Article published In:
Coordination, Collaboration and Cooperation: Interdisciplinary perspectivesEdited by Federica Amici and Lucas M. Bietti
[Interaction Studies 16:3] 2015
► pp. 383–418
Edited by Federica Amici and Lucas M. Bietti
[Interaction Studies 16:3] 2015
► pp. 383–418
The evolution and development of human cooperation
Humans have attained an unparalleled level of sophistication when engaging in collaborative and cooperative activities. Remarkably, the skills and motivation to engage in complex forms of collaboration and cooperation seem to emerge early on during infancy and childhood. In this paper, I extensively review the literature on the evolution and development of human cooperation, emphasizing important aspects of inter-cultural variation in collaborative and cooperative behaviour. This will not only allow us to confront the different evolutionary scenarios in which cooperation may have emerged, but will especially provide the reader with a first orientation in the abundant literature on human cooperation.
Keywords: Cooperation, collaboration, prosociality, altruism, fairness, punishment, reciprocity, reputation, in-group bias, norms and conformity
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.The evolution of cooperation among non-kin
- 3.The development of cooperation
- 3.1Helping
- 3.2Sharing
- 3.3Comforting
- 3.4Reciprocity
- 3.5Collaboration
- 3.6Cognitive prerequisites for cooperation
- 3.7Motivation: Empathy and empathic concern
- 3.8Assessing partners: Familiarity
- 3.9Assessing partners: Fairness
- 3.10Assessing partners: Reputation
- 3.11Assessing partners: The in-group bias
- 3.12Shared norms and conformity
- 3.13Punishment
- 4.Inter-cultural differences in cooperation
- 5.Conclusions
- Acknowledgments
-
References
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