Evolution of conflict and cooperation in human groups
The scale of human cooperation and conflict is outstanding and evolutionarily
challenging to explain. Cooperative and hostile behaviours have deep
evolutionary roots and adaptive functions. However, theoretical models differ in
how they explain these functions. Thus, my thesis aims to empirically test
functional predictions about human cooperation and conflict. These experiments
use a behavioural ecological framework, and pay also attention to the effects of
social and developmental environments. In the first two chapters, I studied how
group composition affects cooperation and individual success, and how people
react to information of each other’s cooperative behaviour. I found that
cooperative contributions increased with greater group heterogeneity for those
with high baseline cooperativeness, and decreased for those with lower baseline
cooperativeness. However, people were insensitive to pre-information of group
composition, even though group composition was essential for cooperation to be
successful. In Chapter III, I compared evolutionary theories of human intergroup
conflict by empirically testing whether intergroup aggression is motivated by
public goods as predicted by models of group selection (i.e. Parochial Altruism
models) or by private goods as predicted by models of individual selection (i.e.
Male Warrior and Chimpanzee models). My results challenge group selection
models by implying that private goods motivate intergroup hostilities even when
they are socially inefficient. In chapter IV, I propose and test a hypothesis that
harsh parental treatment intensifies group-beneficial prosocial and bellicose
norms and thus contributes to group success in intergroup conflicts. I found, in
accordance with my hypothesis, that harsh parental treatment increased both
these traits in males and harsh parenting may thus bear cultural evolutionary
consequences. Together, my results contribute further knowledge to our
evolutionary understanding of the dynamics, backgrounds and patterns of
human cooperation and conflict.
...


Publisher
University of JyväskyläISBN
978-951-39-7442-8ISSN Search the Publication Forum
1456-9701Keywords
Metadata
Show full item recordCollections
- Väitöskirjat [3058]
Related items
Showing items with similar title or keywords.
-
Assortment, but not knowledge of assortment, affects cooperation and individual success in human groups
Junikka, Jaakko; Molleman, Lucas; van den Berg, Pieter; Weissing, Franz J.; Puurtinen, Mikael (Public Library of Science, 2017)The success or failure of human collective action often depends on the cooperation tendencies of individuals in groups, and on the information that individuals have about each other’s cooperativeness. However, it is ... -
Nuorten sosiaalinen toimintakyky
Kannasoja, Sirpa (University of Jyväskylä, 2013) -
Lasten ja aikuisten väliset suhteet vanhempien päihdeongelmaa käsittelevissä Tiimi-lehden teksteissä vuosina 2000-2013
Kesänen, Minna (Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos THL, 2019)Miten päihdetyössä määritellään lasten ja aikuisten välisiä suhteita, kun vanhemmat käyttävät ongelmallisesti päihteitä? Millainen toiminta on lapsille päihdetyön avunsaajana mahdollista? Artikkelissa kysymyksiin vastataan ... -
Parenting styles of Finnish parents and their associations with parental burnout
Mikkonen, Kristiina; Veikkola, Henna-Riikka; Sorkkila, Matilda; Aunola, Kaisa (Springer, 2022)In the present study, we examined what kind of parenting style groups (defined by parental warmth, behavioral control, and psychological control) can be identified among contemporary Finnish mothers and fathers and how ... -
Development and validation of the Brief Parental Burnout Scale (BPBS)
Aunola, Kaisa; Sorkkila, Matilda; Tolvanen, Asko; Tassoul, Alexandra; Mikolajczak, Moïra; Roskam, Isabelle (American Psychological Association (APA), 2021)Since parental burnout can have detrimental consequences for parents, couples, and children, easy-to-use, reliable, and valid practical tools for the early detection of parental burnout are required. We developed and ...