A Socio-Evolutionary Perspective of

Human Altruism and Cooperation

Do Mirror Neurons hold the key?

A Presentation byArvind Krishnaa Jagannathan

“Wesley Autrey, a 50-year old

construction worker, leaps in front of a moving subway train in New York city to save a stranger who collapsed onto the

tracks.”Why?

Human Altruism

Key Ideas Covered

Defining what is altruism and what is

the nature of an altruistic being Review of theories about altruism

Reciprocal altruism Mindless altruists Kin selection Bystander effect

Outline of the Paper

Is altruism developed by culture or is it

a pre-evolutionary artifact? Is joint-learning and cooperative task

completion related to our altruistic streak?

Is altruism somehow realized within the evolutionary framework through mirror neurons?

Outline of the Paper

Is human altruism

unique? Are we the ones who are “intentionally”

altruistic?

Outline of the Paper

Can altruism be engineered into AI? Should the definition of altruism be

broadened; for instance, include “online” altruism support for the Middle-Eastern rebellion through Facebook, Twitter etc.,

Is altruism a receding trait? Will future generations of humans possess that trait? To what extent does technology play a role in impacting this?

Ambitious Questions!

Mirror Neurons and the Empathy

ThresholdIdentification of

Kin via MN system

Empathy towards kin, motivated by

MNs

Empathy Threshold

Bystander Effect – Interfering Mirror Neurons

Person #1

Person #2

Person i

Person n

Culture inculcates altruistic norms which

subordinate the individual to group welfare.

Children are rewarded for acts of kindness or helpfulness and punished for selfish behavior.

Does this reinforcement instill altruistic behavior in children, or does it enhance an already existing character attribute?

Altruism as an outcome of Cultural

Evolution

Infants between the ages of 12-18 months voluntarily

help human “observers” in certain experiments. Infants were able to overcome previously unseen

obstacles to assist the “helpless” adults complete their task.

This willingness to go “out-of-the-way” to help a stranger evolves into cooperation and joint learning?

A similar study with chimpanzees Willing to help in scenarios which are less “cognitively”

demanding Willing to help in “difficult” tasks only if they are

rewarded

Case Studies by Tomasello et al.

Observed that children who were

offered a prize for helping out actually helped out LESS on further trials.

The intrinsic satisfaction in accomplishing a cooperative task is diminished by offering a material reward.

Case Studies by Tomasello et al.

Evolved as a means to be accepted into/ gain

popularity with a society. Assign value to different kinds of helpful

deeds: An action which yields a “positive” outcome is

valued “less” than an action which eliminates a “negative” outcome.

Weighted based on the subject at the receiving end of the helpful act.

Mostly reciprocal altruists

Uniqueness of Human Altruism

Altruism

Evolutionary

CulturalSocial

An Unified View

MirrorNeuron

s

Empathy

Selection

Positive and Negative Reinforcement

Need to be accepted into

society

Basis of Human Cooperation

Cooperation

Altruistic Desire

Achieve more; work

less

Information Disseminatio

n

Cognitive Offload