title: The social side of Homo economicus.
abstract: Many recent experiments in the field of behavioural economics appear to demonstrate a willingness of humans to behave altruistically, even when it is not in their interest to do so. This has led to the assertion that humans have evolved a special predisposition towards altruism. Recent studies have questioned this, and demonstrated that selfless cooperation does not hold up in controlled experiments. As I discuss here, this calls for more economic 'field experiments' and highlights the need for greater integration of the evolutionary and economic sciences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Zürich, Building Y27, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland. d.rankin@bioc.uzh.ch
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Rankin
mesh_terms: D000533:Altruism; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004467:Economics; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006801:Humans