Sublime

The take-home message from Schelling’s story—that incentives sometimes backfire—is familiar to psychologists.

Ein solcher Standpunkt, den ich teile, bedeutet jedoch nicht, dass auch Moral ein darwinistischer Instinkt sei. Er heißt nur, dass wir wie manche Tiere das Gute und das Schlechte, das Handlungen für das Leben in der Gemeinschaft bedeuten können, als Werte erleben – prinzipiell nicht anders, als wir auch das Gute oder Schlechte aller Einflüsse auf d

inhibition. It seems that sociocognitive evolution has occurred in the experimental foxes as a correlated by-product of selection on systems mediating fear and aggression.

Primates, it seems, don’t like to be ruled by bullies or treated unfairly: some of the key traits linked to dominance are kindness, sociability, and cooperation. Even the physically smallest chimpanzee can end up being the alpha if he shows an ability to win trust and loyalty, adds de Waal.

You see, the bats recognize one another and know exactly which of their acquaintances are generous and which are not. Those that exhibit especially altruistic traits are the first to be looked after if they themselves ever run into a string of bad luck.59 Does that mean that altruism is selfish? In evolutionary terms, certainly, because the individ

Such behaviour can be both a warning to others and a form of social punishment.