The 'Evolution of Cooperation' addresses a simple yet age-old question; If living things evolve through competition, how can cooperation ever emerge? Despite the abundant evidence of cooperation all around us, there existed no purely naturalistic answer to this question until 1979, when Robert Axelrod famously ran a computer tournament featuring a standard game-theory exercise called The Prisoner's Dilemma. To everyone's surprise, the program that won the tournament, named Tit for Tat, was not only the simplest but the most "cooperative" entrant. (...) This unexpected victory proved that cooperation - one might even say altruism - is mathematically possible and therefore needs no hidden hand or divine agent to create and sustain it. A great roadblock to the understanding of all sorts of behavior was at last removed. The updated edition includes an extensive new chapter on cooperation in cancer cells and among terrorist organizations. (shrink)

A model is presented to account for the natural selection of what is termed reciprocally altruistic behavior. The model shows how selection can operate -against the cheater (non-reciprocator) in the system. Three instances of altruistic behavior are discussed, the evolution of which the model can explain: (1) behavior involved in cleaning symbioses; (2) warning cries in birds: and (3) human reciprocal altruism. Regarding human reciprocal altruism, it is shown that the details of the psychological system that regulates this altruism can (...) be explained by the model. Specifically, friendship,d islike, moralistic aggression, gratitude, sympathy, trust, suspicion, trustworthiness, aspects of guilt, and some forms of dishonesty and hypocrisy can be explained as important adaptations to regulate the altruistic system. Each individual human is seen as possessing altruistic and cheating tendencies, the expression of which is sensitive to developmental variables that were selected to set the tendencies at a balance appropriate to the local social and ecological environment. (shrink)

There is disagreement in the literature about the exact nature of the phenomenon of empathy. There are emotional, cognitive, and conditioning views, applying in varying degrees across species. An adequate description of the ultimate and proximate mechanism can integrate these views. Proximately, the perception of an object's state activates the subject's corresponding representations, which in turn activate somatic and autonomic responses. This mechanism supports basic behaviors that are crucial for the reproductive success of animals living in groups. The Perception-Action Model, (...) together with an understanding of how representations change with experience, can explain the major empirical effects in the literature. It can also predict a variety of empathy disorders. The interaction between the PAM and prefrontal functioning can also explain different levels of empathy across species and age groups. This view can advance our evolutionary understanding of empathy beyond inclusive fitness and reciprocal altruism and can explain different levels of empathy across individuals, species, stages of development, and situations. Key Words: altruism; cognitive empathy ; comparative; emotion; emotional contagion; empathy ; evolution; human; perception-action; perspective taking. (shrink)

TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword xi Steven Pinker Acknowledgments xvii Contributors xix Introduction: The Emergence of Evolutionary Psychology xxiii David M. Buss PART I FOUNDATIONS OF EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY David M. Buss 1 Conceptual Foundations of Evolutionary Psychology 5 John Tooby and Leda Cosmides 2 Life History Theory and Evolutionary Psychology 68 Hillard S. Kaplan and Steven W. Gangestad 3 Domain Specificity and Intuitive Ontology 96 Pascal Boyer and H. Clark Barrett 4 Methods of Evolutionary Sciences 119 Jeffry A. Simpson and Lorne (...) Campbell 5 Controversial Issues in Evolutionary Psychology 145 Edward H. Hagen PART II SURVIVAL David M. Buss 6 Locating Places 177 Irwin Silverman and Jean Choi 7 Adaptations to Predators and Prey 200 H. Clark Barrett 8 Adaptations to Dangers from Humans 224 Joshua D. Duntley PART III MATING David M. Buss Adaptationism and Human Mating Psychology 255 Donald Symons 9 Fundamentals of Human Mating Strategies 258 David P. Schmitt 10 Physical Attractiveness in Adaptationist Perspective 292 Lawrence S. Sugiyama 11 Adaptations to Ovulation 344 Steven W. Gangestad, Randy Thornhill, and Christine E. Garver-Apgar 12 Female Infidelity and Sperm Competition 372 Todd K. Shackelford, Nicholas Pound, Aaron T. Goetz, and Craig W. LaMunyon 13 Sexual Coercion 394 Neil M. Malamuth, Mark Huppin, and Bryant Paul 14 Commitment, Love, and Mate Retention 419 Lorne Campbell and Bruce J. Ellis PART IV PARENTING AND KINSHIP Martin Daly and Margo Wilson 15 Cooperation and Conflict among Kin 447 Jeffrey A. Kurland and Steven J. C. Gaulin 16 Evolution of Paternal Investment 483 David C. Geary 17 Parental Investment and Parent-Offspring Conflict 506 Catherine Salmon 18 Altruism and Genetic Relatedness 528 Eugene Burnstein 19 Hormones and the Human Family 552 Mark V. Flinn, Carol V. Ward, and Robert J. Noone PART V GROUP LIVING David M. Buss 20 Neurocognitive Adaptations Designed for Social Exchange 584 Leda Cosmides and John Tooby 21 Aggression 628 Anne Campbell 22 Managing Ingroup and Outgroup Relationships 653 Robert Kurzban and Steven Neuberg 23 Dominance, Status, and Social Hierarchies 676 Denise Cummins 24 The Evolution of Language 698 Peter F. MacNeilage and Barbara L. Davis 25 The Evolution of Cognitive Bias 724 Martie G. Haselton, Daniel Nettle, and Paul W. Andrews 26 The Evolution of Morality 747 Dennis Krebs PART VI EVOLUTIONIZING TRADITIONAL DISCIPLINES OF PSYCHOLOGY David M. Buss 27 Evolutionary Cognitive Psychology 776 Peter M. Todd, Ralph Hertwig, and Ulrich Hoffrage 28 Evolutionary Social Psychology 803 Douglas T. Kenrick, Jon K. Maner, and Norman P. Li 29 Evolutionary Developmental Psychology 828 David F. Bjorklund and Carlos Hernández Blasi 30 Evolutionary Personality Psychology 851 Aurelio José Figueredo, Jon A. Sefcek, Geneva Vasquez, Barbara H. Brumbach, James E. King, and W. Jake Jacobs 31 Biological Function and Dysfunction 878 Jerome C. Wakefield 32 Evolutionary Psychology and Mental Health 903 Randolph M. Nesse PART VII APPLICATIONS OF EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY TO OTHER DISCIPLINES David M. Buss 33 Literature and Evolutionary Psychology 931 Joseph Carroll 34 Evolutionary Psychology and the Law 953 Owen D. Jones Afterword 975 Richard Dawkins Author Index 981 Subject Index 1009. (shrink)

One of science's greatest intellects examines how people and animals display fear, anger, and pleasure. Darwin based this 1872 study on his personal observations, which anticipated later findings in neuroscience. Abounding in anecdotes and literary quotations, the book is illustrated with 21 figures and seven photographic plates. Its direct approach, accessible to professionals and amateurs alike, continues to inspire and inform modern research in psychology.