This book is about the evolution and nature of cooperation and altruism in social-living animals, focusing especially on non-human primates and on humans. Although cooperation and altruism are often thought of as ways to attenuate competition and aggression within groups, or are related to the action of selfish genes, there is increasing evidence that these behaviors are the result of biological mechanisms that have developed through natural selection in group-living species. This evidence leads to the conclusion that cooperative and altruistic behavior are not just by-products of competition but are rather the glue that underlies the ability for primates and humans to live in groups. The anthropological, primatological, paleontological, behavioral, neurobiological, and psychological evidence provided in this book gives a more optimistic view of human nature than the more popular, conventional view of humans being naturally and basically aggressive and warlike. Although competition and aggression are recognized as an important part of the non-human primate and human behavioral repertoire, the evidence from these fields indicates that cooperation and altruism may represent the more typical, normal, and healthy behavioral pattern. The book is intended both for the general reader and also for students at a variety of levels (graduate and undergraduate): it aims to provide a compact, accessible, and up-to-date account of the current scholarly advances and debates in this field of study, and it is designed to be used in teaching and in discussion groups. The book derived from a conference sponsored by N.S.F., the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, the Washington University Committee for Ethics and Human Values, and the Anthropedia Foundation for the study of well-being.

Chapter 1 Introduction: Altruism and Cooperation Robert W. Sussman and C. Robert Cloninger   Part I.  Cooperation, Altruism and Human Evolution   Chapter 2 Part 1 Introduction.   Ian Tattersall       Chapter 3. The Influence of Predation on Primate and Early Human Evolution: Impetus for Cooperation. Donna Hart and Robert W. Sussman       Chapter 4. Born to cooperate? Altruism as exaptation, and the evolution of human sociality. Telmo Pievani           Chapter 5.  The Phylogenesis of Human Personality:Identifying the Precursors of Cooperation, Altruism, and Well-Being C. Robert Cloninger and Sita Kedia   Part II.  Altruism and Cooperation Among Non-human Primates    Chapter 6. Cooperation and the Evolution of Social Living: Moving Beyond the Constraints andImplications of Misleading Dogma: Introduction Section II. Marc Bekoff     Chapter 7. Primates, Niche Construction, and Social Complexity: The Roles of Social Cooperation and Altruism  Katherine C. MacKinnon  and Agustin Fuentes,   Chapter 8. Collective Action and Male Affiliation in Howler Monkeys (Alouatta caraya) Paul A. Garber and Martin K. Kowalewski       Chapter 9. Mechanisms of Cohesion in Black Howler Monkeys. Mary S. M. Pavelka   Chapter 10. Social Plasticity and Demographic Variation in Primates. Karen B. Strier   Part III.   Altruism and Cooperation Among Humans: The Ethnographic Evidence       Chapter 11.  Altruism and Cooperation Among Humans: The Ethnographic Evidence: Introduction. Peter Benson     Chapter 12. Violence Reduction among the Gebusi of Papua New Guinea - and Across Humanity. Bruce M. Knauft       Chapter 13. Human Nature: The Nomadic Forager Model. Douglas P. Fry      Chapter 14. Born to Live: Challenging Killer Myths. R. Brian Ferguson      Chapter 15. Notes toward a human nature for the third Millennium. Walter Goldschmidt   Part IV.  Neurological and hormonal mechanisms for cooperation and altruism   Chapter 16. Behavior meets Neuroscience: Achievements, Prospects, and Complexity: Introduction to Section 4. Jane Phillips-Conroy       Chapter 17. The Neurobiology of Cooperation and Altruism. James K. Rilling       Chapter 18. Behavioral and Neuroendocrine Interactions in Affiliation. Charles T. Snowdon   Chapter 19. Early Social Experience and the Ontogenesis of Emotion Regulatory Behavior in Children. Seth D. Pollak       Part V.  Human Altruism and Cooperation: Needs and the Promotion of Well-being in Modern Life    Chapter 20: Introduction. J.E. Mezzich   Chapter 21. Altruism as an Aspect of Relational Consciousness and how Culture inhibits it.David Hay       Chapter 22. Hope Rekindled: Well-Being, Humanism, and Education. Kevin Cloninger         Chapter 23. Promoting Well-Being in Health Care. Lauren E. Munsch and Helen Herrman           Chapter 24. Moving Beyond the Nature/Nurture Distinction: Promotion of Transdisciplinary Research (Overview of the Institute of Medicine Report on Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment) Dan G. Blazer