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Selfish and Spiteful Behaviour in an Evolutionary Model

Selfish and Spiteful Behaviour in an Evolutionary Model INCIDENTS in which an animal attacks another of the same species, drives it from a territory, or even kills and devours it are commonplace. They may be described as examples of biological selfishness. The effect consists of two obvious parts: the gains (in fitness) of the victor and the losses of the victim. Attempts to secure the gains are easily understood to be adaptive: this is the fundamental response to what Darwin called the “struggle for existence”. But, considering the more controversial catch-phrase of evolutionary theory—“the survival of the fittest”—it seems to be a neglected question whether the harm delivered to an adversary is always merely an unfortunate consequence of adaptations for survival. Could such harm ever be adaptive in itself ? Or nearer, to the possibility of a test, would we ever expect an animal to be ready to harm itself in order to harm another more ? Such behaviour could be called spite. Is it ever observed ? http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Nature Springer Journals

Selfish and Spiteful Behaviour in an Evolutionary Model

HAMILTON, W. D.
Nature , Volume 228 (5277) – Dec 19, 1970
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References (9)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 1970 by Nature Publishing Group
Subject
Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary; Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary; Science, multidisciplinary
ISSN
0028-0836
eISSN
1476-4687
DOI
10.1038/2281218a0
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

INCIDENTS in which an animal attacks another of the same species, drives it from a territory, or even kills and devours it are commonplace. They may be described as examples of biological selfishness. The effect consists of two obvious parts: the gains (in fitness) of the victor and the losses of the victim. Attempts to secure the gains are easily understood to be adaptive: this is the fundamental response to what Darwin called the “struggle for existence”. But, considering the more controversial catch-phrase of evolutionary theory—“the survival of the fittest”—it seems to be a neglected question whether the harm delivered to an adversary is always merely an unfortunate consequence of adaptations for survival. Could such harm ever be adaptive in itself ? Or nearer, to the possibility of a test, would we ever expect an animal to be ready to harm itself in order to harm another more ? Such behaviour could be called spite. Is it ever observed ?

Journal

Nature – Springer Journals

Published: Dec 19, 1970

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