Social Scientists Build Case for 'Survival of the Kindest'ScienceDaily: Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a wide range of studies, scientists are amassing a growing body of evidence to show we are evolving to become more compassionate and collaborative in our quest to survive and thrive...
Dacher Keltner, a UC Berkeley psychologist... and his fellow social scientists are building the case that humans are successful as a species precisely because of our nurturing, altruistic and compassionate traits. They call it 'survival of the kindest.'
'Because of our very vulnerable offspring, the fundamental task for human survival and gene replication is to take care of others,' said Keltner... 'Human beings have survived as a species because we have evolved the capacities to care for those in need and to cooperate. As Darwin long ago surmised, sympathy is our strongest instinct.'...
The more generous we are, the more respect and influence we wield... 'The findings suggest that anyone who acts only in his or her narrow self-interest will be shunned, disrespected, even hated,' [Robb] Willer said. 'But those who behave generously with others are held in high esteem by their peers.'... Given how much is to be gained through generosity, social scientists increasingly wonder less why people are ever generous and more why they are ever selfish,' he added...
In one UC Berkeley study, for example, two people separated by a barrier took turns trying to communicate emotions to one another by touching... through a hole in the barrier. For the most part, participants were able to successfully communicate sympathy, love and gratitude and even assuage major anxiety... 'Sympathy is indeed wired into our brains and bodies; and it spreads from one person to another through touch.' Keitner said... Humans, if adequately nurtured and supported, tend to err on the side of compassion.
