Demography and ecology drive variation in cooperation across human populations.

ABSTRACT: Recent studies argue that cross-cultural variation in human cooperation supports cultural group selection models of the evolution of large-scale cooperation. However, these studies confound cultural and environmental differences between populations by predominantly sampling one population per society. Here, we test the hypothesis that behavioral variation between populations is driven by environmental differences in demography and ecology. We use a public goods game played with money and a naturalistic measure of behavior involving the distribution of salt, an essential and locally valued resource, to demonstrate significant variation in levels of cooperation across 16 discrete populations of the same small-scale society, the Pahari Korwa of central India. Variation between these populatio

SUBMITTER: Lamba S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3167540 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature