Group selection theory explains that behaviors that prioritize the survival and prosperity of the community over individual interests can be evolutionarily selected for. This theory provides important clues to understanding why altruistic behavior and nice people exist, and how it affects social bonds and cooperation.
There are a lot of “nice people” in the world. Whether it’s the person who gives a begging girl on the subway a dollar, the person who donates to the Salvation Army’s red baskets during the holidays, or the person who volunteers their time every week, many people are helping others. These “do-gooders” can also be found in the classroom. It’s not uncommon to see “do-gooders” around you, whether it’s a student holding a book for a friend with a broken leg or a student coming in early in the morning to clean the classroom. Why do these so-called “good people” do these selfless acts? They don’t get much recognition for their donations, and it’s probably more beneficial for them to eat an extra cup of coffee or piece of fruit for the money they’re donating. In the classroom, it’s better to go first than to be late for class yourself because you’re helping an injured student, and even if you come early in the morning to clean up the classroom, you’ll probably get it dirty again. Their supposed acts of kindness are actually costing them money and sacrifice. So why do they do this?The theory that explains these behaviors is called group selection theory. This theory is similar to survival of the fittest, where the best-adapted individuals in a given environment survive, while the worst-adapted individuals are culled and disappear. The difference between group selection and survival of the fittest is that the surviving unit is the group, not the individual. An individual may not be well adapted to the environment, but if the group they are part of is well adapted to the environment, the group will survive and the individual will survive with it. Imagine an island with a group of people who cannot bend their arms. Selfish people eat only what others give them without feeding others when food is available, while selfless people feed others. In this case, the selfless people will continue to feed the selfish people, and the selfish people will continue to take, and eventually the surviving individual will be the selfish person. What would happen if there were two islands, one with many selfish people and the other with many selfless people? On each island, the selfish people would survive as described above, but when comparing the two islands, the people on the island of selfless people would have a much richer life. This is because the group of selfish people will be less competitive because they are only looking out for their own interests, while the group of altruistic people will be more competitive because they are helping each other. The group that survives after a few years will be an island of altruistic people. This is the theory of group selection, where selfish people have an advantage individually, but a group with many selfless people has an advantage as a group.You can see this phenomenon all around you. Imagine a high school class with altruistic students who come in early in the morning and clean the classroom, and selfish students who don’t clean and wait for others to clean up after them. The altruistic students will clean up every day, while the selfish students will do whatever else they want to do with their time. Over time, the altruistic students will either stop being altruistic or become selfish because they see that the selfish students have a much more comfortable school life. In other words, the altruistic students did not survive the survival of the fittest. But what if the group survives, as in group selection theory? Let’s assume that a clean classroom is a more stable environment than a dirty one. A week later, the two classrooms would look like one clean room and one pigsty. Another example is a group of swimmers with similar skills. A selfish group will only think about and practice their own strokes. The selfless group will watch others’ strokes and give each other feedback, pointing out what’s wrong and what needs to be fixed. Later, if the two groups compete in a swim meet, the selfless group is much more likely to win.You might think that altruistic people should be culled because they’ve been run over by selfish people, but there are plenty of altruistic people in the world. Up close, altruistic people seem silly and out of step with the competition. But in the big picture, altruistic people make much smarter choices than selfish people when it comes to the survival of the group. Collective choice theory provides a good explanation for why altruistic people exist.
