A cooperative species : human reciprocity and its evolution / Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bowles, Samuel.

Contributor:

Gintis, Herbert.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cooperation.

Cooperativeness.

Behavior evolution.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (275 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Why do humans, uniquely among animals, cooperate in large numbers to advance projects for the common good? Contrary to the conventional wisdom in biology and economics, this generous and civic-minded behavior is widespread and cannot be explained simply by far-sighted self-interest or a desire to help close genealogical kin. In A Cooperative Species, Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis--pioneers in the new experimental and evolutionary science of human behavior--show that the central issue is not why selfish people act generously, but instead how genetic and cultural evolution has produced a species in which substantial numbers make sacrifices to uphold ethical norms and to help even total strangers. The authors describe how, for thousands of generations, cooperation with fellow group members has been essential to survival. Groups that created institutions to protect the civic-minded from exploitation by the selfish flourished and prevailed in conflicts with less cooperative groups. Key to this process was the evolution of social emotions such as shame and guilt, and our capacity to internalize social norms so that acting ethically became a personal goal rather than simply a prudent way to avoid punishment. Using experimental, archaeological, genetic, and ethnographic data to calibrate models of the coevolution of genes and culture as well as prehistoric warfare and other forms of group competition, A Cooperative Species provides a compelling and novel account of how humans came to be moral and cooperative.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

1. A Cooperative Species

2. The Evolution of Altruism in Humans

3. Social Preferences

4. The Sociobiology of Human Cooperation

5. Cooperative Homo economicus

6. Ancestral Human Society

7. The Coevolution of Institutions and Behaviors

8. Parochialism, Altruism, andWar

9. The Evolution of Strong Reciprocity

10. Socialization

11. Social Emotions

12. Conclusion: Human Cooperation and Its Evolution

Appendix

References

Subject Index

Author Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9786613088857

9781283088855

1283088851

9781400838837

1400838835

OCLC:

721194557