In this blog post, we will explain in an easy and interesting way how altruism has survived and evolved in a competitive society.
Do you remember the fairy tales your parents told you when you were a child? Although the backgrounds and characters of each story were different, most of them had a structure of “good is rewarded and evil is punished.” The infinitely kind Cinderella eventually marries a prince, and the filial Shim Cheong becomes queen after overcoming all kinds of hardships. From an early age, we are taught to “be good” and “good things will come to good people.”
Ironically, however, in the capitalist system that forms the basis of modern society, selfish people who maximize their own interests are considered “rational beings.” Nevertheless, altruistic behavior is still common around us. Stories of firefighters jumping into burning buildings to save lives are often reported in the news, and if we look a little closer, we can see various acts of altruism taking place everywhere, such as people donating blood or picking up trash on the street. Why do people choose to act altruistically, even at the expense of their own interests, in a social structure that requires them to pursue their own interests? And how have altruistic people been able to survive in such a fiercely competitive society?
Altruistic behavior refers to actions that benefit others but are detrimental to the person performing the action. For example, firefighters who rescue people from a fire provide a great benefit by saving their lives, but they put their own lives at risk, so this is clearly altruistic behavior. The same is true for picking up trash on the street. Although it contributes to the comfort of society as a whole, the person doing the work only bears the burden and gains no direct benefit.
Such altruistic behavior can be explained by the theory of group selection. In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin proposed the concept of natural selection, explaining that only individuals best suited to their environment survive, while those that are not are eliminated. In other words, nature selects individuals or groups that are best adapted to a specific environment, and evolution occurs through this process. For example, in a society where modesty is considered a virtue, modest people are respected, while arrogant people are criticized. As a result, the number of modest people in that society increases.
When natural selection acts on individuals, it is called “individual selection,” and when it acts on groups, it is called “group selection.” The former selects ‘individuals’ that are suitable for the environment, while the latter selects “groups” that are suitable for the environment. Individual selection and group selection always conflict with each other.
Individual selection prioritizes the survival and reproduction of individuals, so it selects individuals who seek to maximize their own interests, while group selection favors groups with many altruistic members, considering the survival and prosperity of the group as a whole. For example, suppose that there are many selfish people in village A and many altruistic people in village B. In village A, selfish people will prosper by receiving help without giving anything in return. However, when a crisis strikes, Village B, where people help each other, is more likely to overcome the crisis and survive longer. As a result, from the perspective of individual selection, altruistic individuals are eliminated, but from the perspective of group selection, groups with few altruistic individuals are eliminated. Altruistic individuals become an important resource that enhances the survival of the group.
Individual choice and group choice operate simultaneously. However, because these two processes have different directions, the difference in speed is important. The speed referred to here refers to the speed at which altruistic individuals are eliminated (individual choice) and the speed at which groups with few altruistic individuals are eliminated (group choice). In general, individual choice occurs more quickly.
This is because individual behavior produces immediate results, while the characteristics of a group become apparent only over time. However, when group selection operates more quickly, altruistic behavior begins to function as a survival strategy. At this point, institutions play an important role. Institutions refer to the laws, rules, and customs that govern interactions among members of a society.
Institutions can be designed to slow down individual selection and speed up group selection. For example, being taught from an early age to “be good” or learning the importance of living together through moral, ethical, and legal education increases the likelihood of altruistic choices. Social mechanisms such as communal ownership and welfare systems encourage altruistic behavior and discourage overly selfish behavior.
Ultimately, social institutions function as mechanisms that mitigate the “selfish pressure” toward altruistic individuals within a group and adjust the balance between individual and group selection. Nature is never simple. It seems that selfish people will prevail, but the reality is different. In nature, individual and group selection coexist, and the balance between the two is coordinated by social institutions.
The fairy tales we enjoyed reading as children are, when you think about it, the wisdom of our ancestors who wanted to maintain a society composed of selfish people, and they can be considered cultural institutions that emphasized altruism. The world does not always follow the logic of “good is rewarded and evil is punished,” but from a group perspective, that spirit is still valid, and thanks to that, we can still encounter heartwarming stories today.
