Selfishness is pervasive and manifests at all scales of biology, from societies, to individuals,
to genetic elements within a genome. The relentless struggle to seek evolutionary …

The general belief that cooperation and altruism in social groups result primarily from kin
selection has recently been challenged, not least because results from cooperatively …

Predation risk is a major ecological factor selecting for group living. It is largely ignored,
however, as an evolutionary driver of social complexity and cooperative breeding, which is …

Social evolution is tightly linked to dispersal decisions, but the ecological and social factors
selecting for philopatry or dispersal often remain obscure. Elucidating selection mechanisms …

Two factors that promote cooperation are partner choice and punishment of defectors, but
which option do people actually prefer to use? Punishment is predicted to be more common …

How can the stunning diversity of social systems and behaviours seen in nature be
explained? Drawing on social evolution theory, experimental evidence and studies …

Conflict is rife in group-living species and exerts a powerful selective force. Group members
face a variety of threats from extra-group conspecifics, from individuals looking for …

Social animals can greatly benefit from well-developed social skills. Because the frequency
and diversity of social interactions often increase with the size of social groups, the benefits …

Aggression is costly, and animals have evolved tactics to mitigate these costs. Submission
signals are an underappreciated example of such adaptations. Here we review submissive …

Cheaters—genotypes that gain a selective advantage by taking the benefits of the social
contributions of others while avoiding the costs of cooperating—are thought to pose a major …