Pages: 17-37

The study of the evolution of altruism and cooperation in human society is one of the central topics of modern anthropology. A promising approach to solving this problem is a comparative study of the behavior of cooperation and sharing of limited resources in a cross-cultural and ontogenetic perspective. The aim of this study was to analyze the principles of sharing the limited resources among children in two traditional African societies: Hadza and Iraqw. A statistical assessment of the contribution of a number of factors to the adoption of prosocial, egoistic and altruistic decisions in the direction of members of own group and strangers is presented. The sample was represented by 240 children and adolescents (130 Hadza and 110 Iraqw). Studies were conducted in rural areas of Northern Tanzania. The current results, along with the data on Meru children, obtained by us earlier, revealed that positive social selectivity (friendship) has an important stimulating role in making decisions of a prosocial and altruistic nature in children and adolescents in traditional African societies. For hunter-gatherers, the percentage of individuals focused on selfish and mixed sharing strategies, both in direction of friends and strangers, was higher compared with farmers. Along with that, we demonstrated a positive association between the adoption of altruistic decisions about sharing and the subjective happiness. Presumably, such association is a human universal.

Keywords: traditional African cultures, hunter-gatherers, farmers, altruism, evolution of cooperation in humans, happiness, hand-grip strength, digit ratio

Information about authors:

Marina Butovskaya (Moscow, Russian Federation). Doctor of Historical Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. N. N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences. 2 Lenin Ave., 32 A, Moscow, 119334, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Daria Dronova (Moscow, Russian Federation). N. N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences. Lenin Ave., 32 A, Moscow, 119334, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Dmitriy Karelin (Moscow, Russian Federation). Doctor of Biological Sciences. Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences. Staromonetniy Lane, 29, Moscow, 119017, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]