Does Society Need Altruists? Coevolution of General Trust and Social Intelligence

浩 澁谷

商学討究 (Shogaku Tokyu), 2013, vol. 64, issue 2/3, 169-194

Abstract: Most social scientists, especially economists, believe that altruists do not exist because they cannot survive exploitation by egoists. An agent-based model demonstrates, however, that altruists can survive natural selection if society comprises four types of individuals: altruists, reciprocal altruists, egoists and reciprocal egoists. These individuals are characterized by different combinations of two phenotypes: general trust and social intelligence. In a society of four types of individuals, coevolution of general trust and social intelligence will emerge. Coevolution constitutes a new mechanism of the emergence of cooperation. If coevolution is strong, altruists will be able to survive and help society evolve into a high-trust and high-growth society. Without altruists, coevolution does not work and society fails to grow. Thus society needs altruists.

Keywords: coevolution; altruism; cooperation; general trust; social intelligence; natural selection; agent-based model; simulation; social dilemma; open society; strong and weak reciprocity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ota:ecorev:10252/5241

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