The Evolution of cooperation

Authors

  • Mauro Santos
  • Eörs Szathmáry

Abstract

The gene-centred or selfish-gene approach to evolution apparently conflicts with the observation that cooperation is commonplace in human social interactions, and can also be recognized in non-human animals. Without cooperation, higher-level units of evolution could not have emerged. Here we summarize current evolutionary thinking on how cooperation and altruism can evolve. We also discuss the results reached by game theoretic experiments for studying social interactions, which indicate that humans do not conform to Nash equilibrium (rational) predictions. These results are of wide interest to biologists and social scientists, particularly if we want to have a common framework to understand how sociality arises.

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Published

2009-04-22