A group selection perspective on economic behavior, institutions and organizations

This article examines the role of group dynamics and interactions in explaining economic behavior and the evolution of institutions. Our starting point is the large literature on group selection in the biological, behavioral and social sciences. We present a range of interpretations of group selection, describe a complete set of group selection mechanisms, and discuss the empirical and experimental evidence for group selection. Unique features of cultural group selection are investigated, and opportunities for applying the latter to various areas of economic theory and economic policy are identified

The survival of the kindest: a theoretical review and empirical investigation of explanations to the evolution of human altruism

Charles Darwin was concerned that his entire theory of evolution by natural selection might be negated by a phenomenon prevalent in a variety of species including humans; namely altruism. If natural selection really favored the survival of the fittest, how could a strategy so irrational as to sacrifice oneself for the well-being of unrelated others survive? A number of scientists have contributed valuable theories to elucidate the �paradox of altruism�. However, in spite of the merits of these theories, there is still dissension about the origins of some particular oddities in the altruistic tendencies of humans, namely why humans act selflessly even when they are unobserved and when they are benefiting a stranger whom they will never meet again. The present doctoral thesis sheds light on answers to the question how human altruism, with all its specific features, could evolve. In the first part, both prominent (e.g., kin selection, reciprocal altruism, etc.) and less recognized theories on the evolution of altruism (e.g., green-beard altruism, the theory of the extended phenotype, etc.) are reviewed. Based on an integrative overview, it is analyzed how much of the altruism puzzle has been solved yet and which specific phenomena are still open to conjecture. With the aim of adding new insights to the issue, the second part of this work presents three empirical studies that investigate in how far prosociality might have been favored (1) by processes of assortation, i.e. the grouping of altruists, and (2) by mating strategies. Indeed, assortation may be invoked as an explanation for the evolution of altruism, if the selfish advantage of egoistic individuals is out-competed by benefits of mutually cooperating altruists. However, to make assortation work as a driver of the evolution of altruism, two prerequisites have to be fulfilled: first, individuals have to be able to distinguish altruists from egoists, and second, altruists have to elect like-minded individuals for mutual cooperation. The first study investigates whether humans are really able to identify altruists based on first impression. To test this, judges watched 20-second silent video clips of unknown target persons and were asked to estimate the behavior of these target persons in a dictator game, which measures prosociality. Estimates were significantly better than chance indicating that humans can identify the altruistic dispositions of unknown persons. The second study investigates whether individuals, in genuine groups, can identify the altruistic tendencies of their daily interaction partners. It further examines whether prosociality influences the formation of friendships in such that individuals assort themselves along the dimension of altruism. Students of six secondary school classes played an anonymous dictator game that functioned as a measure of altruism. Afterwards and unannounced, the students had to estimate their classmates� decisions and did so better than chance. Sociometry revealed that altruists were friends with more altruistic persons than were egoists. The results thus confirm the existence of the two prerequisites for the evolution of altruism through assortation: the predictability of altruistic behavior and the association of altruists. However, although the theory of assortation may explain the evolution of altruism in general, it does not explain the occurrence of inter-individual differences in altruism. The third study deals exactly with this matter. It investigates whether different levels of prosociality might have evolved as a result of different mating strategies, namely inter-individual variations in the propensity to engage in either short-term mating or long-term mating. Specifically, it assumes that prosociality is a necessity for acquiring a long-term partner, especially if an individual has to compensate for deficits in physical attractiveness. To find out whether this idea is true, the study tested whether individuals look out for different levels of prosociality depending on whether they are searching for a short-term mate or a long-term mate. Judges watched short video-clips of target persons and received additional information on the targets� prosociality. Judges were then asked to rate each of the target persons with regard to their desirability as a short-term and long-term mate. While prosociality was a significant predictor for long-term desirability, it was irrelevant when subjects chose a short-term mate. The results suggest that although altruism is costly, at least for some individuals it might be a wretched necessity to obtain access to mates and to reproduce. In the general discussion, the results of all three studies are consolidated. Conclusions are drawn as to the consequences of these findings for the study of human altruism. Finally, directions for future research are presented

Are kin and group selection rivals or friends?

Kin selection and group selection were once seen as competing explanatory hypotheses but now tend to be seen as equivalent ways of describing the same basic idea. Yet this ‘equivalence thesis’ seems not to have brought proponents of kin selection and group selection any closer together. This may be because the equivalence thesis merely shows the equivalence of two statistical formalisms without saying anything about causality. W.D. Hamilton was the first to derive an equivalence result of this type. Yet Hamilton was aware of its limitations, and saw that, while illuminating, it papered over some biologically important distinctions. Attending to these distinctions leads to the concept of ‘K-G space’, which helps us see where the biological disagreements between proponents of kin selection and group selection really lie

Water, ecology and health: Ecosystems as settings for promoting health and sustainability

Despite the proposed ecological and systems-based perspectives of the settings-based approach to health promotion, most initiatives have tended to overlook the fundamental nature of ecosystems. This paper responds to this oversight by proposing an explicit re-integration of ecosystems within the healthy settings approach. We make this case by focusing on water as an integrating unit of analysis. Water, on which all life depends, is not only an integral consideration for the existing healthy settings (schools, hospitals, workplaces) but also highlights the ecosystem context of health and sustainability. A focus on catchments (also know as watersheds and river basins) exemplifies the scaled and upstream/downstream nature of ecosystems and draws into sharp focus the cross-sectoral and transdisciplinary context of the social and environmental determinants of health. We position this work in relation to the converging agendas of health promotion and ecosystem management at the local, regional and global scales—and draw on evidence from international initiatives as diverse as the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Using water as a vehicle for understanding the systemic context for human wellbeing, health promotion and disease prevention draws inevitable attention to key challenges of scale, intersectoral governance and the complementary themes of promoting resilience and preventing vulnerability. We conclude by highlighting the importance of building individual and institutional capacity for this kind of integration—equipping a new generation of researchers, practitioners and decision-makers to be conversant with the language of ecosystems, capable of systemic thought and focused on settings that can promote both health and sustainabilit

The supernatural guilt trip does not take us far enough

Belief in souls is only one component of supernatural thinking in which individuals infer the presence of invisible mechanisms that explain events as paranormal rather than natural. We believe it is important to place greater emphasis on the prevalence of supernatural beliefs across other domains, if only to counter simplistic divisions between rationality and irrationality recently aligned with the contentious science/religion debate

Spring School on Language, Music, and Cognition: Organizing Events in Time

The interdisciplinary spring school “Language, music, and cognition: Organizing events in time” was held from February 26 to March 2, 2018 at the Institute of Musicology of the University of Cologne. Language, speech, and music as events in time were explored from different perspectives including evolutionary biology, social cognition, developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience of speech, language, and communication, as well as computational and biological approaches to language and music. There were 10 lectures, 4 workshops, and 1 student poster session. Overall, the spring school investigated language and music as neurocognitive systems and focused on a mechanistic approach exploring the neural substrates underlying musical, linguistic, social, and emotional processes and behaviors. In particular, researchers approached questions concerning cognitive processes, computational procedures, and neural mechanisms underlying the temporal organization of language and music, mainly from two perspectives: one was concerned with syntax or structural representations of language and music as neurocognitive systems (i.e., an intrapersonal perspective), while the other emphasized social interaction and emotions in their communicative function (i.e., an interpersonal perspective). The spring school not only acted as a platform for knowledge transfer and exchange but also generated a number of important research questions as challenges for future investigations

The Role of Inter-Group Relationships in Institutional Analysis

Taking value as the socio-economic analogue of biological or cultural fitness, in this paper I start a study of the interaction between individual-level and group-level explanatory mechanisms by looking for what kind of intra-group relationships obtains given the nature of inter-group relationships. Specifically, it is shown that when value comes from appropriating resources from other groups, inter-group relationships are conflictual or war-like and, as a consequence, intra-group-relationships are centralized and hierarchical; when the value creation process involves niche-competition between groups, inter-group relationships are fission-fusion with commitment and intra-group relationships are decentralized and egalitarian; finally, when value comes from appropriating occasional benefits from cooperation, inter-group relationships are indistinguishable from intra-group relationships, and the latter are decentralized and hierarchical. Interpreting intra-group relationships as different forms of social order and the division of labour, applications to political and economic institutions are also provided. Exploitation, a well-defined concept in the paper without recourse to the labour theory of value, is shown to be consistent with some of these institutions and, particularly, with the absence of explicit coercionvalue, distribution, exploitation