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altruistic behaviour

biology
Also known as: altruism, epimeletic behaviour

Learn about this topic in these articles:

animal behaviour and natural selection

  • Charles Darwin
    In animal behaviour: Function

    …however, animals engage in apparent altruism (that is, they exhibit behaviour that increases the fitness of other individuals by engaging in activities that decrease their own reproductive success). For example, American zoologist Paul Sherman found that female Belding’s ground squirrels (Spermophilus beldingi) give staccato whistles that warn nearby conspecifics of…

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animal social behaviour

  • Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: herd of gnu (wildebeests)
    In animal social behaviour: Aggregation and individual protection

    …a good example of an altruistic behaviour. Why individuals give an alarm call to begin with is not necessarily obvious, since the act of calling may attract a predator and endanger the caller. In the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, Belding’s ground squirrels (Spermophilus beldingi) call more frequently when they…

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group selection

  • Belding's ground squirrel; Spermophilus beldingi
    In group selection

    …members’ interactions are of an altruistic nature. Examples of behaviours that appear to influence group selection include cooperative hunting, such as among lions and other social carnivores; cooperative raising of young, such as in elephants; and systems of predatory warning, such as those used by prairie dogs and ground squirrels.

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inclusive fitness

  • In inclusive fitness

    …be derived from cooperation and altruistic behaviour. Inclusive fitness theory suggests that altruism among organisms who share a given percentage of genes enables those genes to be passed on to subsequent generations. In this way, an altruistic act that supports the survival of a relative or other individual theoretically enhances…

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kin selection

  • major evolutionary events
    In evolution: Kin selection and reciprocal altruism

    The apparent altruistic behaviour of many animals is, like some manifestations of sexual selection, a trait that at first seems incompatible with the theory of natural selection. Altruism is a form of behaviour that benefits other individuals at the expense of the one that performs the action;…

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  • lioness with cubs
    In kin selection

    …role in the evolution of altruism, cooperation, and sociality; however, the term kin selection was coined in 1964 by British evolutionary biologist Maynard Smith.

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prehuman ethics

  • Code of Hammurabi
    In ethics: Nonhuman behaviour

    …may behave in ways that benefit other members of the group at some cost or risk to themselves. Male baboons threaten predators and cover the rear as the troop retreats. Wolves and wild dogs take meat back to members of the pack not present at the kill. Gibbons and chimpanzees…

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sociobiology

  • In sociobiology

    It explains apparently altruistic behaviour in some animal species as actually being genetically selfish, since such behaviours usually benefit closely related individuals whose genes resemble those of the altruistic individual. This insight helps explain why soldier ants sacrifice their lives in order to defend their colony, or why…

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  • E.O. Wilson
    In E.O. Wilson

    Thus, altruistic behaviour—as when an organism sacrifices itself in order to save other members of its immediate family—would seem incompatible with this process. In Sociobiology Wilson argued that the sacrifice involved in much altruistic behaviour results in saving closely related individuals—i.e., individuals who share many of…

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theories of animal social behaviour

  • Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: herd of gnu (wildebeests)
    In animal social behaviour: General characteristics

    of labour, cooperation, altruism, and a great many individuals aiding the reproduction of a relative few. The most widely recognized forms of social behaviour, however, involve interaction within aggregations or groups of individuals. Social behaviours, their adaptive value, and their underlying mechanisms are of primary interest to scientists…

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  • Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: herd of gnu (wildebeests)
    In animal social behaviour: A historical perspective on the study of social behaviour

    …workers, who believed that such altruism should rarely evolve, Wynne-Edwards’s advocacy of this view prompted a careful reappraisal of the evolutionary basis of social behaviour that continues to this day.

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  • Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: herd of gnu (wildebeests)
    In animal social behaviour: The ultimate causes of social behaviour

    >altruism (the altruist makes a sacrifice and the recipient benefits), selfishness (the actor benefits at the expense of the recipient), and spite (the actor hurts the recipient and both pay a cost). Mutualistic associations pose no serious evolutionary difficulty since both individuals derive benefits that…

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  • Serengeti National Park, Tanzania: herd of gnu (wildebeests)
    In animal social behaviour: The ultimate causes of social behaviour

    A second solution for how altruism can evolve among unrelated individuals comes from a study in humans. In this study, individuals punished unrelated cheaters (altruistic punishment), even though they received no material benefit for doing so and were unlikely to interact with them in the future. Furthermore, there may be…

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whales and porpoises

  • species of whales
    In cetacean: Social behaviour

    Many cetaceans exhibit epimeletic behaviour, in which healthy animals take care of another animal that has become temporarily incapacitated. This is evident when a wounded or sick whale is supported by others or in cases when a dolphin (usually the mother) pushes a dead calf around.

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work of Hamilton

  • In William Donald Hamilton

    … outstanding problems: the evolution of altruism and the evolution of sexual reproduction. Hamilton’s work on the genetics of social behaviour inspired the sociobiology debate of the late 20th century.

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psychopharmacology, the development, study, and use of drugs for the modification of behaviour and the alleviation of symptoms, particularly in the treatment of mental disorders. One of the most striking advances in the treatment of mental illnesses in the middle of the 20th century was the development of the series of pharmacological agents commonly known as tranquilizers (e.g., chlorpromazine, reserpine, and other milder agents) and antidepressants, including the highly effective group known as tricyclic antidepressants. Lithium is widely used to allay the symptoms of affective disorders and especially to prevent recurrences of both the manic and the depressed episodes in manic-depressive individuals. The many commercially marketed antipsychotic agents (including thiothixene, chlorpromazine, haloperidol, and thioridazine) all share the common property of blocking the dopamine receptors in the brain. (Dopamine acts to help transmit nerve impulses in the brain.) Since scientists have found a direct relationship between dopamine blockage and reduction of schizophrenic symptoms, many believe that schizophrenia may be related to excess dopamine.

These drugs contrast sharply with the hypnotic and sedative drugs that formerly were in use and that clouded the patient’s consciousness and impaired his motor and perceptual abilities. The antipsychotic drugs can allay the symptoms of anxiety and reduce agitation, delusions, and hallucinations, and the antidepressants lift spirits and quell suicidal impulses. The heavy prescription use of drugs to reduce agitation and quell anxiety has led, however, to what many psychiatrists consider an overuse of such medications. An overdose of a tranquilizer may cause loss of muscular coordination and slowing of reflexes, and prolonged use can lead to addiction. Toxic side effects such as jaundice psychoses, dependency, or a reaction similar to Parkinson’s disease may develop. The drugs may produce other minor symptoms (e.g., heart palpitations, rapid pulse, sweating) because of their action on the autonomic nervous system.

Though particular drugs are prescribed for specific symptoms or syndromes, they are usually not specific to the treatment of any single mental disorder. Because of their ability to modify the behaviour of even the most disturbed patients, the antipsychotic, antianxiety, and antidepressant agents have greatly affected the management of the hospitalized mentally ill, enabling hospital staff to devote more of their attention to therapeutic efforts and enabling many patients to lead relatively normal lives outside of the hospital.