The DOI matches its Crossref record; 3 of the 3 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism
Abstract
A model is presented to account for the natural selection of what is termed reciprocally altruistic behavior. The model shows how selection can operate against the cheater (non-reciprocator) in the system. Three instances of altruistic behavior are discussed, the evolution of which the model can explain: (1) behavior involved in cleaning symbioses; (2) warning cries in birds; and (3) human reciprocal altruism. Regarding human reciprocal altruism, it is shown that the details of the psychological system that regulates this altruism can be explained by the model. Specifically, friendship, dislike, moralistic aggression, gratitude, sympathy, trust, suspicion, trustworthiness, aspects of guilt, and some forms of dishonesty and hypocrisy can be explained as important adaptations to regulate the altruistic system. Each individual human is seen as possessing altruistic and cheating tendencies, the expression of which is sensitive to developmental variables that were selected to set the tendencies at a balance appropriate to the local social and ecological environment.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“This orientation towards relational repair echoes the logic of reciprocal altruism (Trivers, 1971) and aligns with evidence that peer-norm interventions can shift behaviour at scale.”
From Children's perceptions of bullying, exclusion and defending in English primary schools: A qualitative study (2026) · cites this paper as Trivers, 1971
In the citing paper
“evolutionary theories emphasize kinship and reciprocity (42, 43)”
From Volunteerism as a multidimensional form of human prosocial engagement (2026) · cites this paper as [43]
Citations
Cites
The genetical theory of natural selection
Fisher, R. A. (1930) · doi:10.5962/bhl.title.27468 · Cited by 17,617
The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement
Gouldner, A. W. (1960) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2092623 · Cited by 12,001
Deutsch, M. (1958) · Journal of Conflict Resolution · doi:10.1177/002200275800200401 · Cited by 2,077
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Axelrod, R., & Hamilton, W. D. (1981) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.7466396 · Cited by 20,065
Possessions and the Extended Self
Belk, R. W. (1988) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/209154 · Cited by 9,064
The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment.
Haidt, J. (2001) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.108.4.814 · Cited by 8,048
An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion
Weiner, B. (1985) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.92.4.548 · Cited by 7,846
Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation
Nowak, M. A. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1133755 · Cited by 5,894
Altruistic punishment in humans
Fehr, E., & Gächter, S. (2002) · Nature · doi:10.1038/415137a · Cited by 5,616
Mate selection—A selection for a handicap
Zahavi, A. (1975) · Journal of Theoretical Biology · doi:10.1016/0022-5193(75)90111-3 · Cited by 5,251
Liberals and conservatives rely on different sets of moral foundations.
Graham, J., Haidt, J., & Nosek, B. A. (2009) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0015141 · Cited by 4,560
Empathy: its ultimate and proximate bases
Preston, S. D., & de Waal, F. B. M. (2002) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x02000018 · Cited by 4,126
Collective action and the evolution of social norms.
Ostrom, E. (2000) · Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/jep.14.3.137 · Cited by 4,195
Fehr, E., & Fischbacher, U. (2003) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature02043 · Cited by 3,475
Pursuing Happiness: The Architecture of Sustainable Change
Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon, K. M., & Schkade, D. (2005) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.9.2.111 · Cited by 3,203
Evolution of indirect reciprocity
Nowak, M. A., & Sigmund, K. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04131 · Cited by 2,762
Evolution of indirect reciprocity by image scoring
Nowak, M. A., & Sigmund, K. (1998) · Nature · doi:10.1038/31225 · Cited by 2,700
Graham, J., Nosek, B. A., Haidt, J., Iyer, R., Koleva, S., & Ditto, P. H. (2011) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0021847 · Cited by 2,666
The Contours of Positive Human Health
Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. (1998) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0901_1 · Cited by 2,658
The four elementary forms of sociality: Framework for a unified theory of social relations.
Fiske, A. P. (1992) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.99.4.689 · Cited by 2,510
Putting the Altruism Back into Altruism: The Evolution of Empathy
de Waal, F. B. M. (2008) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093625 · Cited by 2,483
Cosmides, L. (1989) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(89)90023-1 · Cited by 2,471
Falk, A., & Fischbacher, U. (2006) · Games and Economic Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.geb.2005.03.001 · Cited by 2,416
Prosocial Behavior: Multilevel Perspectives
Penner., L. A., Dovidio., J. F., Piliavin., J. A., & Schroeder., D. A. (2005) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070141 · Cited by 2,308
The grateful disposition: A conceptual and empirical topography.
McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J.-A. (2002) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.82.1.112 · Cited by 3,664
A simple rule for the evolution of cooperation on graphs and social networks
Ohtsuki, H., Hauert, C., Lieberman, E., & Nowak, M. A. (2006) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature04605 · Cited by 2,208
Compassion: an evolutionary analysis and empirical review
Goetz, J. L., Keltner, D., & Simon-Thomas, E. (2010) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0018807 · Cited by 2,200
When Morality Opposes Justice: Conservatives Have Moral Intuitions that Liberals may not Recognize
Haidt, J., & Graham, J. (2007) · Social Justice Research · doi:10.1007/s11211-007-0034-z · Cited by 2,385
Going green to be seen: status, reputation, and conspicuous conservation
Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., & Van den Bergh, B. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0017346 · Cited by 2,174
Empirical, Theoretical, and Practical Advantages of the HEXACO Model of Personality Structure
Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2007) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868306294907 · Cited by 2,171
Value orientations, gender and environmental concern
Stern, P. C., Dietz, T., & Kalof, L. (1993) · Environment and Behavior · doi:10.1177/0013916593255002 · Cited by 2,162
Social Norms and Economic Theory
Elster, J. (1989) · Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/jep.3.4.99 · Cited by 2,071
Materialism: Trait Aspects of Living in the Material World
Belk, R. W. (1985) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/208515 · Cited by 1,966
How (and where) does moral judgment work?
Greene, J., & Haidt, J. (2002) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/s1364-6613(02)02011-9 · Cited by 1,945
“Economic man” in cross-cultural perspective: behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies
Henrich, J., Boyd, R., Bowles, S., Camerer, C., Fehr, E., Gintis, H., McElreath, R., Alvard, M., Barr, A., Ensminger, J., et al. (2005) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x05000142 · Cited by 1,898
Social semantics: altruism, cooperation, mutualism, strong reciprocity and group selection.
WEST, S. A., GRIFFIN, A. S., & GARDNER, A. (2007) · Journal of Evolutionary Biology · doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01258.x · Cited by 1,889
The evolution of altruistic punishment
Boyd, R., Gintis, H., Bowles, S., & Richerson, P. J. (2003) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0630443100 · Cited by 1,748
Cognitive neuroscience of human social behaviour
Adolphs, R. (2003) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn1056 · Cited by 1,657
Social evaluation by preverbal infants
Hamlin, J. K., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2007) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature06288 · Cited by 1,566
McCullough, M. E., Kilpatrick, S. D., Emmons, R. A., & Larson, D. B. (2001) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.127.2.249 · Cited by 1,698
Punishment allows the evolution of cooperation (or anything else) in sizable groups
Boyd, R., & Richerson, P. J. (1992) · Ethology and Sociobiology · doi:10.1016/0162-3095(92)90032-y · Cited by 1,482
Sustaining cooperation in laboratory public goods experiments: a selective survey of the literature
Chaudhuri, A. (2011) · Experimental Economics · doi:10.1007/s10683-010-9257-1 · Cited by 1,445
A neural basis for social cooperation
Rilling, J. K., Gutman, D. A., Zeh, T. R., Pagnoni, G., Berns, G. S., & Kilts, C. D. (2002) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(02)00755-9 · Cited by 1,451
Getting to Know You: Reputation and Trust in a Two-Person Economic Exchange
King-Casas, B., Tomlin, D., Anen, C., Camerer, C. F., Quartz, S. R., & Montague, P. R. (2005) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1108062 · Cited by 1,345
Spontaneous giving and calculated greed
Rand, D. G., Greene, J. D., & Nowak, M. A. (2012) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature11467 · Cited by 1,334
A Darwinian Dilemma for Realist Theories of Value
Street, S. (2006) · Philosophical Studies · doi:10.1007/s11098-005-1726-6 · Cited by 1,247
Evolutionary Psychology: A New Paradigm for Psychological Science
Buss, D. M. (1995) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1207/s15327965pli0601_1 · Cited by 1,198
Brown, S. L., Nesse, R. M., Vinokur, A. D., & Smith, D. M. (2003) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-9280.14461 · Cited by 1,142
Punishment in animal societies
Clutton-Brock, T. H., & Parker, G. A. (1995) · Nature · doi:10.1038/373209a0 · Cited by 1,043
A functional imaging study of cooperation in two-person reciprocal exchange
McCabe, K., Houser, D., Ryan, L., Smith, V., & Trouard, T. (2001) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.211415698 · Cited by 984
Fischer, P., Krueger, J. I., Greitemeyer, T., Vogrincic, C., Kastenmüller, A., Frey, D., Heene, M., Wicher, M., & Kainbacher, M. (2011) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0023304 · Cited by 983
Lakin, J. L., Jefferis, V. E., Cheng, C. M., & Chartrand, T. L. (2003) · Journal of Nonverbal Behavior · doi:10.1023/a:1025389814290 · Cited by 960
Cooperation between non-kin in animal societies
Clutton-Brock, T. (2009) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature08366 · Cited by 951
Van Lange, P. A. M., De Bruin, E. M. N., Otten, W., & Joireman, J. A. (1997) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.4.733 · Cited by 1,209
Rai, T. S., & Fiske, A. P. (2011) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0021867 · Cited by 887
The evolution of personality variation in humans and other animals.
Nettle, D. (2006) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.61.6.622 · Cited by 885
Evolutionary explanations of emotions
Nesse, R. M. (1990) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/bf02733986 · Cited by 884
The Ontogenesis of Social Dominance: A Strategy-Based Evolutionary Perspective
Hawley, P. H. (1999) · Developmental Review · doi:10.1006/drev.1998.0470 · Cited by 877
Effort for Payment: A Tale of Two Markets
Heyman, J., & Ariely, D. (2004) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00757.x · Cited by 827
The Neuroscience of Social Decision-Making
Rilling, J. K., & Sanfey, A. G. (2011) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.121208.131647 · Cited by 775
Individual recognition: it is good to be different
Tibbetts, E. A., & Dale, J. (2007) · Trends in Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.tree.2007.09.001 · Cited by 779
Cooperative behavior cascades in human social networks
Fowler, J. H., & Christakis, N. A. (2010) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0913149107 · Cited by 767
Emotion, Social Function, and Psychopathology
Keltner, D., & Kring, A. M. (1998) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.320 · Cited by 773
Evolution of the Social Contract
Skyrms, B. (2014) · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139924825 · Cited by 743
Positive Interactions Promote Public Cooperation
Rand, D. G., Dreber, A., Ellingsen, T., Fudenberg, D., & Nowak, M. A. (2009) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1177418 · Cited by 715
Happiness in Everyday Life: The Uses of Experience Sampling
Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Hunter, J. (2003) · Journal of Happiness Studies · doi:10.1023/a:1024409732742 · Cited by 717
Dreber, A., Rand, D. G., Fudenberg, D., & Nowak, M. A. (2008) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature06723 · Cited by 718
Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.84.2.377 · Cited by 3,826
Stellar, J. E., Gordon, A. M., Piff, P. K., Cordaro, D., Anderson, C. L., Bai, Y., Maruskin, L. A., & Keltner, D. (2017) · Emotion Review · doi:10.1177/1754073916684557 · Cited by 696
Reputation-based partner choice promotes cooperation in social networks
Fu, F., Hauert, C., Nowak, M. A., & Wang, L. (2008) · Physical Review E · doi:10.1103/physreve.78.026117 · Cited by 682
Evolution of cooperation through indirect reciprocity
Leimar, O., & Hammerstein, P. (2001) · Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1573 · Cited by 673
Synchrony and the social tuning of compassion.
Valdesolo, P., & DeSteno, D. (2011) · Emotion · doi:10.1037/a0021302 · Cited by 654
Cognitive empathy and emotional empathy in human behavior and evolution
Smith, A. (2006) · The Psychological Record · doi:10.1007/bf03395534 · Cited by 654
Haidt, J., & Joseph, C. (2008) · The Innate Mind, Volume 3 · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195332834.003.0019 · Cited by 650
More effective choice in the prisoner's dilemma
Axelrod, R. (1980) · Journal of Conflict Resolution · doi:10.1177/002200278002400301 · Cited by 616
RYAN, R. M., KUHL, J., & DECI, E. L. (1997) · Development and Psychopathology · doi:10.1017/s0954579497001405 · Cited by 622
To give and to give not: the behavioral ecology of human food transfers
Gurven, M. (2004) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x04000123 · Cited by 582
Strohminger, N., & Nichols, S. (2014) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2013.12.005 · Cited by 596
The neural bases of cooperation and competition: an fMRI investigation
Decety, J., Jackson, P. L., Sommerville, J. A., Chaminade, T., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2004) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.05.025 · Cited by 578
Stakeholders, reciprocity, and firm performance
Bosse, D. A., Phillips, R. A., & Harrison, J. S. (2009) · Strategic Management Journal · doi:10.1002/smj.743 · Cited by 558
The bright side of being blue: depression as an adaptation for analyzing complex problems.
Andrews, P. W., & Thomson, J. A. (2009) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0016242 · Cited by 549
Theory of mind—evolution, ontogeny, brain mechanisms and psychopathology
Brüne, M., & Brüne-Cohrs, U. (2006) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2005.08.001 · Cited by 540
Mere Belonging: The Power of Social Connections
Walton, G. M., Cohen, G. L., Cwir, D., & Spencer, S. J. (2012) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0025731 · Cited by 543
Curry, O. S., Rowland, L. A., Van Lissa, C. J., Zlotowitz, S., McAlaney, J., & Whitehouse, H. (2018) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2018.02.014 · Cited by 528
The rhythm of joint action: synchrony promotes cooperative ability.
Valdesolo, P., Ouyang, J., & DeSteno, D. (2010) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.03.004 · Cited by 521
Lodi-Smith, J., & Roberts, B. W. (2007) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868306294590 · Cited by 513
Partner choice creates competitive altruism in humans
Barclay, P., & Willer, R. (2007) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.0209 · Cited by 485
The Ties That Bind Us: Ritual, Fusion, and Identification
Whitehouse, H., & Lanman, J. A. (2014) · Current Anthropology · doi:10.1086/678698 · Cited by 509
Placebo and the New Physiology of the Doctor-Patient Relationship
Benedetti, F. (2013) · Physiological Reviews · doi:10.1152/physrev.00043.2012 · Cited by 492
Society-in-the-loop: programming the algorithmic social contract
Rahwan, I. (2018) · Ethics and Information Technology · doi:10.1007/s10676-017-9430-8 · Cited by 553
McKay, R. T., & Dennett, D. C. (2009) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x09990975 · Cited by 474
The Origins and Psychology of Human Cooperation
Henrich, J., & Muthukrishna, M. (2021) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-081920-042106 · Cited by 457
Short-term compassion training increases prosocial behavior in a newly developed prosocial game
Leiberg, S., Klimecki, O., & Singer, T. (2011) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017798 · Cited by 442
Major evolutionary transitions in individuality
West, S. A., Fisher, R. M., Gardner, A., & Kiers, E. T. (2015) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1421402112 · Cited by 431
Martela, F., & Ryan, R. M. (2016) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/jopy.12215 · Cited by 422
The contribution of source–filter theory to mammal vocal communication research
Taylor, A. M., & Reby, D. (2010) · Journal of Zoology · doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00661.x · Cited by 407
Neural correlates of social cooperation and non-cooperation as a function of psychopathy
Rilling, J. K., Glenn, A. L., Jairam, M. R., Pagnoni, G., Goldsmith, D. R., Elfenbein, H. A., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2007) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.07.021 · Cited by 408
Précis of The brain and emotion
Rolls, E. T. (2000) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00002429 · Cited by 397
A tale of two defectors: the importance of standing for evolution of indirect reciprocity
Panchanathan, K., & Boyd, R. (2003) · Journal of Theoretical Biology · doi:10.1016/s0022-5193(03)00154-1 · Cited by 388
Monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) predicts behavioral aggression following provocation
McDermott, R., Tingley, D., Cowden, J., Frazzetto, G., & Johnson, D. D. P. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0808376106 · Cited by 384
Neural basis of extraordinary empathy and altruistic motivation
Mathur, V. A., Harada, T., Lipke, T., & Chiao, J. Y. (2010) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.03.025 · Cited by 377
The origins of altruism in offspring care.
Preston, S. D. (2013) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0031755 · Cited by 368
Structured Demes and the Evolution of Group-Advantageous Traits
Wilson, D. S. (1977) · The American Naturalist · doi:10.1086/283146 · Cited by 363
Metadata
- Authors
- Trivers, R. L.
- Corresponding author
- Trivers, Robert L.
- ORCID
- Trivers, Robert L.
- Venue
- The Quarterly Review of Biology
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Published
- 1971-03
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 35-57
- ISSN
- 0033-5770 (ISSN-L)
- 1539-7718
- OpenAlex
- W2167030552
- Cited by
- 11,010
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 266 · 2025: 301 · 2024: 423 · 2023: 331 · 2022: 418 · 2021: 511 · 2020: 470 · 2019: 458 · 2018: 445 · 2017: 376 · 2016: 442 · 2015: 453 · 2014: 431 · 2013: 426 · 2012: 433
- FWCI
- 50.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Quarterly Review of Biology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- reciprocal altruism, evolution of cooperation, cheaters, cleaning symbiosis, moral emotions, trust, guilt, dishonesty, hypocrisy
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
