social behavior and social organization of various primates. They emphasize the importance of long-term fieldwork on identified individuals for learning about the evolution and ecology of social behavior. As such, these essays are extremely valuable not only because they review current information but also because they go beyond mere paradigm and often lazy-thinking about the factors that influence group-living in free-ranging animals. To wit, and in the spirit of the other chapters in this forward-looking and very important book, the authors show that cooperation even among non-kin is very important in structuring the social organization of different species living in different environments. They emphasize that cooperation has not merely evolved to reduce aggression or as a reaction to competition but serves a significant, perhaps a leading role, in the evolution of social behavior and social organization. To simply put it, cooperation is normal behavior.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
“Evolution has produced a mind that evolves toward an appreciation of the vastness of our collective design, and emotions that enable us to enact these loftier notions. We are wired for good.” (Dacher Keltner, 2009. p. 269)
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bekoff, M. 1975. The communication of play intention: Are play signals functional? Semiotica, 15, 231–239.
Bekoff, M. 1977. Social communication in canids: Evidence for the evolution of a stereotyped mammalian display. Science 197, 1097–1099.
Bekoff, M. 1995. Play signals as punctuation: The structure of social play in canids. Behaviour, 132, 419–429.
Bekoff, M. 2007. The Emotional Lives of Animals. Novato, CA: New world Library.
Bekoff, M. 2008. Increasing our compassion footprint: Some reflections on the treatment of animals. Zygon (Journal of Religion and Science) 43, 771–781.
Bekoff, M. 2010. The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons for Expanding Our Compassion Footprint. Novato, CA: New world Library.
Bekoff, M., J. Pierce. 2009. Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Bekoff, M., M.C. Wells. 1986. Social behavior and ecology of coyotes. Advances in the Study of Behavior 16, 251–338.
Darwin, C. 1871/2004. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. New York: Penguin Classics.
de Waal, F. 2009. The Age of Empathy. New York: Harmony.
Goodall, J. 1986. The Chimpanzees of Gombe. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Keltner, D. 2009. Born to be Good. New York: W. W. North & Company.
Keltner, D., J. Marsh, J.A. Smith (eds.). 2010. The Compassionate Instinct. New York: W. W, Norton & Company.
McCullough, M.C. 2008. Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Ridley, M. 2010. The Rational Optimist. New York: Harper.
Rifkin, J. 2010. The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis. New York: Tarcher.
Sheratt, T.N., D.M. Wilkinson. 2009. Big Questions in Ecology and Evolution. New York: Oxford University Press.
Sussman, R.W., P.A. Garber, J.M. Cheverud. 2005. Importance of cooperation and affiliation in the evolution of primate sociality. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 128, 84–97.
Wrangham, R.W., M. Wilson, M. Muller. 2006. Comparative rates of violence in chimpanzees and humans. Primates 47, 14–26.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bekoff, M. (2011). Cooperation and the Evolution of Social Living: Moving Beyond the Constraints and Implications of Misleading Dogma: Introduction Part II. In: Sussman, R., Cloninger, C. (eds) Origins of Altruism and Cooperation. Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects, vol 36. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9520-9_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9520-9_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-9519-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-9520-9
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)