“The evolution of reciprocal altruism”
E760895
“The evolution of reciprocal altruism” is a landmark 1971 paper by Robert Trivers that introduced a formal evolutionary theory explaining how cooperation can arise and be maintained among non-kin through repeated interactions and mutual benefit.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| “The evolution of reciprocal altruism” canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T8846041 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: “The evolution of reciprocal altruism” Context triple: [Robert Trivers, notableWork, “The evolution of reciprocal altruism”]
-
A.
The Genetical Evolution of Social Behaviour
The Genetical Evolution of Social Behaviour is William D. Hamilton’s landmark 1964 paper that founded modern kin selection theory and transformed the study of social evolution in biology.
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B.
The Calculus of Selfishness
The Calculus of Selfishness is a book by Karl Sigmund that uses mathematical and game-theoretic models to analyze how individual self-interest shapes cooperation, conflict, and social behavior.
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C.
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is Peter Kropotkin’s influential work arguing that cooperation and mutual support are key drivers of evolution and social organization, challenging the notion that competition alone shapes species.
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D.
The Economics of Altruism
The Economics of Altruism is a scholarly work by economist Stefano Zamagni that analyzes how altruistic behavior and ethical considerations can be incorporated into economic theory and practice.
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E.
The Economics of Reciprocity
The Economics of Reciprocity is a scholarly work that analyzes how reciprocal behavior and social norms influence economic interactions and outcomes beyond purely self-interested market models.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: “The evolution of reciprocal altruism” Target entity description: “The evolution of reciprocal altruism” is a landmark 1971 paper by Robert Trivers that introduced a formal evolutionary theory explaining how cooperation can arise and be maintained among non-kin through repeated interactions and mutual benefit.
-
A.
The Genetical Evolution of Social Behaviour
The Genetical Evolution of Social Behaviour is William D. Hamilton’s landmark 1964 paper that founded modern kin selection theory and transformed the study of social evolution in biology.
-
B.
The Calculus of Selfishness
The Calculus of Selfishness is a book by Karl Sigmund that uses mathematical and game-theoretic models to analyze how individual self-interest shapes cooperation, conflict, and social behavior.
-
C.
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution
Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution is Peter Kropotkin’s influential work arguing that cooperation and mutual support are key drivers of evolution and social organization, challenging the notion that competition alone shapes species.
-
D.
The Economics of Altruism
The Economics of Altruism is a scholarly work by economist Stefano Zamagni that analyzes how altruistic behavior and ethical considerations can be incorporated into economic theory and practice.
-
E.
The Economics of Reciprocity
The Economics of Reciprocity is a scholarly work that analyzes how reciprocal behavior and social norms influence economic interactions and outcomes beyond purely self-interested market models.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (45)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
landmark paper in evolutionary biology
ⓘ
scientific paper ⓘ |
| addresses |
applications to human social behavior
ⓘ
conditions under which reciprocal altruism is evolutionarily stable ⓘ differences between kin selection and reciprocity ⓘ |
| author | Robert Trivers ⓘ |
| coreClaim |
altruistic acts can evolve if they are reliably reciprocated
ⓘ
mechanisms for detecting and avoiding cheaters are crucial for stable reciprocity ⓘ selection can favor individuals who help non-kin when future returns exceed current costs ⓘ |
| emphasizesConcept |
cheater detection
ⓘ
contingent cooperation ⓘ costly helping behavior ⓘ delayed return benefits ⓘ punishment of defectors ⓘ stability of cooperative strategies ⓘ |
| field |
behavioral ecology
ⓘ
evolutionary biology ⓘ evolutionary psychology ⓘ |
| influencedAuthor |
John Maynard Smith
ⓘ
Martin Nowak ⓘ
linked to:
Martin A. Nowak
Richard Dawkins ⓘ |
| influencedConcept |
indirect reciprocity
ⓘ
partner choice models of cooperation ⓘ strong reciprocity ⓘ tit-for-tat strategy in game theory ⓘ |
| influencedField |
anthropology of human cooperation
ⓘ
evolutionary game theory ⓘ evolutionary psychology of cooperation ⓘ primatology ⓘ sociobiology ⓘ |
| influencedWork | The Selfish Gene ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
evolution of cooperation
ⓘ
game-theoretic models of behavior ⓘ natural selection ⓘ non-kin cooperation ⓘ reciprocal altruism ⓘ |
| proposesTheoryOf |
how cooperation can evolve among non-kin
ⓘ
maintenance of cooperation through repeated interactions ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1971 ⓘ |
| recognizedAs |
classic paper in behavioral ecology
ⓘ
foundational work on the evolution of cooperation ⓘ |
| usesConcept |
evolutionarily stable strategies
ⓘ
mutual benefit ⓘ repeated interactions ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: “The evolution of reciprocal altruism” Description of subject: “The evolution of reciprocal altruism” is a landmark 1971 paper by Robert Trivers that introduced a formal evolutionary theory explaining how cooperation can arise and be maintained among non-kin through repeated interactions and mutual benefit.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.