Social Sciences
8 years ago

Choosing old helping partners leads to successful cooperation in human evolution

Evolution and Human Behavior
Reciprocal altruism in human social evolution: The viability of reciprocal altruism with a preference for “old-helping-partners”
Henk Vos, Evelien Zeggelink

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The article explores how cooperation evolved in human societies. By using a simulation model, the researchers found that social strategies with a preference for old helping partners can outcompete cheating strategies in small populations and harsh conditions. In larger populations, these social strategies can prevent cheating from taking over. This suggests that having a preference for helping familiar individuals may have played a crucial role in the evolution of cooperation among humans.