DOCSLIB.ORG

On the Significance of Helping Behavior in Birds

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
On the Significance of Helping Behavior in Birds ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HELPING BEHAVIOR IN BIRDS J. DAVID LIGON AND PETERB. STACEY Departmentof Biology,University of New Mexico,Albuquerque, New Mexico87131 USA ABSTR•CT.--Incooperatively breeding birds, the feedingof nestlingsby nonbreedinghelp- ers may be derived from a general stimulus-responseinteraction, widespread among altricial species.It hasbeen suggested that adaptationistshave overinterpretedthis helping behavior. Two distinct points can be recognized here: evolutionary origin and current functional significance.The significanceof helping behaviorto the helper appearsto vary on a species- to-speciesbasis. However, the evidenceoverall does not supporta unitary,nonfunctional or nonadaptiveinterpretation of avian helping behavior.Received 1 February1989, accepted 2 June 1989. THEIMPETUS for this essaywas a paper by Ian aspectsof avian reproductive biology, which Jamiesonand John Craig (1987), "Critique of are basedon male-female and parent-offspring helping behavior in birds: a departure from interactionsand can be accountedfor solely by functional explanations."More recently,Jamie- direct gains in inclusive fitness. son (1989) reiterated and qualified Jamieson's In contrast,Jamieson and Craig (1987) argue and Craig's major arguments. Jamiesonand that the feeding of nestlings by helpers basi- Craig make someimportant and previously un- cally is no more than a manifestationof a gen- statedpoints that merit the attention of the or- eral trait among altricial birds, namely an "au- nithological community. Their nonadaptive or tomatic" response(placing food) to a stimulus "unselected"explanation of helping behavior (the gaping mouth of a vocalizing nestling). in cooperativelybreeding birds, specificallythe They point out that nonbreeding birds of a va- feeding of nestlings by nonbreeders,requires riety of species(including individuals too young a responsefrom function-oriented studentsof to be "hormonally primed") will respondto this avian cooperativebreeding. Jamieson and Craig stimulus. Other lines of evidence also support addresstwo major issues.We present each of a stimulus-responseinterpretation of feeding these issues as a direct statement and offer re- behavior. For example,many casesof interspe- plies to them. cific feeding of nestlings have been recorded 1. Feedingnestlings by nonbreedinghelpers is not (Shy 1982), and a wild bird even fed fish (see a uniquebehavior that sets cooperative breeders apart Welty and Baptista1988: fig. 17-7). Perhapsthe from other avian species.--Theview that avian best evidence for the stimulus-responsenature cooperativebreeding is a subjectapart from oth- of feeding nestlings comesfrom the phenom- er areas of ornithology is based both on the enon of avian brood parasitism.Certain species, existenceof nonbreeding helpers and on the such as many cuckoosand the Brown-headed interpretationof their significance.Nonbreed- Cowbird (Molothrusater) in North America,spe- ing helpers define cooperativebreeding, and cialize in exploiting the generalgaping-feeding early in the modern study of this subject,em- interaction.These points led Jamiesonand Craig phasiswas placed on the conceptof "altruism" to propose "that the feeding of nestlings in by helpers(e.g. Brown 1970,1974, 1975). Brown communalbreeders is maintained by the same and Brown (1981) and Brown (1987) later urged stimulus-responsemechanism that results in caution in the use of the term "altruism." How- parentsfeeding their own young or hostspecies ever, the perceptionhad been establishedthat feeding parasitic young.... "(Jamieson and feeding behavior by nonbreeding helpers was Craig 1987: 80). a costly behavior in terms of personal repro- Jamiesonand Craig argue that the feeding of ductive successand that helperswere repaid by nestlings by nonparents is not a uniquely gain in the indirect component of their inclu- evolved character that distinguishescoopera- sive fitness. This dichotomy--specieswith al- tively breeding speciesfrom other birds. Rath- truistic helpers and specieswithout helpers-- er, it is the nondispersalof young birds that tended to foster the view that avian cooperative provides these nonbreederswith accessto the breeding is fundamentally distinct from other stimulusof begging nestlings(also see Wool- 7OO The Auk 106: 700-705. October 1989 October1989] HelpingBehavior in Birds 701 fenden and Fitzpatrick ! 984:345). Jamiesonand lings and therefore have accessto them. This Craig conclude that no evolutionary change factor probably is shared by all cooperative based on selection for helping behavior per se breeders (Fig. 1). However, developments sub- has occurred in cooperative breeders. By this sequentto this common starting point are the view, cooperativebreeding is no more than the onesof specialinterest to most studentsof ad- outcomeof ecologicallybased natal philopatty, aptation(e.g. "... adaptationshould be defined which provides the opportunity for the stim- by its effectrather than by its causes... ," Clut- ulus-response feeding interaction between ton-Brockand Harvey 1979,also see Mayr 1983). nonbreeding helpers and nestlings. As Sherman (1988) pointed out, hypotheses A question that arises is whether Jamieson about the evolutionaryorigin of a trait and its and Craig have confounded two separateissues: current significanceare at different "Levels of origin of a trait and currentutility or functional Analysis" and thus are not alternatives. Few significanceof that trait (Tinbergen 1963, Sher- students of cooperative breeding have con- man 1988). This leads to their second and more founded origin of helping with its current func- controversial point. tional effects (contraJamieson 1989). 2. It is inappropriateto interprethelping behavior It is likely that no adaptivebenefit to helpers, in cooperativebreeding systems in anadaptive frame- direct or indirect, will be detectable in each and work ("We therefore advocate a complete de- every cooperatively breeding species.We are parture from increasedfitness-type arguments looking at a variety of birds through a single to explain the occurrenceof so-calledhelping slice in time; and the time elapsed since the behavior." Jamieson and Craig 1987: 92).-- initiation of group-living via natal philopatry, Jamiesonand Craig'sview of helping behavior as well as the ecology and intensity of subse- as a single stimulus-responseinteraction has a quent selection,almost certainly will vary from certain appeal in that it hypothesizes a single speciesto species(Fig. 1). In caseswhere co- explanation for the feeding of nestlings. For operativebreeding hasbeen the rule for a long example,in a variety of cooperativelybreeding time, we may be able to documenta benefit of species,no positive effect of feeding behavior somesort to the helpers. This provides a feed- on reproductive successor survival of group back system that can reinforce the feeding be- members has been observed;in some coopera- havior and fine-tune the entire nestling-helper tively breeding species,helpers unrelated to the interaction. young occur regularly; and in somewell-stud- If helping behavior is costly to the helper, ied cooperative breeders, there is no relation- and if it persists,we would expect a compen- ship between degree of genetic relatednessand sating benefit. However, with one possibleex- feeding effort by helpers (e.g. Rabenold 1984, ception(Reyer 1984),no costof helping in terms 1985;Emlen and Wrege 1988).At one level these of direct fitness has been detected for any co- facts appear to support Jamieson'sand Craig's operative breeder. In addition, the stimulus-re- unitary, nonadaptive explanation of helping sponsefeeding behavior probably will nearly behavior. However, this diversity of observa- always be maintained by natural selectionbe- tionsalso suggests an alternative interpretation. causeof its overwhelming importance in pa- The relevant data on cooperative breeders rental care (Jamieson 1989), because all birds suggeststo us that Jamieson and Craig have hatch with the possibility of becomingparents overextendedtheir nonadaptive view of the (i.e. the costof respondingto a nearby gaping helping phenomenon. Although we agree that mouth rarely will exceed its benefits), and be- early in the study of cooperativebreeding too causeproduction of offspringis by far the pri- much emphasis was placed on kinship or in- mary means of maximizing individual fitness. direct fitness as an adaptive explanation for Interactionswith nestlings (e.g. feeding and helping, we believe also that the way to un- grooming)can potentially increase the director derstand helping behavior is to recognize and personalfitness of helpers.Because of the large appreciate the variation among cooperative numberof socialrelationships that maybe mod- breeders in both the circumstances and the ef- ified to the helper's advantageby virtue of its fects of helping. We concur with Jamiesonand feeding and other cooperativebehavior, devel- Craig that the feeding responseof helpers prob- opmentor strengtheningof personalbonds with ably occursin a proximate sensebecause non- the youngbirds canbenefit greatlyboth helper breedersare in closeproximity to begging nest- and nestlings. For example, in Green Wood- 702 LIGON^ND ST^CEY [Auk, Vol. 106 EcologicalFactors Natal(SetsPhilopatrystage for: ) Evolutionary (unselectedS-Rfeeding behavior) Functional Consequence SpeciesA SpeciesB SpeciesC (Nodetectable fitness benefit to (Weakfeedback benefits tohelper; (Strongfeedback benefit to helper} herper} oftenconfounded with variation in territoryquatity
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Kin Selection Raymond Hames University of Nebraska - Lincoln, [email protected]
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Anthropology Faculty Publications Anthropology, Department of Summer 8-2015 Kin Selection Raymond Hames University of Nebraska - Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/anthropologyfacpub Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Biological Psychology Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, and the Social Psychology Commons Hames, Raymond, "Kin Selection" (2015). Anthropology Faculty Publications. 128. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/anthropologyfacpub/128 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Anthropology, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Published (as Chapter 19) in Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Second Edition, edited by David M. Buss, pp 505-523. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Used by permission. digitalcommons.unl.edu Kin Selection Raymond Hames University of Nebraska-Lincoln Introduction When Hamilton (1964) published his theory of inclusive fitness it had no immediate im- pact in the social and behavioral sciences, even though ethnographers knew kinship to be a universally fundamental factor in human social organization, especially in egalitarian so- cieties in which humans have spent nearly all their evolutionary history. In many ways, it was a theory that perhaps anthropologists should have devised: Anthropologists knew kinship fundamentally structured cooperation, identity, coalition formation, resource ex- change, marriage, and group membership in traditional societies.
    [Show full text]
  • Altruism and Popularity Eda Egilmez Fort Hays State University, E Egilmez [email protected]
    Fort Hays State University FHSU Scholars Repository Master's Theses Graduate School Fall 2016 Altruism and Popularity Eda Egilmez Fort Hays State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses Part of the Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Egilmez, Eda, "Altruism and Popularity" (2016). Master's Theses. 32. https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses/32 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at FHSU Scholars Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of FHSU Scholars Repository. ALTRUISM AND POPULARITY being A Thesis Presented to the Graduate Faculty of the Fort Hays State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science by Eda Egilmez B.S., Fort Hays State University B.S., Zirve University, Turkey Date_______________ Approved________________________ Major Professor Approved________________________ Chair, Graduate Council ABSTRACT Popularity, as a manifestation of social status, has been widely researched and appears to be determined by members of a social group. Individuals’ either aggressive or prosocial characteristics and environment lead them to one type of popularity. Prosocial behaviors are actions with intention of benefiting others or society as whole with little or no personal gain and may include helping, sharing, cooperating, donating, and other voluntary works. Altruism is a type of prosocial behavior that could affect individuals' popularity. Altruism has been studied in different disciplines with the general definition of cooperative behavior that has a cost to the actor with a benefit to the receiver. From the Evolutionary Psychology perspective, altruistic behaviors decrease the fitness of individuals, which is against the principles of evolution.
    [Show full text]
  • Inclusive Fitness and the Sociobiology of the Genome
    Author's personal copy Biol Philos (2014) 29:477–515 DOI 10.1007/s10539-013-9404-0 Inclusive fitness and the sociobiology of the genome Herbert Gintis Received: 23 January 2013 / Accepted: 9 November 2013 / Published online: 1 December 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Abstract Inclusive fitness theory provides conditions for the evolutionary success of a gene. These conditions ensure that the gene is selfish in the sense of Dawkins (The selfish gene, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1976): genes do not and cannot sacrifice their own fitness on behalf of the reproductive population. Therefore, while natural selection explains the appearance of design in the living world (Dawkins in The blind watchmaker: why the evidence of evolution reveals a universe without design, W. W. Norton, New York, 1996), inclusive fitness theory does not explain how. Indeed, Hamilton’s rule is equally compatible with the evolutionary success of prosocial altruistic genes and antisocial predatory genes, whereas only the former, which account for the appearance of design, predominate in successful organisms. Inclusive fitness theory, however, permits a formulation of the central problem of sociobiology in a particularly poignant form: how do interactions among loci induce utterly selfish genes to collaborate, or to predispose their carriers to collaborate, in promoting the fitness of their carriers? Inclusive fitness theory, because it abstracts from synergistic interactions among loci, does not answer this question. Fitness- enhancing collaboration among loci in the genome of a reproductive population requires suppressing alleles that decrease, and promoting alleles that increase the fitness of its carriers. Suppression and promotion are effected by regulatory net- works of genes, each of which is itself utterly selfish.
    [Show full text]
  • Kin Selection
    The basics of kin selection theory Kin selection theory has its origins in attempt to unlock the puzzle of why some organisms have evolved to help other organisms of the same species. Such helping behavior is a puzzle because an organism that helps another will likely incur some reproductive cost, such as a loss of resources to allocate to its own offspring, increased mortality risk, or reductions in other components of Darwinian fitness (i.e., reproductive success). This means that any gene that increases the probability of helping behavior will reduce its frequency in future generations and ultimately will be lost unless there is some compensating reproductive benefit, i.e., some additional path by which helping behavior causes a net increase in the underlying gene's frequency. William D. Hamilton (1964) provided a pivotal insight into the evolution of altruistic helping by pointing out that altruistic acts directed toward relatives produce an important kind of reproductive compensation. By enhancing the reproduction of relatives, a help-inducing gene indirectly propagates copies of itself in those relatives. When the relatives are the helper's own offspring, most authors refer to the helping as 'parental care' and the enhancement of propagation of the helping genes is often referred to as a positive 'direct effect' of those genes. The power of Hamilton's theory was that it showed that help-inducing genes benefit in an essentially identical way when the help is directed toward non-descendant relatives, such as siblings. When the latter 'indirect' effect is sufficiently strong, the helping gene can spread (increase in frequency in the population) despite decreases in its propagation through the offspring of the individual in which it resides (i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the Natural Selection of Helping
    1 The Natural Selection of Helping 1.1 Altruism and Selfishness What is the value of moral thinking? What benefits do we get from engag- ing in this way of judging ourselves and each other? It is reasonable to assume that the answer has something to do with helpfulness and cooper- ation. In some vague manner we expect that a person who thinks of human interactions in terms of “virtue,” “obligation,” or “justice” is more likely to be a useful member of society than someone for whom these concepts are entirely alien. This natural thought will be examined in detail in chapter 4; I mention it now because one might suppose that it represents an immedi- ate barrier to the hypothesis that morality is innate. Surely, one might think, natural selection is a competitive race where the laurels go to the untamed individualist? The main goal of this first chapter is to show that this doubt is misguided. I will outline several means by which helpful, cooperative traits may evolve. But before embarking on that task we should get our thinking straight on a misleading piece of terminology. Much of the literature on the topic of how helpful behaviors might naturally emerge professes to concern the evolution of altruism, but this is a word that has, over the years, been muddied and fudged in discussions about evolution, leading to persistent confusion and erroneous conclusions in some quar- ters. In the context of this book it is important to be exact about what we mean in this respect, and so I will begin with a three-way distinction.
    [Show full text]
  • The Helping Behavior Helps Lighten Physical Burden
    Basic and Applied Social Psychology ISSN: 0197-3533 (Print) 1532-4834 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/hbas20 The Helping Behavior Helps Lighten Physical Burden Xilin Li & Xiaofei Xie To cite this article: Xilin Li & Xiaofei Xie (2017) The Helping Behavior Helps Lighten Physical Burden, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 39:4, 183-192, DOI: 10.1080/01973533.2017.1320762 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2017.1320762 Published online: 02 Jun 2017. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 202 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=hbas20 Download by: [Peking University] Date: 14 November 2017, At: 21:46 BASIC AND APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2017, VOL. 39, NO. 4, 183–192 https://doi.org/10.1080/01973533.2017.1320762 none defined The Helping Behavior Helps Lighten Physical Burden Xilin Li and Xiaofei Xie Peking University ABSTRACT It is often believed that helping behaviors benefit the recipients at the expense of the performers. However, we propose that costly helping behaviors could alleviate feelings of physical burden experienced by the performers. In support of the proposal, we found in five studies that both imaginary and real helping behaviors led the performers to perceive physically c hallenging tasks as less demanding (Studies 1, 2, 3, 5), such as perceiving a steep mountain road as less steep (Study 2), a heavy carton as lighter (Study 4), and a long path as shorter (Study 5). These results challenge the conventional wisdom that helping behaviors always come at the cost of the helper and corroborate a growing body of literature showing that helping others could benefit the performer.
    [Show full text]
  • Enhancing Compassion: Social Psychological Perspectives
    1 Enhancing compassion: Social psychological perspectives Paul Condon & David DeSteno Northeastern University In press in Oxford handbook of compassion science Edited by E. Seppala, J. Doty, M. Worline, D. Cameron, S. Brown, & E. Simon-Thomas Oxford University Press Address correspondence to: Paul Condon Dept. of Psychology Northeastern University Boston, MA, 02115 [email protected] February 22, 2016 2 Enhancing compassion: Social psychological perspectives Social psychology’s contribution to the study of compassion begins with notorious examples of human failures to act compassionately. The early years of experimental social psychology were infamous for demonstrating the power of situations to hinder compassionate responses to the needs of others. The murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964, allegedly witnessed by 38 nonresponsive onlookers, sparked public and academic interest in the situational forces that cause onlookers to ignore the plights of others.1 Experimental research later confirmed that the presence of nonresponsive onlookers typically led to a reduction in helping behavior, called “the bystander effect” (Darley & Latané, 1968; Fischer et al., 2011; Latané & Nida, 1981). Further research demonstrated that situations can reduce prosocial responding even among those who have dedicated their lives to values such as compassion. In a highly cited study, seminary students under time pressure to reach a destination and deliver a lecture related to generosity and compassion were less likely to help an actor portraying a homeless man, compared with those students who were not under time pressure (Darley & Batson, 1973). Stanley Milgram’s research on obedience demonstrated the overwhelming tendency of people to obey authorities, even when authorities encouraged harm toward others, thereby overriding any impulse for compassionate action (Milgram, 1963).
    [Show full text]
  • Behavior, Eusociality, and Kin Selection
    Behavior, Eusociality, and Kin Selection BEHAVIOR EVOLVES . Belyaev’s long term selection experiment on aggression in foxes demonstrates that behavior has a genetic basis . QTL analysis implicates a single chromosomal region that is strongly associated with the level of aggression . 355 genes show expression differences between aggressive and tame foxes Figs. 16.3 & 16.4 1 OLDFIELD MICE PRODUCE A DISTINCTIVE BURROW . Relatives produce burrows with short entrance and no escape tunnel . QTL analysis revealed relatively simple genetic basis Weber et al. 2013 . Selection produces evolutionary changes in behavior Fig. 16.6 GENES INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR 2 BEHAVIOR AND COOPERATION IN UNICELLULAR ORGANISMS Dictyostelium discoides . Amoeboid cells -- aggregate under starvation . Form a “slug” to traverse faster . Fruiting body with “stalk” (~20%) and “spore” (~80%) guilds . Unicellular cooperation as precursor to multicellularity? Dicty aggregation video 3 Many behaviors are involved in social interactions - interactions between members of same species some social behavior involves cooperation African wild dogs mutual cooperatively kill benefits a wildebeest Why Cooperate When You Can Cheat? Does selection favor individuals that behave at the expense of their groups? . Group Selection: Groups of cooperative individuals will outcompete and displace groups of selfish individuals . Evolutionary Stable Strategy: A balance of behavior(s) that, when adopted by a population of players, cannot be invaded by an alternate strategy . Game Theory: An approach to studying behavior that solves for the optimal payoff strategy, depending on the choice of other players. 4 Obvious Group Advantages: Teamwork in the Wild Obvious Group Advantages: Safety in Numbers Other social behaviors are aggressive or territorial: Gannets peck at Stags joust over neighbors over small access to mates territories 5 Altruism: honey bee workers EXPLANATIONS FOR APPARENT ALTRUISM 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Behavioral Ecology: Altruism
    Author's personal copy 154 Behavioral Ecology | Altruism Altruism K R Foster, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA ª 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Introduction Altruism via Direct Fitness The Birth of the Idea Altruism via Enforcement Altruism via Inclusive Fitness (Kin Selection) A Synthetic View of Altruism and Cooperation Altruism via Group Selection Further Reading Introduction altruism is often taken to indicate an actor’s psychological ‘intention’ to act selflessly. The biologist’s focus on ‘out- This brings us to the central theoretical problem of socio- come’ and evolutionary fitness (Figure 1), therefore, can biology: how can altruism, which by definition reduces contradict the mainstream meaning of altruism in at least personal fitness, possibly evolve by natural selection? two ways. First, it allows the possibility of altruism in (Wilson, 1975, p. 3) simple organisms, like microbes, that lack conscious Altruistic behaviors, which reduce the personal repro- intention. In addition, a gene for altruism will only be duction of an actor and benefit another individual selected when the action increases its carrier’s fitness – (Figure 1), are found in a diverse set of organisms, ran- genes cannot be selected to produce behaviors that ging from microbes, through social insects, to higher decrease their frequency. Evolutionary discussions of vertebrates and humans (Figure 2). Altruism presents a conundrum for evolutionary thinking because Darwin’s theory of natural selection appears to suggest that selfish (a) (b) and competitive strategies are favored over evolutionary time. Why would natural selection select for a behavior that reduces personal reproduction? As we will see, altruism can evolve when the actor and recipient carry the same genes, at one or more loci – the actor can then increase copies of their genes through the recipient’s reproduction.
    [Show full text]
  • Putting the Altruism Back Into Altruism: the Evolution of Empathy
    ANRV331-PS59-11 ARI 4 November 2007 20:27 Putting the Altruism Back into Altruism: The Evolution of Empathy Frans B.M. de Waal Living Links, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, and Psychology Department, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322; email: [email protected] Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2008. 59:279–300 Key Words First published online as a Review in Advance on perception-action, perspective-taking, prosocial behavior, June 5, 2007 cooperation The Annual Review of Psychology is online at http://psych.annualreviews.org Abstract This article’s doi: Evolutionary theory postulates that altruistic behavior evolved for 10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093625 by EMORY UNIVERSITY on 01/23/08. For personal use only. the return-benefits it bears the performer. For return-benefits to play Copyright c 2008 by Annual Reviews. a motivational role, however, they need to be experienced by the or- All rights reserved ganism. Motivational analyses should restrict themselves, therefore, 0066-4308/08/0203-0279$20.00 to the altruistic impulse and its knowable consequences. Empathy Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2008.59:279-300. Downloaded from arjournals.annualreviews.org is an ideal candidate mechanism to underlie so-called directed al- truism, i.e., altruism in response to another’s pain, need, or distress. Evidence is accumulating that this mechanism is phylogenetically an- cient, probably as old as mammals and birds. Perception of the emo- tional state of another automatically activates shared representations causing a matching emotional state in the observer. With increasing cognition, state-matching evolved into more complex forms, includ- ing concern for the other and perspective-taking.
    [Show full text]
  • International Journal of Educational Methodology Volume 3, Issue 2, 65 - 74
    International Journal of Educational Methodology Volume 3, Issue 2, 65 - 74. ISSN: 2469-9632 http://www.ijem.com/ Altruism and Popularity * Eda Egilmez ** Janett Naylor-Tincknell Fort Hays State University, USA Fort Hays State University, USA Received: November 13, 2017 ▪ Revised: December 3, 2017 ▪ Accepted: December 15, 2017 Abstract: Popularity, as a manifestation of social status, has been widely researched and determined by group members. Prosocial behaviors are actions with intention of benefiting others or society as whole with little or no personal gain and may include helping, cooperating, and other voluntary works. Altruism is a type of prosocial behavior that could affect individuals' popularity. Altruism has been studied in different disciplines with the general definition of cooperative behavior that has a cost to the actor with a benefit to the receiver. The common theme in all perspectives is that there is an inevitable cost for the actor with a benefit to the receiver. During the current research, surveys and vignettes were used to collect data. Participants were recruited through an online site, and were compensated for their time and participation via payment of money. As a result of the research, it was observed that helpful behaviors were highly related to the items of empathy, likeability, and popularity. Findings suggest that when gratefulness and helpful behaviors are present, individuals are rated higher in several positive qualities. The unique finding of the study is that both gratefulness and altruism are highly effective resources in interpersonal relations. Purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between altruistic behaviors that are towards friends and popularity by the endorsement of aforementioned hypotheses and theories.
    [Show full text]
  • Kinship Cues As the Basis for Prosocial Behaviour in Groups
    Kinship cues 1 Running Head: Kinship Cues and Prosocial Behaviour Kinship Cues as a Basis for Prosocial Behaviour in Groups: Heuristic Causes and Consequences of Familiarity Mark Van Vugt University of Southampton Mark Schaller and Justin H. Park University of British Columbia Submitted for Special Issue of GPIR on Evolutionary Approaches to Group Research (Guest editors: Tatsuya Kameda & R. Scott Tindale) Kinship cues 2 Abstract Drawing on evolutionary logic, we articulate a model that explains how an evolved mechanism of kin selection may underlie a broad range of prosocial behaviours within human social groups. The adaptive process of kin-selection required the evolution of psychological mechanisms that respond to perceptual cues indicating kinship. These kin- recognition mechanisms operate heuristically and are fallible: People who are not kin may also activate them, thus eliciting prosocial cognitions, emotions, and actions toward genetic strangers. We summarize a range of cues that serve as kin-recognition heuristics, and focus especially on the cue of similarity. Empirical evidence reveals that similarity (whether defined by social identity, physical features, or attitudes and values) promotes a wide range of prosocial feelings and behaviour. This evidence is buttressed by results from two new studies, reported here, linking perceived attitudinal similarity to loyalty and cooperation within groups. It appears that evolved mechanisms of kin-selection promote prosocial behaviour not toward family, per se, but rather toward individuals
    [Show full text]