cooperation

• what kind of species are humans?

  we are a social species that displays pro-sociality
• what is pro sociality?

  -any behaviour that is intended to benefit another
• who said this?


  Dunfield, 2014

  
• as a species how are we prosocial?

  -we collaborate to reach joint goals

  -we comfort strangers

  -we cooperate on a large scale
• when are the first signs of prosociality observed?

  -early infancy
• what happens at 9 months?

  -revolution

  -begin to show goal understanding, triadic attention and shared attentionality.
• who said this?


  Tomasello et al., 2005

  
• what does this show?

  -humans are oriented from birth onwards towards social stimuli

  -prosociality and cooperation begin to form
• who studied this also ?

  Hamlin et al., 2007

  
• What did Hamlin et al (2007) find?

  -6 and 10 month olds systematically reached for the helpful shape

  -babies are attracted to prosocial and positive characters

  -have an aversion to antisocial and non helpful characters

  
• what are the principles of evolution for natural selection of a trait?

  - there needs to be variation in a trait

  -the trait must be heritable across generations

  -one variation of the trait must be more advantageous for adaptation than the other
• what is cooperation?


  -form of pro sociality

  - has three dimensions of comforting, helping and sharing
• what needs to happen for the trait of cooperation to be selected?

  -individuals who cooperate must produce more offspring than individuals that 'free ride
• what is this concept otherwise known as?

  -free rider problem
• what is a free rider?

  -a person who enjoys the benefits of a collective good without working to acquire them
• what does the free rider problem mean for cooperation?

  -it is an evolutionary conundrum

  -if too many people become free riders then cooperation will cease to exist
• what can the free rider problem be represented by

  -prisoner's dilemma
• Prisoner's Dilemma


  a particular "game" between two captured prisoners that illustrates why cooperation is difficult to maintain even when it is mutually beneficial

  Tucker, 1950
• free riding wouldn't be a problem if...

  -we cooperated only with genetically related kin

  -however, humans cooperate on a large scale with non genetically related kin
• what mechanisms do humans have to solve the free rider problem?

  -synchronic mechanisms

  -diachronic mechanisms
• synchronic mechanism?


  -within generations, happens synchronously

  -based on individuals communicating each other
• examples of synchronic mechanisms?

  -social norms

  -punishments

  -institutions
• diachronic mechanisms?


  -happens across generations

  -based on individuals transmitting knowledge to each other
• examples of diachronic mechanisms?

  -social learning

  -culture
• what are the three dimensions of cooperation

  -comforting

  -helping

  -sharing
• do these three dimensions have the same developmental pathway?

  -no

  -develop at different times
• when does cooperation develop in general?

  -within the first year of life

  -continues throughout childhood
• for an infant to cooperate, regardless of what dimension they need to....

  -have the skills to understand/represent the problem

  -have the experience to find a solution to the problem

  -have the motivation to solve the problem
• application to the help dimension?

  -infants require an understanding of others goal directed actions and intentions

  -solution to correct unintended outcomes

  -need motivation to see negative state alleviated
• when do infants first display helping behaviour?

  -around 14 months old

  - at 2-3 years children selectively help collaborators more
• who researched the helping dimension?

  Warneken and Tomasello, 2006

  
• Warneken & Tomasello (2006)


  -investigated helping behaviour in infants.

  -infants presented with 10 different situations in which an adult confederate needed help achieving a goal.

  -Each situation required the infants to cognitively process the adult's goal and problems in meeting it.
• four conditions?


  -Out-of-reach objects

  -Physical obstacles

  -Wrong results

  -Wrong means
• what did they find?

  -at 18 months children reliably helped across the different types of helping tasks

  -helped more in experimental than control
• limitations?


  There may have been demand characteristics
• how does this compare with chimps on the same study?

  only some chimps helped in some of the tasks
• overall how does helping behaviour in human infants compare to primates?

  -helping behaviour is largely spontaneous/unprompted

  -directly largely to peoples needs and not wishes
• when does sharing behaviour develop in human infants?

  -starts from 18 months but children reliably share resources with others from 5 years onwards
• requirements for sharing behaviour?

  -ability to recognise unequal distribution

  -motivation to overcome egocentrism

  -solution is to distribute resources equally
• is this difficult for children?


  - oh yes

  -very difficult at younger ages to perceive inequality and overcome self advantage