Evolution and altruism Combining psychological mediators with naturally selected tendencies

Sorry, not sorry: Unpopular individuals report but don't display empathy and prosocial behaviors

The resource control theory postulates that the combination of prosocial strategies and coercive strategies are useful in gaining and maintaining resources that allow one to be perceived popular within society. Often prosocial behaviors appear in conjunction with empathy. The social-reconnection hypothesis suggest that prosocial behaviors might be executed when an individual fears they are or might be socially excluded. However, some research shows that mixed feelings arise and increased attendance to acceptance might take place but not actual helping behaviors. The current study examined eighty-six individuals and the impact of perceived popularity on empathy and prosocial behaviors. Specifically, self-reported popular and unpopular individuals were examined based on resource control strategy usage, empathy quotient (EQ) scores, helping behavior, and galvanic skin response to an emotion inducing video about rejection and bullying. Unpopular individuals self-reported higher levels of empathy but did not display greater galvanic skin responses or more helping behavior than popular self-reported individuals.

"Net" value co-creation: The effect of interactions on consumer citizenship behavior in online travel communities

Online traveling community is initiated by companies, but its survival is inextricably linked to consumer citizenship behavior (e.g., out-group recommendation, in-group helping, and inward response). The majority of researches have investigated consumer behavior of brand community such as consumer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and purchase intention. A few scholars try to explore consumer behaviors beyond the purchase, like participation, which was concerned as the value co-creation. However, the value co-creation of the community should depend on consumers' citizenship behaviors instead of their pure participation. Therefore, this study empirically examines the effect of consumer interaction on consumer psychology and citizenship behaviors of the online travel community. The findings demonstrated that consumer interaction facilitated participants' self-identity and their perceived social support, which enhanced their community identification and thus their citizenship behaviors. Furthermore, the motivation of participation plays a moderator in this process. Specifically, symbolic motivation moderates the relationship between consumer interaction and their self-identity, while utilitarian motivation moderates the effect of consumer interaction on their perceived social support. These findings contributed to the intervention of consumer citizenship behavior in online traveling community and provide insights into the management of the online travel community from the perspective of the value co-creation.

Why do people self-sacrifice for their country? The roles of identity fusion and empathic concern

Identity fusion with a group, a feeling of connection with it, is a good predictor of extreme pro-group behavior, an action to favor or protect the group, including self-sacrifice. Relational ties and personal distress (self-oriented emotional reaction; e.g., anxiety, distress) toward ingroup members in need have been evaluated separately as mediators of the relationship between identity fusion and pro-group self-sacrifice. Another mediator could be empathic concern (other-oriented emotional reaction; e.g., compassion, sympathy), but it has not been considered in the literature. We related those three mediators in a model. The objective was to analyze whether relational ties mediate the relationship between identity fusion and pro-country self-sacrifice whereas both empathic concern and personal distress mediate the association between relational ties and pro-country self-sacrifice. We expected that identity fusion with the country leads to more relational ties, which in turn evokes both empathic concern and personal distress, and those emotional reactions promote more and less pro-country self-sacrifice, respectively, with more effect of empathic concern than personal distress. We considered the country as the group reference because it is the most used in identity fusion research. In a sample of university students (N = 539), the results supported this model: Identity fusion promoted relational ties, which in turn evoked empathic concern and personal distress. Then, the last two variables predicted more and less self-sacrifice, respectively, with more effect of empathic concern than personal distress. We discussed the theoretical implications of the model, especially the relationship of identity fusion with empathic concern and personal distress-traditional explanations for pro-group behavior-considering the different motivations associated to both emotional reactions. Despite the limitations associated with the measurements, the data supported the model that relates variables not previously explored jointly.

Intentions versus Outcomes: Cooperation and Fairness in a Sequential Prisoner’s Dilemma with Nature

This paper investigates the importance of concerns about intentions and outcomes in a sequential prisoner’s dilemma game with nature. In the game, there is a chance that the first mover’s choice is reversed. This allows the separation of intended actions from the resulting outcomes. Equilibrium predictions from theoretical models of fairness are tested experimentally by varying the chance the first mover’s choice is reversed and whether the second mover observes the first mover’s choice. The results show that second mover cooperation is higher when the first mover has little control over their choice and when the second mover is not told what the first mover chose. While subject behavior is consistent with concerns for both intentions and outcomes, the results indicate that these concerns work in ways not predicted by current theoretical models. In addition, I find that psychometric measures of empathic concern and perspective taking are correlated with second mover cooperation and provide potential explanations for the experimental results.

Belief in an Afterlife Influences Altruistic Helping Intentions in Alignment With Adaptive Tendencies

Evolutionary definitions of altruism are only concerned with reproductive consequences and not motives or other psychological mechanisms, making them ideal for generalization to all forms of organisms. Hamilton's inclusive fitness theory explains altruistic behavior toward genetic relatives and has generated extensive empirical support. Trivers' theory of reciprocal altruism helps explain patterns of helping among non-kin, and other research has demonstrated that human helping intentions follow fitness consequences from age-based reproductive value on altruism. The current study examines a novel psychological factor, belief in the afterlife, which may influence altruistic helping intentions. Belief in the afterlife was incorporated into a previous study design assessing the effects of a target's genetic relatedness and age-based reproductive value. The influences of inclusive fitness and target age were reproduced in a non-Western sample of participants (N = 300) in Iran. Belief in the afterlife predicted the overall confidence of risking one's life to save another across all targets, and also moderated the effects of genetic relatedness and target age. Rather than promoting altruism equitably or advantaging those favored by adaptive tendencies, higher belief in an afterlife aligned with these tendencies in promoting further favoritism toward close kin and younger targets with higher reproductive value.

What Works for Whom? Investigating Adolescents’ Pro-Environmental Behaviors

Pro-environmental behavior has been extensively studied using general models of predicting behavior; however, these models have very limited value in making inferences about individuals. To address this shortcoming, a person-oriented investigation of five pro-environmental behaviors differing in complexity was carried out using a clustering approach. A total of 863 adolescents (mean age 15.72 (SD = 1.1), 53.5% female) filled in the Big Five Inventory and measures of recycling, water conservation, electricity conservation, sustainable consumption, and sustainable transportation use based on an extended model of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). TPB models were investigated in empirically derived clusters of individuals that differ by their personality traits. The results suggest that individuals in different personality clusters could be reached effectively through different means when trying to promote pro-environmental behaviors and different pro-environmental behaviors should not be regarded as homogeneous.

Closeness or compassion? Relatedness and causal control influence helping via distinct pathways

Why do people feel compassion? Two largely separate research literatures - one driven by evolutionary psychology and one driven by attribution theory - have shown that feelings of compassion for needy individuals and subsequent helping are predicted by both genetic relatedness and causal control. Research also suggests that emotional closeness, rather than compassion, motivates help for family. In two studies, we tested the role of genetic relatedness and control on cognitive and emotional mediators of helping. Results revealed that relatedness and control had distinct and independent effects on willingness to help needy individuals that were mediated by emotional closeness and compassion, respectively. These results provide a unique bridging of disparate literatures and suggest that emotional closeness and compassion serve distinct functions in facilitating prosocial behavior.

Empathy affects tradeoffs between life's quality and duration

Sharing others’ emotional experience through empathy has been widely linked to prosocial behavior, i.e., behavior that aims to improve others’ welfare. However, different aspects of a person’s welfare do not always move in concert. The present research investigated how empathy affects tradeoffs between two different aspects of others’ welfare: their experience (quality of life) and existence (duration of life). Three experiments offer evidence that empathy increases the priority people place on reducing others’ suffering relative to prolonging their lives. Participants assigned to high or low empathy conditions considered scenarios in which saving a person’s life was incompatible with extinguishing the person’s suffering. Higher empathy for a suffering accident victim was associated with greater preference to let the person die rather than keep the person alive. Participants expressed greater preference to end the lives of friends than strangers (Experiment 1), those whose perspectives they had taken than those whom they considered from afar (Experiment 2), and those who remained alert and actively suffering than those whose injuries had rendered them unconscious (Experiment 3). These results highlight a distinction between empathy’s effects on the motivation to reduce another person’s suffering and its effects on the prosocial behaviors that sometimes, but do not necessarily, follow from that motivation, including saving the person’s life. Results have implications for scientific understanding of the relationship between empathy and morality and for contexts in which people make decisions on behalf of others.

Do Relatives With Greater Reproductive Potential Get Help First?: A Test of the Inclusive Fitness Explanation of Kin Altruism

According to inclusive fitness theory, people are more willing to help those they are genetically related to because relatives share a kin altruism gene and are able to pass it along. We tested this theory by examining the effect of reproductive potential on altruism. Participants read hypothetical scenarios and chose between cousins (Studies 1 and 2) and cousins and friends (Study 3) to help with mundane chores or a life-or-death rescue. In life-or-death situations, participants were more willing to help a cousin preparing to conceive rather than adopt a child (Study 1) and a cousin with high rather than low chance of reproducing (Studies 2 and 3). Patterns in the mundane condition were less consistent. Emotional closeness also contributed to helping intentions (Studies 1 and 2). By experimentally manipulating reproductive potential while controlling for genetic relatedness and emotional closeness, we provide a demonstration of the direct causal effects of reproductive potential on helping intentions, supporting the inclusive fitness explanation of kin altruism.

Testing the Kundera Hypothesis: Does Every Woman (But Not Every Man) Prefer Her Child to Her Mate?

The context of a famous novel by Milan Kundera ( Immortality) suggests that when faced with a life-or-death situation, every woman would prefer to save her child than her husband, left hanging whether every man would do the same. We labeled this as the Kundera hypothesis, and the purpose of this study was to test it empirically as we believe it raises a thought-provoking question in evolutionary terms. Specifically, 197 college students (92 women) were presented a questionnaire where they had to make different decisions about four dilemmas about who to save (their mate or their offspring) in two hypothetical life-or-death situations: a home fire and a car crash. These dilemmas involved two different mate ages (a 25- or a 40-year-old mate) and two offspring ages (1- or a 6-year-old child). For comparative purposes, we also included complementary life-or-death dilemmas on both a sibling and an offspring, and a sibling and a cousin. The results generally supported the Kundera hypothesis: Although the majority of men and women made the decision to save their offspring instead of their mate, about 18% of men on average (unlike the 5% of women) consistently decided to save their mate across the four dilemmas in the two life-or-death situations. These data were interpreted with reference to Hamilton's inclusive fitness theory, the preferential role of women as kin keepers, and the evolution of altruism toward friends and mates.

Reciprocity Among Preschoolers in Relation to Resource Allocation Toward Siblings, Friends, and Strangers

Children at age 6 years differentially treat kin, friends, and strangers in resource allocation games by being more altruistic toward kin. However, it is unknown how previous allocation experience as a recipient influences the potential kinship effect in subsequent resource allocations. The present study investigated how 4- to 6-year-old children allocated resources between themselves and a sibling, a friend, or a stranger in three allocation tasks after the recipient had previously shared or nonshared with the participant. Results showed that, when a share would induce cost on the self, 6-year-old children were likely to share with a sibling whether the sibling had previously shared or not, but they would share only with friends or strangers who had previously shared. When a share would induce no cost, participants across ages were likely to share with a recipient who had previously shared. When the decision option was between sharing equally and sharing altruistically, participants would allow the recipient to have more only when the recipient was a sibling or friend who had previously allocated altruistically. These findings suggest that kin altruism in resource allocation emerges at around 6 years of age and that reciprocity partly overrides and partly reinforces kin altruism.

Behavior of Internal Customer in Family Business: Strategies and Actions for Improving Their Satisfaction

Determining the relevant aspects of family businesses (FBs) that make them increasingly competitive is the main objective of researchers in this field. Despite this, there is little empirical literature on the behavior of the internal customer (IC) in FBs or how businesses increase their satisfaction. Basing our work on psychological theories and with both quantitative and qualitative information from 31 semi-structured interviews, this work establishes certain characteristics of the ICs of the FB and proposes a series of guidelines for increasing their satisfaction, thereby facilitating the continuity of this type of business. FBs that are able to understand that the motivation of their ICs is more important than other qualities, and that this requires a more comprehensive management will be able to get sustainable competitive advantages in the future.

Morality: An Evolutionary Account

Refinements in Darwin's theory of the origin of a moral sense create a framework equipped to organize and integrate contemporary theory and research on morality. Morality originated in deferential, cooperative, and altruistic "social instincts," or decision-making strategies, that enabled early humans to maximize their gains from social living and resolve their conflicts of interest in adaptive ways. Moral judgments, moral norms, and conscience originated from strategic interactions among members of groups who experienced confluences and conflicts of interest. Moral argumentation buttressed by moral reasoning is equipped to generate universal and impartial moral standards. Moral beliefs and standards are products of automatic and controlled information-processing and decision-making mechanisms. To understand how people make moral decisions, we must understand how early evolved mechanisms in the old brain and recently evolved mechanisms in the new brain are activated and how they interact. Understanding what a sense of morality is for helps us understand what it is.

Gratitude for Help among Adult Friends and Siblings

Although gratitude is a key prosocial emotion reinforcing reciprocal altruism, it has been largely ignored in the empirical literature. We examined feelings of gratitude and the importance of reciprocity in same-sex peer relations. Participants were 772 individuals (189 men; mean age = 28.80) who completed an online survey using a vignette design. We investigated (i) differences in reported gratitude and the importance of reciprocity among same-sex siblings and same-sex friends, and (ii) how relationship closeness moderates these associations. Based on the theory of kin altruism, we expect that people would feel more grateful towards friends than towards their siblings, and that lack of gratitude or failure to pay back a loan would bother more with friends than with siblings, irrespective of emotional closeness. Results showed that levels of gratitude and expectations of reciprocity were higher towards friends compared to siblings. This was the case also after controlling for emotional closeness. Being close generally made participants feel more grateful and expect lower displays of gratitude in the other. Closeness was also strongly associated with emotional gratitude among siblings compared to friends. We conclude that feelings and displays of gratitude have a special role in friendships. Although a close sibling may elicit as much gratitude as a friend does, even a very close friend is not exempt from the logic of reciprocity in the same way that a sibling is.

Going that extra mile: individuals travel further to maintain face-to-face contact with highly related kin than with less related kin

The theory of inclusive fitness has transformed our understanding of cooperation and altruism. However, the proximate psychological underpinnings of altruism are less well understood, and it has been argued that emotional closeness mediates the relationship between genetic relatedness and altruism. In this study, we use a real-life costly behaviour (travel time) to dissociate the effects of genetic relatedness from emotional closeness. Participants travelled further to see more closely related kin, as compared to more distantly related kin. For distantly related kin, the level of emotional closeness mediated this relationship--when emotional closeness was controlled for, there was no effect of genetic relatedness on travel time. However, participants were willing to travel further to visit parents, children and siblings as compared to more distantly related kin, even when emotional closeness was controlled for. This suggests that the mediating effect of emotional closeness on altruism varies with levels of genetic relatedness.

Altruism in social networks: evidence for a 'kinship premium'

Why and under what conditions are individuals altruistic to family and friends in their social networks? Evolutionary psychology suggests that such behaviour is primarily the product of adaptations for kin- and reciprocal altruism, dependent on the degree of genetic relatedness and exchange of benefits, respectively. For this reason, individuals are expected to be more altruistic to family members than to friends: whereas family members can be the recipients of kin and reciprocal altruism, friends can be the recipients of reciprocal altruism only. However, there is a question about how the effect of kinship is implemented at the proximate psychological level. One possibility is that kinship contributes to some general measure of relationship quality (such as 'emotional closeness'), which in turn explains altruism. Another possibility is that the effect of kinship is independent of relationship quality. The present study tests between these two possibilities. Participants (N= 111) completed a self-report questionnaire about their willingness to be altruistic, and their emotional closeness, to 12 family members and friends at different positions in their extended social networks. As expected, altruism was greater for family than friends, and greater for more central layers of the network. Crucially, the results showed that kinship made a significant unique contribution to altruism, even when controlling for the effects of emotional closeness. Thus, participants were more altruistic towards kin than would be expected if altruism was dependent on emotional closeness alone - a phenomenon we label a 'kinship premium'. These results have implications for the ongoing debate about the extent to which kin relations and friendships are distinct kinds of social relationships, and how to measure the 'strength of ties' in social networks.

ALTRUISM AMONG SIMPLE AND SMART VAMPIRES

In this work, we present a simulation study drawn upon a famous ethological example: food-sharing habit of vampire bats in Central America. A norm of reciprocity is introduced when agents are expected to exhibit a cooperative behavior under serious environmental strictures (infrequent but lethal food scarcity). We compare different agents' architectures (with different levels of cognitive complexity) in the evolution of food-sharing habit and we analyze their performances against the presence of cheaters in the population. The experiments are aimed at studying the role of cognitive mediators (i.e. goals) in spreading altruism, described as a purposeful action.

Neural responses to perceived pain in others predict real-life monetary donations in different socioeconomic contexts

Empathy has been proposed to be a proximate mechanism underlying altruistic behavior. However, both empathy and altruistic behavior differ between human individuals with low and high socioeconomic status. Here we investigated whether subjective socioeconomic status (SSS) modulates the relationship between neural activity to perceived pain in others and human altruistic behaviors in a real-life situation. After being scanned using functional MRI while observing videos of others in pain, participants were invited to make an anonymous monetary donation to a charitable organization. Painful stimuli increased activity in the inferior frontal, insula and somatosensory cortices compared to non-painful stimuli. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that neural responses to perceived pain predicted the amount of monetary donations with different patterns in high and low SSS individuals. Stronger neural responses to perceived pain were associated with greater monetary donations in high SSS individuals, whereas a reverse pattern was observed in low SSS individuals. Our results suggest that SSS moderates the functional role of empathy-related neural activity in predicting altruistic behavior. Empathy may follow different mechanisms involved in altruistic behaviors (e.g., donation) depending on the social environment.

Examining verbal and physical retaliation against kinship insults

This study examined how different types of insults-social status insults and reproductive status insults--toward one's family and friends influenced the likelihood of verbal and physical retaliation. Participants were given a questionnaire containing scenarios in which a hypothetical person insulted each participant's sibling, cousin, or friend. Participants indicated they were significantly less likely to verbally retaliate when a cousin was insulted than when a sibling or friend was insulted. Men were more likely to physically retaliate toward male insulters. Women were more likely to physically retaliate toward female insulters. Women were more likely to verbally retaliate than men, but only when the insulter was female. Both men and women were more likely to retaliate when a woman was insulted.

Altruism between Romantic Partners: Biological Offspring as a Genetic Bridge between Altruist and Recipient

When the cost of altruism is low, individuals are more likely to help non-kin (i.e., friends and romantic partners) than kin. This trend is thought to reflect the fact that people tend to be emotionally closer with friends and romantic partners than kin. However, as the cost of altruism increases, altruistic preference shifts to kin. The present study highlights this phenomenon by examining altruism between siblings, romantic partners, romantic partners who have biological children together, and romantic partners who have adopted children together. Participants ( n = 203) completed a questionnaire about altruism in low-, medium-, and high-cost situations. Participants gave more low-cost help to their romantic partners (regardless of whether they had a child together) than their siblings. More medium-cost help was given to romantic partners who had a child (biological and adopted) than siblings and romantic partners without children. In the high-cost condition, the estimated altruistic tendencies were stronger toward siblings and romantic partners who have a biological child than toward romantic partners with no children and partners with adopted children. Participants also believed they were more altruistic than their siblings and romantic partners.

From Mate Retention to Murder: Evolutionary Psychological Perspectives on Men's Partner-Directed Violence

In response to the tragically high incidence and negative consequences of female-directed violence in intimate relationships, a large literature has been dedicated to the investigation of the proximate and the ultimate or evolutionary predictors of men's partner-directed violence. Evolutionary psychology offers a framework for investigating the design of evolved information-processing mechanisms that motivate costly behaviors such as men's partner-directed violence. We review several forms of men's partner-directed violence, including insults, sexual coercion, physical violence, and homicide, from an evolutionary psychological perspective and with a particular focus on the adaptive problem of paternity uncertainty. The problem of paternity uncertainty is hypothesized to have selected for the emotion of male sexual jealousy, which in turn motivates men's nonviolent and violent mate retention behaviors. We review empirical evidence for the relationships among paternity uncertainty, male sexual jealousy, and men's partner-directed violence. We propose that a comprehensive understanding of men's partner-directed violence will be achieved only by careful consideration of both proximate and ultimate causes.

Sex Differences in Violent versus Non-Violent Life-Threatening Altruism

Many studies on Hamilton's (1964) inclusive fitness theory have used the burning house and kidney donation examples of life-threatening altruism. However, these examples may not be sufficiently exhibiting the risk involved with life-threatening altruism that would have occurred in hunter-gatherer societies, such as fighting off attackers and/or predators. The present study examined participants' estimated likelihood to perform altruistic acts for specific kin members/friends in two violent life-threatening situations (i.e., being mugged and being chased) and two non-violent life-threatening situations (i.e., the burning house and kidney donation examples). Participants were 216 undergraduate students who completed a questionnaire on altruism toward an actual kin member/friend. Each questionnaire contained four life-or-death scenarios (two violent and two non-violent) in which either the participant's sibling, cousin, or best friend was in danger and needed help. Results indicated that people were more likely to help siblings than cousins and friends in both the violent and non-violent hypothetical scenarios. Participants indicated a greater likelihood to help people in violent situations than in non-violent situations. Women indicated a greater estimated likelihood than men to help people in non-violent situations while men indicated a greater estimated likelihood than women to help people in violent situations. Both male and female participants indicated a greater estimated likelihood to help women than men in violent situations.

Human ability to detect kinship in strangers' faces: effects of the degree of relatedness

The resemblance between human faces has been shown to be a possible cue in recognizing the relatedness between parents and children, and more recently, between siblings. However, the general inclusive fitness theory proposes that kin-selective behaviours are also relevant to more distant relatives, which requires the detection of larger kinship bonds. We conducted an experiment to explore the use of facial clues by 'strangers', i.e. evaluators from a different family, to associate humans of varying degrees of relatedness. We hypothesized that the visual capacity to detect relatedness should be weaker with lower degrees of relatedness. We showed that human adults are capable of (although not very efficient at) assessing the relatedness of unrelated individuals from photographs and that visible facial cues vary according to the degree of relatedness. This sensitivity exists even for kin pair members that are more than a generation apart and have never lived together. Collectively, our findings are in agreement with emerging knowledge on the role played by facial resemblance as a kinship cue. But we have progressed further to show how the capacity to distinguish between related and non-related pairs applies to situations relevant to indirect fitness.

Altruism and Reproductive Limitations

We examined how different types of reproductive limitations — functional (schizoid personality disorder and schizophrenia), physical (malnutrition), and sexual (bisexuality and homosexuality) — influenced altruistic intentions toward hypothetical target individuals of differing degrees of relatedness ( r = 0, .25, and .50). Participants were 312 undergraduate students who completed a questionnaire on altruism toward hypothetical friends, half-siblings, and siblings with these different types of reproductive limitations. Genetic relatedness and reproductive limitations did not influence altruistic decision-making when the cost of altruism was low but did as the cost of altruism increased, with participants being more likely to help a sibling over a half-sibling and a half-sibling over a friend. Participants also indicated they were more likely to help a healthy (control) person over people with a reproductive limitation. Of the three types of reproductive limitations, functional limitations had the strongest effect on altruistic decision-making, indicating that people were less likely to help those who exhibit abnormal social behavior.

Biologically Costly Altruism Depends on Emotional Closeness among Step but Not Half or Full Sibling

We studied altruistic behaviors of varying biological cost (high, medium, and low) among siblings of varying genetic relatedness (full, half, and step). In agreement with inclusive fitness theory, the relative importance of either reliable (such as co-residence) or heuristic (such as emotional closeness) kinship cues depended crucially on the costs of help. When help did not endanger the altruist's life, thus making reciprocation possible, emotional closeness was the strongest predictor of altruism; perceived physical and psychological similarity to the sibling amplified altruistic behavior via their association with emotional closeness. When help endangered the altruist's life, thus making reciprocation unlikely, the strongest predictor of altruism was the ancestrally valid kinship cue of co-residence duration. Emotional closeness predicted costly altruism only for step siblings; its effects were nonsignificant when siblings were genetically related. Our findings support the idea that emotional closeness promotes costly altruistic behavior by serving as a surrogate kinship cue when more reliable cues are missing.

Social Coping in Everyday Life and in Crisis Situations: An Evolutionary Psychology Perspective

An online questionnaire-based survey investigated which action heuristics are activated for social coping in everyday life and in biologically relevant crisis situations. A total of 187 participants (86% women, mean age 35) from all parts of German-speaking Europe provided information about how they would cope in social conflict situations. In everyday life situations, participants reported more functional coping when dealing with youths than when dealing with adults. Coping strategies were most dysfunctional when dealing with one’s partner. Conversely, social coping strategies in biologically significant crisis situations were more functional within the nuclear family than with outsiders. The results are discussed against the background of display rules for social coping and the theory of inclusive fitness.

Is friendship akin to kinship?

Although unrelated friends are genetically equivalent to strangers, several lines of reasoning suggest that close friendship may sometimes activate processes more relevant to kinship and that this may be especially true for women. We compared responses to strangers, friends, and kin in two studies designed to address distinct domains for which kinship is known to have functional significance: incest avoidance and nepotism. Study 1 examined emotional responses to imagined sexual contact with kin, friends, and strangers. Results revealed that women, compared to men, treated friends more like kin. Study 2 examined benevolent attributions to actual kin, friends, and strangers. Results revealed that women treated friends very much like kin, whereas men treated friends very much like strangers. The current findings support a domain-specific over a domain-general approach to understanding intimate relationships and raise a number of interesting questions about the modular structure of cognitive and affective processes involved in these relationships.

Kinship and altruism: a cross-cultural experimental study

Humans are characterized by an unusual level of prosociality. Despite this, considerable indirect evidence suggests that biological kinship plays an important role in altruistic behaviour. All previous reports of the influence of kin selection on human altruism have, however, used correlational (rather than experimental) designs, or imposed only a hypothetical or negligible time cost on participants. Since these research designs fail either to control for confounding variables or to meet the criteria required as a test of Hamilton's rule for kin selection (that the altruist pays a true cost), they fail to establish unequivocally whether kin selection plays a role. We show that individuals from two different cultures behave in accordance with Hamilton's rule by acting more altruistically (imposing a higher physical cost upon themselves) towards more closely related individuals. Three possible sources of confound were ruled out: generational effects, sexual attraction and reciprocity. Performance on the task however did not exhibit a perfect linear relationship with relatedness, which might reflect either the intrusion of other variables (e.g. cultural differences in the way kinship is costed) or that our behavioural measure is insufficiently sensitive to fine-tuned differences in the way individuals view their social world. These findings provide the first unequivocal experimental evidence that kinship plays a role in moderating altruistic behaviour. Kinship thus represents a baseline against which individuals pitch other criteria (including reciprocity, prosociality, obligation and a moral sense) when deciding how to behave towards others.

The Effect of Social Category on Third Party Punishment

Motivations to punish should depend on a number of factors including the nature of the interaction (e.g., collective action versus dyadic exchange) and the social category of the interactants. Here we focus on social category and investigate whether the relationship to a perpetrator and, separately, a victim of a moral transgression affects the magnitude of third party punishment, moral judgment, attribution, and emotional response. Participants read scenarios describing a moral violation in which the perpetrator (Experiment 1) or victim (Experiment 2) of an offense was described as kin, a schoolmate, or a foreigner. Penalties and attributions of remorse varied according to the social category of the perpetrator as well as the victim. However, moral judgments did not. In a third experiment, which also varied the relationship to the victim of a moral transgression, participants reported their willingness to expend time and energy to bring a perpetrator to justice as well as their emotional responses to the crime. As predicted, participants reported a greater willingness to sacrifice their weekends and a day's pay to search for a perpetrator victimizing kin followed by a schoolmate and then foreign visitor. These and other results including emotional reactions are discussed in the context of motivations to punish third party violators of a social norm.

Prosocial behavior: multilevel perspectives

Current research on prosocial behavior covers a broad and diverse range of phenomena. We argue that this large research literature can be best organized and understood from a multilevel perspective. We identify three levels of analysis of prosocial behavior: (a) the "meso" level--the study of helper-recipient dyads in the context of a specific situation; (b) the micro level--the study of the origins of prosocial tendencies and the sources of variation in these tendencies; and (c) the macro level--the study of prosocial actions that occur within the context of groups and large organizations. We present research at each level and discuss similarities and differences across levels. Finally, we consider ways in which theory and research at these three levels of analysis might be combined in future intra- and interdisciplinary research on prosocial behavior.

The functional architecture of human empathy

Empathy accounts for the naturally occurring subjective experience of similarity between the feelings expressed by self and others without loosing sight of whose feelings belong to whom. Empathy involves not only the affective experience of the other person's actual or inferred emotional state but also some minimal recognition and understanding of another's emotional state. In light of multiple levels of analysis ranging from developmental psychology, social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and clinical neuropsychology, this article proposes a model of empathy that involves parallel and distributed processing in a number of dissociable computational mechanisms. Shared neural representations, self-awareness, mental flexibility, and emotion regulation constitute the basic macrocomponents of empathy, which are underpinned by specific neural systems. This functional model may be used to make specific predictions about the various empathy deficits that can be encountered in different forms of social and neurological disorders.