Synonyms
Definition
Individuals (or groups) working together for a mutual benefit.
Introduction
“Many of the benefits sought by living things are disproportionately available to cooperating groups” (Axelrod and Hamilton 1981, p. 1391)
Cooperationinvolves individuals (or groups) working together for a mutual benefit, often at an initial cost to each participant, although the benefits from cooperation ultimately outweigh the costs to individuals. Cooperation is associated (conceptually and empirically) with altruism – behavior in which an individual forgoes a benefit to assist another. Some degree of altruism is necessary (at least initially) for cooperation to occur. To cooperate, an individual must initially give up a benefit. Altruism becomes cooperation when two or more individuals join in giving up benefits for a common goal, which they typically perceive as greater than the cost of the benefits they gave up. Our...
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References
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Johnson, M.J., Colarelli, S.M. (2019). Selection for Cooperative Relationships. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3494-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3494-1
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