Altruistic cooperation during foraging by the Ache, and the evolved human predisposition to cooperate

@article{Hill2002AltruisticCD,
  title={Altruistic cooperation during foraging by the Ache, and the evolved human predisposition to cooperate},
  author={Kim R. Hill},
  journal={Human Nature},
  year={2002},
  volume={13},
  pages={105-128}
}
  • K. Hill
  • Published 2002
  • Sociology
  • Human Nature
This paper presents quantitative data on altruistic cooperation during food acquisition by Ache foragers. Cooperative activities are defined as those that entail a cost of time and energy to the donor but primarily lead to an increase in the foraging success of the recipient. Data show that Ache men and women spend about 10% of all foraging time engaged in altruistic cooperation on average, and that on some days they may spend more than 50% of their foraging time in such activities. The most… 
View on Springer
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
182 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
14
Background Citations
100
Methods Citations
1
Results Citations
3

182 Citations

Benefits of Grouping and Cooperative Hunting Among Ache Hunter–Gatherers: Insights from an Agent-Based Foraging Model
We develop an agent-based model of foraging behavior based on ecological parameters of the environment and prey characteristics measured in the Mbaracayu Reserve Paraguay. We then compare estimated…
A threshold for biological altruism in public goods games played in groups including kin
TLDR
This work investigates analytically how genetic relatedness changes the incentive structure of that paradigmatic game which is conventionally used to model and experimentally investigate collective action problems: the public goods game.
Tat " Chimpanzee Cooperative Hunting
TLDR
Of all known populations, Tai chimpanzees exhibit the highest level of cooperation when hunting, and the meat-sharing rules observed in this community guarantee the largest share of the meat to hunters who perform the most important roles leading to a capture.
Social foraging can benefit artisanal fishers who interact with wild dolphins
Social foraging decisions depend on individual payoffs. However, it is unclear how individual variation in phenotypic and behavioural traits can influence these payoffs, thereby the decisions to…
The importance of memory for the success of cooperation under ecological adversity
TLDR
It is shown that in a society under ecological pressure, the reciprocity network permitted by collaborative memory promotes cooperation.
The Evolution of Contingent Cooperation
Reciprocal altruism has been proposed as a foundation of cooperation in humans. The core feature of reciprocity is the contingent relationship between acts of giving and receiving among social…
Morality as a Biological Adaptation – An Evolutionary Model Based on the Lifestyle of Human Foragers
TLDR
It is proposed that moral emotions are the subjective side of the proximate rules (motivations) that regulate human cooperation, which in turn is an evolutionarily novel adaptation to enable the uniquely derived lifestyle of human foragers, which requires generosity and sharing due to extreme mutual interdependence.
Cooperative hunting roles among taï chimpanzees
TLDR
Of all known populations, Taï chimpanzees exhibit the highest level of cooperation when hunting, and the meat-sharing rules observed in this community guarantee the largest share of the meat to hunters who perform the most important roles leading to a capture.
The hierarchy of virtue: mutualism, altruism and signaling in Martu women's cooperative hunting
Hunter-gatherer diets and human behavioral evolution
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 44 REFERENCES
Neotropical Hunting among the Aché of Eastern Paraguay
Cooperative coordination as a social behavior
TLDR
To more closely model CC as it occurs under free-ranging conditions, pairs of rats were rewarded for coordinated shuttling within a shared chamber with unrestricted social interaction and showed that animals learned to work together with sensitivity to the task and type of partner.
Cooperation Among Unrelated Individuals: Evolutionary Factors
TLDR
A simple two-strategy game, the cooperator's dilemma, provides a coherent framework for distinguishing the mechanisms that support cooperation in each category, which may operate, alone or together, in widely divergent taxa.
Food Sharing Among Ache Foragers: Tests of Explanatory Hypotheses [and Comments and Reply]
This paper aims to describe and explain aspects of food sharing among Ache hunter-gatherers of eastern Paraguay. Food sharing has been widely held to be a fundamental feature of the hunting and…
Reservation food sharing among the Ache of Paraguay
TLDR
It is found that significant positive correlations between amounts transferred among pairs of families, a measure of the "contingency" component required of reciprocal altruism models, are found.
A proximate perspective on reciprocal altruism
TLDR
Three types of reciprocity are distinguished: Symmetry-based reciprocity is cognitively the least complex form, based on symmetries inherent in dyadic relationships, while Attitudinal reciprocity, which is more cognitively complex, is based on the mirroring of social attitudes between partners and is exhibited by both capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees.
Inujjuamiut Foraging Strategies: Evolutionary Ecology of an Arctic Hunting Economy
TLDR
Inujjuamiut Foraging Strategies synthesizes the theory and analytical techniques of evolutionary ecology and microeconomics with the general concern of anthropology, especially ecological anthropology.
Food Transfers Among Hiwi Foragers of Venezuela: Tests of Reciprocity
Although food sharing has been observed in many traditional societies, we still do not have a deep understanding of how various ecological conditions produce variation in who gives and who receives…
Distinctions among reciprocal altruism, kin selection, and cooperation and a model for the initial evolution of beneficent behavior
Strong reciprocity, human cooperation, and the enforcement of social norms
TLDR
Strong reciprocity cannot be rationalized as an adaptive trait by the leading evolutionary theories of human cooperation (in other words, kin selection, reciprocal altruism, indirect reciprocity, and costly signaling theory), however, multilevel selection theories of cultural evolution are consistent with strong reciprocity.
...
...