Survival Of The Kindest?

New research is being published that suggests just how much we may have evolved to be 'social animals'. It is easy to believe that revolutionary processes might have also helped shape our most social and empathetic capacities. Our species has evolved too long in intimate groupings and families to not have adaptations for highly social behavior.

Below is an article presenting work done by Berkeley researchers supporting the notion that humans are becoming more kind and empathetic as time goes by. This should be very interesting for those people who subscribe to theories of evolution that argue for an inherently "progressive" trend in human affairs. Perhaps, some might argue, by virtue of our deeply social existence our species is drifting towards becoming quite simply... kinder?

Survival Of The Kindest

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are challenging long-held beliefs that human beings are wired to be selfish. In a wide range of studies, social scientists are amassing a growing body of evidence to show we are evolving to become more compassionate and collaborative in our quest to survive and thrive.

In contrast to "every man for himself" interpretations of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, Dacher Keltner, a UC Berkeley psychologist and author of "Born to be Good: The Science of a Meaningful Life," and his fellow social scientists are building the case that humans are successful as a species precisely because of our nurturing, altruistic and compassionate traits.

They call it "survival of the kindest."’

"Because of our very vulnerable offspring, the fundamental task for human survival and gene replication is to take care of others," said Keltner, co-director of UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center. "Human beings have survived as a species because we have evolved the capacities to care for those in need and to cooperate. As Darwin long ago surmised, sympathy is our strongest instinct."

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