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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–2Cite as

Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism

Synonyms

Behavioral game theory; Cooperation; Evolutionary psychology; Reciprocity; Theory of mind

Definition

Evolution of reciprocal altruism studies the evolutionary basis of cooperation within evolutionary agents (here special focus on Homo sapiens)

Introduction

Humans (Homo sapiens) are arguably the most cooperative primates (Smith 2003). We display unique characteristics such as cooperating on tasks with non-kin members in large groups across cultures (Tomasello et al. 2005). Human cooperation studies have gathered wide interest from psychologists, evolutionary anthropologists, behavioral ecologists, economists, etc. Humans, therefore, make an interesting case study for reciprocal altruism. In the face of theoretical puzzles around reciprocal altruism, the scale of human cooperative societies seems particularly defiant.

Cooperation in Humans

One common explanation for this seemingly abnormal scale of cooperation was the existence of social norms and the ability to understand...

Keywords

  • Reciprocal Altruism
  • Normative Social Expectations
  • Abnormal Scale
  • Human Cooperation
  • Primary Cooperatives

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.

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References

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  • Smith, E. A. (2003). Perspectives from behavioral ecology in Hammerstein, P., Genetic and cultural evolution of cooperation, 401, 2003 The MIT Press ISBN 0-262-08326-4.

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  • Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., Call, J., Behne, T., & Moll, H. (2005). Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition. Behavioral and brain sciences, 28, 675–691.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Chinmay Aradhye

Authors
  1. Chinmay Aradhye
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chinmay Aradhye .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Nicole Barbaro

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Aradhye, C. (2016). Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1222-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1222-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social Sciences

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