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Group Selection And The Evolution Of Altruism

Author

Listed:
  • Cooper, B.
  • Wallace, C.

Abstract

"Group selection" is often cited as an explanation for the survival of altruism. The idea of group selection is a controversial one - much effort has been expended on its justification (and refutation). Relatively little effort has gone into formally testing whether or not it can actually provide a reasonable explanation for altruistic behaviour. This paper concentrates solely on whether or not a group structure enables the survival of altruism in an evolving population. If altruism is to flourish either groups need to be isolated from each other for multiple generations, or groups themselves need to be constructed in a positively assortative manner.

Suggested Citation

  • Cooper, B. & Wallace, C., 2001. "Group Selection And The Evolution Of Altruism," Economics Series Working Papers 9967, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:oxf:wpaper:9967
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    Cited by:

    1. Herold, Florian, 2003. "Carrot or Stick? Group Selection and the Evolution of Reciprocal Preferences," Discussion Papers in Economics 40, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    2. Martin Kaae Jensen & Alexandros Rigos, 2018. "Evolutionary games and matching rules," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 47(3), pages 707-735, September.
    3. Oded Stark & Doris Behrens & Yong Wang, 2009. "On the evolutionary edge of migration as an assortative mating device," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 95-109, February.
    4. Richard Povey, 2014. "Punishment and the potency of group selection," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 799-816, September.
    5. Pfeuffer, Wolfgang, 2006. "Religion as a Seed Crystal for Altruistic Cooperation," Munich Dissertations in Economics 5788, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    6. Daniel G. Arce, 2006. "Taking Corporate Culture Seriously: Group Effects in the Trust Game," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(1), pages 27-36, July.
    7. Florian Herold, 2012. "Carrot or Stick? The Evolution of Reciprocal Preferences in a Haystack Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(2), pages 914-940, April.
    8. Martin Kaae Jensen & Alexandros Rigos, 2012. "Evolutionary Games with Group Selection," Discussion Papers 13-05, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    9. Daniel G. Arce, 2011. "Putting Agency and Integrity to the Test," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 77(4), pages 843-855, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games

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