Exploring how community-based social norms evolve

Cooperation is a guiding principle of everyday life. It's as simple as following the rules of the road when driving or holding a door for a stranger; cooperation is a fundamental aspect of human societies and has long intrigued ...

Why do we learn to reward cooperation?

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Plön show that reputation plays a key role in determining which rewarding policies people adopt. Using game theory, they explain why individuals learn to use rewards to specifically ...

Context-dependent behavior can make cooperation flourish

A person who is generous and caring at home may be cutthroat at work, striving to bring in the most sales or advance up a corporate management chain. In a similar vein, a self-centered neighbor may be a model of altruism ...

Altruism in bacteria—Gut microbes help family first

A recent discovery that, in real-world conditions bacteria, similar to animals, cooperate and selflessly act for the greater good of the group, could help scientists to predict how helpful and harmful strains behave. The ...

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