The nature of human altruism

Ernst Fehr () and Urs Fischbacher

Experimental from EconWPA

Abstract: Some of the most fundamental questions concerning our evolutionary origins, our social relations, and the organization of society are centred around issues of altruism and selfishness. Experimental evidence indicates that human altruism is a powerful force and is unique in the animal world. However, there is much individual heterogeneity and the interaction between altruists and selfish individuals is vital to human cooperation. Depending on the environment, a minority of altruists can force a majority of selfish individuals to cooperate or, conversely, a few egoists can induce a large number of altruists to defect. Current gene-based evolutionary theories cannot explain important patterns of human altruism, pointing towards the importance of both theories of cultural evolution as well as gene–culture co-evolution.

Keywords: altruism; selfishness; human altruism; evolution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C9 D63 D64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-hpe and nep-mic
Date: 2004-02-11
Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 7
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wpa:wuwpex:0402003

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