Extensive cooperation among biologically unrelated individuals is uniquely human. It would be surprising if this uniqueness were not related to other uniquely human characteristics, yet current theories of human cooperation tend to ignore the human aspects of human behavior. This paper presents a theory of cooperation that draws on social, cultural, and psychological aspects of human uniqueness for which current theories have little or no explanation. We propose that the evolution of human cooperative behavior required (1) a capacity for self-sustained, self-referential thought manifested as an integrated worldview, including a sense of identity and point of view, and (2) the cultural formation of kinship-based social organizational systems within which social identities can be established and transmitted through enculturation. Human cooperative behavior arose, we argue, through the acquisition of a culturally grounded social identity that included the expectation of cooperation among kin. This identity is linked to basic survival instincts by emotions that are mentally experienced as culture-laden feelings. As a consequence, individuals are motivated to cooperate with those perceived culturally as kin, while deviations from expected social behavior are experienced as a threat to one’s social identity, leading to punishment of those seen as violating cultural expectations regarding socially proper behavior.

中文翻译：

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身份、亲属关系和合作的演变

生物学上无关的个体之间的广泛合作是人类独有的。如果这种独特性与其他独特的人类特征无关，那将是令人惊讶的，但当前的人类合作理论往往忽略人类行为的人性方面。本文提出了一种合作理论，它借鉴了人类独特性的社会、文化和心理方面，目前的理论对此几乎没有解释。我们提出，人类合作行为的进化需要 (1) 自我维持、自我参照的能力，表现为一种综合的世界观，包括认同感和观点，以及 (2) 亲属关系的文化形成——以社会组织系统为基础，社会身份可以在其中通过文化融合来建立和传播。我们认为，人类的合作行为是通过获得基于文化的社会认同而产生的，其中包括对亲属之间合作的期望。这种身份与基本的生存本能联系在一起，这些情绪在精神上被体验为充满文化的感觉。结果，个人被激励与那些在文化上被视为亲属的人合作，而偏离预期的社会行为则被视为对一个人的社会身份的威胁，导致那些被视为违反关于社会适当行为的文化期望的人受到惩罚。