Question

I found that sociobiologists suggest that this is nature’s way of successfully preserving the altruistic gene as this is a well adapted characteristic (Leak & Christopher, 1982). How can selfless behavior be deemed a strong adaptation if the species are more concerned with taking care of others over their own well being?

Answer 1

• Humans are social animals. It's important to state this first. We evolved from social animals and we remain social animals to this day. Social species often have cooperative behavior.
• From a purely evolutionary standpoint, altruistic behavior is a loss for the individual. This is all that matters, because evolution doesn't think or plan, it's the result of the pressures on a living creature to survive and the ones that do reproducing-- there is no animal that acts 'for the good of the pack/species/whatever.'
  
• Acts of kindness and friendship are the glue of our social lives, and through it humans act in a cooperative way to create the society we live in now.Our intelligence and ability to work together in complex ways is the reason we are what we are.
• E.O. Wilson offered a new perspective which was that certain types of social behaviors including altruism are often genetically programmed into a species to help them survive.
• According to the kin selection theory, altruistic individuals would prevail because the genes that they shared with kin would be passed on. Since the whole clan is included in the genetic victory of a few, the phenomenon of beneficial altruism came to be known as “inclusive fitness.”
• He acknowledged that according to kin theory, that altruism arises when the "giver" has a genetic stake in the game. But after a mathematical assessment of the natural world, Wilson and his colleagues at Harvard University decided that altruism evolved for the good of the community rather than for the good of individual genes.
• When people compete against one other they are selfish, but when group selection becomes important, then the altruism characteristic of human societies kicks in.
• Modern theories of cooperative behavior suggest that acting selflessly in the moment provides a selective advantage to the altruist in the form of some kind of return benefit.
• The authors of the study argue that humans developed cooperative skills because it was in their mutual interest to work well with others practical circumstances often forced them to cooperate with others to obtain food.
• In other words, altruism isn't the reason we cooperate; we must cooperate in order to survive, and we are altruistic to others because we need them for our survival.
• Science proves that our genes and our brains have evolved to be compassionate, to cooperate, and to foster community. This is common sense.