Abstract
When groups compete for resources, some groups will be more successful than others, forcing out less successful groups. Group-level selection is the most extreme form of group competition, where the weaker group ceases to exist, becoming extinct. We implement group-level selection in a controlled laboratory experiment in order to study its impact on human cooperation. The experiment uses variations on the standard linear public goods game. Group-level selection operates through competition for survival: the least successful, lowest-earning groups become extinct, in the sense that they no longer are able to play the game. Additional control treatments include group comparison without extinction, and extinction of the least successful individuals across groups. We find that group-level extinction produces very high contributions to the provision of the public good, while group comparison alone or individual extinction fail to cause higher contributions. Our results provide stark evidence that group-level selection enhances within-group cooperation.
Highlights
Competition between groups has been implicated as a factor in the development of human cooperation [1, 2]
The primary finding is that Group Extinction leads to greater contributions to the public good (92% of the endowment, on average) than any other treatment (35% in the Baseline, 36% in Individual Extinction, and 42% in Group Comparison)
One of the most important puzzles in the study of human evolution is the prevalence of altruistic behavior in humans
Summary
Competition between groups has been implicated as a factor in the development of human cooperation [1, 2]. Intergroup competition increases the value of altruistic behavior within the group. Darwin’s view was greeted with considerable skepticism, with critics arguing that selection takes place at the individual level, and that individuals cannot sacrifice individual fitness in favor of the group [4, 5]. Recent research, drawing on historical data, argues that conflict was prevalent enough and genetic diversity sufficiently extensive that intergroup conflict could support the development of altruism, especially when conflict threatened the survival of the group itself [6,7,8,9]. It is difficult to directly test the impact of intergroup competition on cooperation using archival or observational data.
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