The neural bases of cooperation and competition: an fMRI investigation

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Abstract:

• Social cognition refers to the processes involved in understanding and interacting with conspecifics. Its evolution arose out of a complex and dynamic interplay between two opposite factors: on the one hand, cooperation among individuals to form groups can provide enhanced security against predators, better mate choice, and more reliable food resources; on the other hand, competition between group members provides individuals with selective advantages in terms of mate selection and food procurement. An evolutionary approach to social cognition therefore predicts mechanisms for cooperation, altruism, and other aspects of prosocial behavior, as well as mechanisms for coercion, deception, and manipulation of conspecifics (Adolphs, 1999; Byrne and Whiten, 1988; Dunbar, 2003). Classical evolutionary theory emphasized competitive interactions based on the struggle for life and the survival of the fittest (e.g., see Spencer, 1870), but cooperation is also common between members of the same species and is indeed advantageous for the individuals because it increases their survival fitness (Eisler and Levine, 2002; Trivers, 1972). Among humans, in particular, cooperation seems to have been elevated to an integral part of society (Stevens and Hauser, 2004).