Reciprocal altruism

Concerning church life, Mrs. D. X., born 1932, mentions that she was born in a religious family, and, therefore, had to go to church/mass always on Sunday. Mrs. H. U., born 1927, mentions that they had a barack as church room; because she had got the key, she had to open and to prepare the room for services or masses Mrs. T.S., born 1936, mentions that protestant services were held in the catholic church, later in a school. She remembered not only the Protestant pastor, but also a couple of…

Born into a Southern Baptist family, January 15th, 1957, Robert Wright, a born again christian around the age of 9, later evolves into a well known journalist, historian, evolutionary psychologist and author credited with tackling controversial studies of ancient religion and the evolving existence of God throughout time. As a famous best selling author of The Evolution of God, Non Zero: The Logic of Human Destiny, editor for The Sciences, The Atlantic, co-founder and editor of Meaning of…

“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortunes of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759, p.47) Introduction A million little incidents happen every day when people make choices that are not in their interest-for the sake of family, friends or even complete strangers. Be it in the…

Unlike the modern definition of friends with benefits, friends with benefits have many forms of friendships and the benefits are more than just sex. From a reciprocal altruism point of view: reproductive and survival costs and benefits of opposite-sex and same sex friendships can be observed in humans. As our ancestors have lived in the past, without friendship certain tasks or social life would be difficult because a friend can provide fitness relevant benefits to us in several ways such as…

classic about words and actions of Muhammad, elaborates various ethical rules and teachings. In Confucianism, Analects also feature discussions about ethics as a major subject. The central value of Confucianism is Ren, a concept of benevolence and altruism. Ren is the basic virtue, and is also the goal of being righteous. The idea can be elaborated into filial piety, royalty, reciprocity, respect, forgiveness, honesty, diligence, and kindness. Filial piety is the deference towards parents, and…

The earth contains a massive amount of biodiversity, like other animals on this planet, humans are just a member of the animal species. We tend to think or see ourselves as more superior to other living organisms because we have special features that allow us to function somewhat different from the rest of the animals. But still we are not different from the other animals, especially our closest living primate relatives, the bonobos and chimpanzees. To understand ourselves and what our place in…

Species formed a family with related kin but they have always lived along with both related and unrelated kin in the evolutionary history. From eusociality to primates there is a need for cooperation, form alliance, friendship, and help each other in order to survive starvation, establish a colony, and reproduction. In human and non-human species, the ancestors formed friendship/alliance even though there were some costs to them such as fighting for your friends and sharing resources. Evolved…

self-interest, as psychological egoism argues humans always are. Or is he? Perhaps he believes that, even though he may get the short end of the stick when it comes to sentencing, he expects that the favor will be returned in the future, as described by reciprocal…

consequently measure what will be beneficial to them in the long run. These encounters of determining whether cooperative was a better outcome than individualism could lead to its evolutionary existence of trusting strangers who will help you if it’s reciprocal. The indirect reciprocity reflects helping those who cannot benefit you in return. For instance, a charity does not donate to its beneficiary, Nowak would imply the recipient intent is to maintain its reputation. Cooperate with others…

negative effects. Similarly, the poor families she has studied regard food and drink as important to social interaction, as others do. Thus, visits are always accompanied by gestures of offering food, and additionally many families depend on informal reciprocal networks of food sharing. Fitchen explains attitudes toward poor in the context of the American ideology that the individual shapes its destiny, and that poverty hence is the condition of individuals, not of society. Thus, a common myth,…