Report

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 altruism

Persistent 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

  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Fehr, Ernst
  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
    Henrich, Joseph
  • PsychArchives acquisition timestamp
    2022-11-17T11:02:41Z
  • Made available on
    2008-06-30
  • Made available on
    2015-12-01T10:32:15Z
  • Made available on
    2022-11-17T11:02:41Z
  • Date of first publication
    2003
  • 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.
    en
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bsz:291-psydok-16812
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11780/1135
  • Persistent Identifier
    https://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.8955
  • Language of content
    eng
  • Is part of
    IZA Discussion Paper Series No. 712
  • Is part of series
    Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;712
  • Keyword(s)
    Reziprozität
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Fehlanpassung
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Evolution
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Altruismus
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Reziprozität
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Fehlanpassung
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Evolution
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    Altruismus
    de
  • Keyword(s)
    reciprocity
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    maladaptation
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    evolutionary foundations
    en
  • Keyword(s)
    human altruism
    en
  • Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)
    150
  • Title
    Is Strong Reciprocity a Maladaptation? On the Evolutionary Foundations of Human Altruism
    en
  • DRO type
    report
  • Visible tag(s)
    PsyDok