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The origins of human prosociality: Cultural group selection in the workplace and the laboratory

Patrick François 1 Thomas Fujiwara Tanguy van Ypersele 2, 3
1 Genomic Research Laboratory, Service of Infectious Diseases;
2 GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille
3 AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques
Abstract : Human prosociality toward nonkin is ubiquitous and almost unique in the animal kingdom. It remains poorly understood, although a proliferation of theories has arisen to explain it. We present evidence from survey data and laboratory treatment of experimental subjects that is consistent with a set of theories based on group-level selection of cultural norms favoring prosociality. In particular, increases in competition increase trust levels of individuals who (i) work in firms facing more competition, (ii) live in states where competition increases, (iii) move to more competitive industries, and (iv) are placed into groups facing higher competition in a laboratory experiment. The findings provide support for cultural group selection as a contributor to human prosociality. As predicted by cultural group selection, increases in firm-level competition raise the generalized trust of workers.
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https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01980632
Contributor : Elisabeth Lhuillier <>
Submitted on : Monday, January 14, 2019 - 3:37:01 PM
Last modification on : Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - 3:17:50 AM

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  • HAL Id : hal-01980632, version 1

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UNIV-AMU | CNRS | EHESS | EC-MARSEILLE | GREQAM | AMSE | PSL

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Patrick François, Thomas Fujiwara, Tanguy van Ypersele. The origins of human prosociality: Cultural group selection in the workplace and the laboratory. Science Advances , American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2018, 4 (9), pp.eaat2201. ⟨hal-01980632⟩

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