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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science pp 1–4Cite as

Primate Cooperation

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Synonyms

Collaboration; Helping; Mutualism; Altruism

Definition

One individual acting to benefit another individual. This includes mutualistic cooperation where two or more individuals act together to provide benefit for all.

Introduction

Cooperation is widespread and an integral part of primate life. Most primate species live in social groups providing many opportunities for cooperation, and this is reflected in the variety of cooperative behaviors observed such as grooming, alarm calls, and coalitionary support that pervade primate life. These behaviors vary in several aspects including how costly they are to individuals carrying them out, the benefits to the recipients, how many individuals are involved, and how frequently they occur. The following section will describe the main forms of primate cooperation and discuss proposed ultimate and proximate mechanisms involved in these behaviors.

Diversity of Primate Cooperation

By far the most common form of cooperation in primates is...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany

    Shona Duguid

Authors
  1. Shona Duguid
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shona Duguid .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland Univ Dept of Psycholgy, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana Weekes-Shackelford

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  3. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Cite this entry

Duguid, S. (2016). Primate Cooperation. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3150-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_3150-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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