The Evolution of Cooperation

Identification and Understanding of Human Cooperation Using a variety of studies, research strategies, and available data collected from different sources to define along with understand the complexity of human cooperation. Pointing out the problems in human cooperation; individuals deciding to work alone rather than in a group. Determining what factors causes dilemmas in human cooperation or in some instances leading to competition. Comparing and/or contrasting already existing research and arguments from a psychological perspective pertaining to this form of human communication. Considering different psychological reasoning’s as to how cooperation is beneficial to the individuals involved any why it is not done when the time…

The Evolution of Cooperation, Robert Axelrod Background information about the author and the book Robert Axelrod is an American political scientist currently teaching Public Policies and Political Sciences at the University of Michigan, where he is the Walgreen Professor for the Study of Human Understanding. After graduating in Mathematics from the University of Chicago, he studied at Yale University, where he obtained a MBA and a PhD in Political Science. Axelrod has received countless awards…

Evolution and biology are crazy things. Essential we, meaning humans, are products of our evolutionary tract. For example, the fact that humans are social creatures and are loners. Our propensity to gather and connect has major repercussions for the way we learn and interact with our environment. However, can we say that humans have always been social? There exist animals within the animal kingdom that are not social. They tend towards loner habits and attitudes. How did this evolve? Thus one…

He believes that cooperation is not compliant to the cosmic forces but compliant to the process of evolution. De Waal claims that humans are “social to the core” and cooperation is beneficial to survival. While I do understand De Waal’s logic, the competitiveness of humans and the combativeness towards the cosmic forces have allowed for the advancement of individual beings and the progress of humankind since competitiveness drives the species to make change. As for De Waal’s idea that human…

As such, Nowak (2012) argues that throughout the history of mankind, human’s capacity for cooperation has prevailed, even though there are periods of instability in which defection succeeds. From a macro-level examination of evolution, Nowak argues that despite the unstable nature of cooperation, altruism predominates, and therefore cooperation is a defining feature of humans. With this considered, Nowak’s view contrasts starkly against Hobbes with Nowak arguing cooperation as an intrinsic part…

To what extent are Humans a Unique Species? We like to believe that humans are a superior species, highly intelligent and beyond the realms of the animal kingdom, however, are we really as unique as we like to think, what makes us so special? It was once believed that humans were the only animals capable of using tools, and this is what made us no longer just ‘animals’. In the 1960s when chimpanzees were first observed using twigs to retrieve termites from wooden trunks, as a form of tool, it…

Language evolution is viewed as a controversial topic across many disciplines. Psychologists, anthropologists, neuroscientists and other members of academic community attempt to provide theories, which would explain such a complex phenomenon. The difficulty in doing so arises from the fact that there is very little evidence that would help to identify the most accurate theory (Pinker, 2003). One of the leading experts in the field of linguistics, Noam Chomsky, suggests that when exploring such a…

benefits of overall survival. Sosis argues that the group cooperation that is found in these religious ceremonies creates trust and commitment within these groups, and this "membership" reveals who is worthy of this trust and commitment. In the article, Sosis wonders why individuals participate in the maddening behaviors that come in practicing or partaking in religious practices and ceremonies. He describes his experiences in Israel seeing men and women covered completely head to toe…

Chapter 5 - Co-opetition and Coevolution 5.1 Introduction Much at times traditional cooperation fail because stakeholders think their success comes at others’ expense. Thus the solution is co-opetition, in which parties in act with partial congruence of interests. Instead of traditional cooperation, where parties come together and pretend to not compete, co-opetition uses the competitor’s strength in order to prosper together. Co-evolution occurs as a means to adapt to the environments when two…

The commitment of this research project is to comprehend the essential elements of the development of the personality trait cooperation. As noted, this research will also provide the evolutionary explanation for how cooperation manifested through sociobiological function. It intends to communicate the consequences of self- interest and collaborative behavior; likewise, how does the cooperative trait benefit an individual socially and independently and whether natural selection reveals a…