Behavioural antecedents of altruism: a comparative analysis
Altruism has two main aspects; the one philosophical and the other scientific. After a discussion of the main issues raised by the concept, two definitions having similar criteria were developed. Flight calls in male pheasants were then studied in order to place them either in one of the two altruistic categories or to relegate them to the egoistic category. The establishment and maintenance of altruism in animal populations was examined in light of the dilemma presented by the classical genetic model for natural selection. A formula which will assist in the separation and delineation of the concept altruism from reciprocity and egoism was developed. The meaning of “others” was considered with respect to genetic coefficients of relationship. Modifications of a model for altruism were made which incorporated a factor covering the potential genetic contribution to future offspring by the altruist over that by the recipient(s). A further factor gave indications of possible values for the cost facet of altruism. These modifications help explain the preponderance of parental care in the animal world as opposed to geriatric care and suggest that older parents may be more altruistically disposed toward offspring than younger parents. Based on a theory for the establishment and increase of altruistic genes in animal populations, a relationship was hypothesized to exist in the avian order Passeriformes between clutch averages (which were considered to be an index of “genetic investment”) and prosocial behaviour. The positive correlations found supported this hypothesis. Social grooming in dairy cows were then investigated. The reduced stimulus world of the domestic cow decreases the number of modalities by which rewards may be returned to benefactors and the formula developed to delineate altruism from reciprocity and egoism could thus be more accurately applied. As little is known about social grooming in cows, herd parameters were recorded and several variables were correlated with the giving and/or receiving of grooming actions. Use of an identical twin herd furthered investigation into the meaning of “others” and it was found that grooming preferences fell into a five-point ordinal scale: self, twin, own age group, next nearest age group, and furthest away age group. Age proved to be the most pervasive variable correlated with non-twin social grooming, whereas within twin pairs grooming was consistently correlated with milking order. The altruism found was also shown to be twin-linked (i.e. if one member of a twin pair was altruistic, its twin tended to be altruistic also). Altruism is here considered almost coeval with egoism, that is almost as old as life itself. It is therefore reasonable to think of altruism as either a primary reinforcer of as being intrinsically motivating.
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