Altruistic behavior in humans occurs because it’s advantageous for survival, and it’s related to genetic instincts. According to the kin selection hypothesis, close relatives are more likely to exhibit altruistic behavior, and this is observed in animals as well as humans. However, altruistic behavior in humans goes beyond genetic instincts and can also be seen as a result of social evolution.
You’ve probably seen it in the news from time to time. Touching stories about parents who saved their children’s lives only to lose their own, and countless other stories centered around maternal love and selflessness, have made our supposedly harsh modern world feel warmer. However, one hypothesis suggests that these behaviors are simply taken because they benefit our survival.
It’s often said that humans are social animals. From a biological point of view, it is extremely clear that we are socialized to survive. It’s clear that living in cooperative, altruistic relationships with each other is beneficial to the survival and thriving of the species. When you take actions that help others survive, your social reputation increases, making you more trustworthy and, depending on the situation, more likely to be taken by others to help you survive. Even within the same neighborhood, the closer the kinship similarity to me, the more reason I have to act altruistically. This means that in some situations, I might give up my life for a relative who is more closely related to me.
These social relationships are more than just cooperation. The complex structure of human society is maintained through various forms of interaction. For example, we value our relationships with friends and coworkers in our daily lives. These are more than just personal bonds; they are important in helping each other survive and thrive. In this context, social relationships have played an important role in human evolution and survival.
Consider a simple example. If you could only save one of your siblings or your cousin right now, who would you choose? Most of us would probably choose the former, but does that mean we love the former more than the latter, or are more familiar with them? The genetic perspective shows no such sentimentalism. Simply put, your brother has a 50% genetic match to you, and your cousin has a 12.5% match, so saving your brother over your cousin is in the direction of increasing the chances of spreading genes similar to yours.
You might think that’s too much, but that’s what the kin selection hypothesis argues. If you’re not comfortable with humans, you can find more examples like this in animal behavior. For a long time, scientists have been unable to explain the completely altruistic behavior of some animals. By altruistic behavior, I’m referring to the ability to work for the betterment of one’s group or species, even to the point of giving up one’s own reproductive capabilities. Normally, when we ask why an organism lives, the answer is to spread its genes through reproduction, and this behavior is completely contrary to this, so it is not normally explained. However, if we apply the kin selection hypothesis, we can explain it – it is more beneficial to the survival of the entire species to help other individuals reproduce than to reproduce oneself.
Similarly, a species of monkey in Australia maintains a system of monogamy. Maintaining such a gender-unbalanced group must have limited fertility, so why do they do it? The answer is that their offspring are less likely to survive as young. Therefore, since there are many monkeys of the same species spread out in the area, it is in the best interest of the species to help ensure that the offspring of their kin, even if they are not their own, will survive to maturity, rather than forcing mature individuals to travel to other areas and try to find their own mates.
When viewed through the lens of the kin selection hypothesis, all living things seem to be nothing more than tools for genes. While we may not like the idea that every choice we make is for the benefit of our genes, the fact that we sometimes sacrifice ourselves for the sake of someone we don’t even know is part of what makes us different from other animals.
Furthermore, this altruistic behavior can be seen as part of social evolution. Social evolution, as opposed to biological evolution, is the process of development through culture and learning. Through education and learning, humans understand how they relate to others, and in doing so, create better social structures. In this process, altruistic behavior becomes more than just an instinct, but a social norm and value. Therefore, human altruism is more than just a genetic instinct, but a result of social evolution.
