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Altruism and fairness: Unnatural selection?
Camilo J Cela-Conde1, Lucrecia Burges, Marcos Nadal
1University of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, Spain. camilo.cela@uib.es
Comptes Rendus Biologies
|March 27, 2010
Summary
Sexual selection may have influenced human moral traits like altruism. However, its exact role and interplay with other evolutionary mechanisms remain unclear.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Human behavior
- Moral psychology
Background:
- Natural selection struggles to explain altruism and fairness, which conflict with individual reproductive success.
- Previous theories include kin selection, inclusive fitness, and reciprocal altruism.
- This study investigates the potential role of sexual selection in the evolution of human morality.
Discussion:
- Moral virtues like altruism and kindness may be sexually attractive traits.
- Sexual selection could have shaped the evolution of these moral behaviors.
- The extent and specific mechanisms of sexual selection's influence are debated.
Key Insights:
- Sexual selection is a plausible, yet difficult to quantify, factor in human moral trait evolution.
- The interplay between sexual selection and other evolutionary forces (kin selection, reciprocal altruism) is complex.
- Further research is needed to precisely define sexual selection's contribution to morality.
Outlook:
- Investigating the specific ways sexual selection might favor moral traits.
- Exploring the interaction of sexual selection with established evolutionary mechanisms for morality.
- Developing empirical and theoretical frameworks to assess sexual selection's impact on human ethics.
Related Concept Videos
01:03Altruism
Altruistic behaviors are “unselfish” behaviors—those that help another individual at the expense of the individual carrying out the behavior. Despite the negative consequences for the altruistic animal, these behaviors are thought to have evolved for several reasons.
00:57Inclusive Fitness
Most altruistic behavior—in which one animal helps another at a cost to themselves—occurs between relatives. Scientists think these altruistic behaviors evolved because they increase the inclusive fitness of the animal providing help.
01:55Egoism and Altruism
Voluntary behavior with the intent to help other people is called prosocial behavior. Why do people help other people? Is personal benefit such as feeling good about oneself the only reason people help one another?
01:46Types of Selection
Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
01:06Natural Selection and Mating Preferences
The principle of natural selection posits that organisms better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This principle is closely intertwined with mating preferences, a key aspect of sexual selection, which evolutionary psychologists believe is driven by instincts to propagate one's genes. Such instincts significantly influence mating behaviors and preferences between genders.
Females, due to their biological roles in conception, pregnancy, and nursing, inherently...
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01:32What is Natural Selection?
Natural selection is an evolutionary process in which individuals with survival-promoting traits reproduce at higher rates. These favorable traits become more common within a population or species. Naturally selected traits initially arise via random genetic mutations. In order for selection to occur, there must be variation within a population, the trait controlling the variation must be heritable, and there must be an evolutionary advantage for variation in the trait.The Theory of Natural...