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

Abstract

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 time-consuming cooperative activity for both sexes is helping during the pursuit of game animals, a pattern that is probably linked to the widespread sharing of game by Ache foragers. Cooperative food acquisition and subsequent food redistribution in hunter-gatherer societies are critical behaviors that probably helped shape universal, evolved, cooperative tendencies that are well illustrated in modern experimental economics.

Cooperative hunting roles among taï chimpanzees

“…It has been proposed that the human diet is strongly affected by the cooperative actions of others, whereas chimpanzee food consumption is purely the result of individual foraging effort (Kaplan et al 2000;Hill 2002). Our observations on the Taï chimpanzees show clearly that this does not apply to all populations: forest chimpanzees seem to hunt as a rule in groups (Boesch and Boesch-Achermann 2000;Mitani and Watts 1999), and the important meat consumption in these populations is dependant on the foraging effort of cooperative teams.…”

Children and Adolescents' Internal Models of Food‐Sharing Behavior Include Complex Evaluations of Contextual Factors

“…The factors we examined were derived from analyses of food sharing in traditional cultures (e.g., Hill, 2002) that are considered basic aspects of human lives. Specifically, we examined expectations of sharing as a function of differences in the nature of the relationship between social partners, the quality of the relationship, and the survival value of the resource to be shared.…”

“…Analyses of food sharing in traditional cultures focus on some of the same basic factors as in nonhuman animals: biological relatedness and measures of liking, hunger, and sex of provider and recipient of the food (e.g., Boesch, 1999;Hill, 2002). Although systematic studies are inherently difficult to conduct because of ethical considerations, we expect that individuals should quickly acquire implicit expectations concerning how food will be shared based on similar kinds of basic factors.…”

Young children, but not chimpanzees, are averse to disadvantageous and advantageous inequities

“…The question now is whether inequity aversion is present in humans' nearest primate relatives, who do not have the same kind of evolutionary history of cooperation and obligate mutualism as humans (Hill, 2002;Sterelny, 2007;Tomasello, 2009). Study 2, therefore, tested whether humans' closest living relative, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), would show a similar pattern of inequity aversion as human children in a similar study design or, as predicted, would not differ in their reactions to distributions in social and nonsocial (no partner and so no social inequity) conditions.…”