Washington University in
St. Louis
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Conference Focuses on Nature and Origins of Cooperative Behavior
Washington University in St. Louis hosted a March 12-14, 2009, conference on “Man the Hunted: The Origin and Nature of Human Sociality, Altruism, and Well-Being.” Academics from around the world and across multiple disciplines — anthropology, psychiatry, human evolution, biology, psychology, religion, philosophy, education, and medicine — focused on the evolution of cooperation, altruism, and sociality, as well as the possible factors that led to the evolution of these characteristics in primates and humans.
Altruism and cooperation often are assumed to be among humanity's essential and defining characteristics, but it has been difficult to account for the origins and evolution of altruistic behavior. Recently, scientists have discovered data on altruistic behavior in many animal species, as well as in human societies, that do not conform to evolutionary models based solely on competition and the evolutionary drive to pass on selfish genes. Conference participants reviewed recent debates about the nature and origins of cooperative behaviors. They also explored many of the mechanisms that primates and humans have evolved for protection against predators, including cooperation and sociality. Unselfish cooperative behavior, it was proposed, has evolved in animals that live in social groups. Social animals, including primates and humans, are not forced to live socially; rather, they do so because it benefits them in numerous ways. Through natural selection, primates and humans have developed areas of the brain that respond with pleasure to being cooperative. Participants presented data supporting the idea that the normal pattern for humans is to be social. People who develop the need for psychiatric interception are those who have become alienated and antisocial; it is human nature to want to work together and cooperate. Robert W. Sussman in Arts & Sciences and C. Robert Cloninger in the School of Medicine organized and coordinated the conference. They will also co-edit the conference proceedings. Sussman is professor of anthropology; Cloninger, the Wallace Renard Professor of Psychiatry, professor of genetics, and director of the Center for the Psychobiology of Personality and the Sansone Center for Well-Being. The National Science Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Washington University Center for the Study of Ethics & Human Values, and the Anthropedia Foundation funded the conference. Contact Sussman to inquire about the conference proceedings. Conference Participants
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