Humans are an ultrasocial species. This sociality, however, cannot be fully explained by the
canonical approaches found in evolutionary biology, psychology, or economics …

Do acts of kindness improve the well-being of the actor? Recent advances in the
behavioural sciences have provided a number of explanations of human social, cooperative …

Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the
wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters …

Background: Recent years have seen a resurgence of research on the potential of
psychedelic substances to treat addictive and mood disorders. Historically and …

Imitation and innovation work in tandem to support cultural learning in children and facilitate
our capacity for cumulative culture. Here we propose an integrated theoretical account of …

The origins of religion and of complex societies represent evolutionary puzzles,,,,,,–. The
'moralizing gods' hypothesis offers a solution to both puzzles by proposing that belief in …

The relationship between religion and morality has long been hotly debated. Does religion
make us more moral? Is it necessary for morality? Do moral inclinations emerge …

Why do we adopt new rules, such as social distancing? Although human sciences research
stresses the key role of social influence in behaviour change, most COVID‐19 campaigns …

Whether upheld as heroic or reviled as terrorism, people have been willing to lay down their
lives for the sake of their groups throughout history. Why? Previous theories of extreme self …

Kim Sterelny here builds on his original account of the evolutionary development and
interaction of human culture and cooperation, which he first presented in The Evolved …