ABSTRACT
This chapter examines empirical evidence suggests that humans have evolved specific psychological adaptations designed to solve the problem of cheating. It looks at a computer simulation that demonstrates that reciprocal altruism can evolve, and also examines a few non-human species to provide concrete examples of the evolution of cooperation. The chapter explains the problem of altruism and explores the theory of reciprocal altruism. It analyzes why “tit for tat” such a successful strategy and provides two examples of reciprocal altruism in non-human animal species. The chapter describes why humans must have cheater-detection adaptations in order for reciprocal altruism to evolve. Humans sometimes form cooperative coalitions—alliances of more than two individuals for the purpose of collective action to achieve a particular goal. The theory of reciprocal altruism predicts that organisms can benefit through cooperative exchange. Cooperative coalitions can evolve, in principle, as long as free-riders are punished.
