Cooperation in Hunter-Gathering Societies

A recent article in the LA Times (link) summarizes the findings of a group of researchers who just published an article in Nature entitled "Social Networks and Cooperation in Hunter-Gatherers."  It examines the social relations of the Hadza, a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania who have been relatively unaffected by modernity.

The researchers found that the Hadza who tend to be the most cooperative, the most group oriented, tend to associate with each other.  These groups tend to be more prosperous than the groups filled with more selfish people.  The researchers therefore suggest that, contrary to conventional wisdom, we are wired to care for others in part because it is in our material--not to mention spiritual or psychological--best interests to do so.  This is another indication that "survival of the fittest" has long been a social rather than an individual endeavor.