Is Strong Reciprocity a Maladaptation? On the Evolutionary Foundations of Human Altruism
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Fehr, Ernst
Henrich, Joseph
Abstract / Description
strong reciprocity among humans. Strong reciprocity means that people willingly repay gifts and punish the violation of cooperation and fairness norms even in anonymous one-shot encounters with genetically unrelated strangers. We provide ethnographic and experimental evidence suggesting that ultimate theories of kin selection, reciprocal altruism, costly signalling and indirect reciprocity do not provide satisfactory evolutionary explanations of strong reciprocity. The problem of these theories is that they can rationalize strong reciprocity only if it is viewed as maladaptive behavior whereas the evidence suggests that it is an adaptive trait. Thus, we conclude that alternative evolutionary approaches are needed to provide ultimate accounts of strong reciprocity.
Keyword(s)
Reziprozität Fehlanpassung Evolution Altruismus Reziprozität Fehlanpassung Evolution Altruismus reciprocity maladaptation evolutionary foundations human altruismPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2003
Is part of series
Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;712
Citation
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dp712.pdfAdobe PDF - 702.5KBMD5: e65f988936bdf5f584cdfb203e16e9e6
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Fehr, Ernst
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Henrich, Joseph
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-11-17T11:02:41Z
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Made available on2008-06-30
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Made available on2015-12-01T10:32:15Z
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Made available on2022-11-17T11:02:41Z
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Date of first publication2003
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Abstract / Descriptionstrong reciprocity among humans. Strong reciprocity means that people willingly repay gifts and punish the violation of cooperation and fairness norms even in anonymous one-shot encounters with genetically unrelated strangers. We provide ethnographic and experimental evidence suggesting that ultimate theories of kin selection, reciprocal altruism, costly signalling and indirect reciprocity do not provide satisfactory evolutionary explanations of strong reciprocity. The problem of these theories is that they can rationalize strong reciprocity only if it is viewed as maladaptive behavior whereas the evidence suggests that it is an adaptive trait. Thus, we conclude that alternative evolutionary approaches are needed to provide ultimate accounts of strong reciprocity.en
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Persistent Identifierhttps://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bsz:291-psydok-16812
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11780/1135
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.8955
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Language of contenteng
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Is part ofIZA Discussion Paper Series No. 712
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Is part of seriesForschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;712
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Keyword(s)Reziprozitätde
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Keyword(s)Fehlanpassungde
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Keyword(s)Evolutionde
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Keyword(s)Altruismusde
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Keyword(s)Reziprozitätde
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Keyword(s)Fehlanpassungde
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Keyword(s)Evolutionde
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Keyword(s)Altruismusde
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Keyword(s)reciprocityen
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Keyword(s)maladaptationen
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Keyword(s)evolutionary foundationsen
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Keyword(s)human altruismen
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleIs Strong Reciprocity a Maladaptation? On the Evolutionary Foundations of Human Altruismen
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DRO typereport
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Visible tag(s)PsyDok