Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27087837›Full record

ArticleEvolutionary applications2016

Principles of cooperation across systems: from human sharing to multicellularity and cancer.

Athena Aktipis

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Evolutionary applications, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

17 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. The Elephant and the Spandrel.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2025
    Article
  4. Human cooperation and evolutionary transitions in individuality.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023
    Article
  5. Article
  6. The ergodicity solution of the cooperation puzzle.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2022
    Review
  7. Anthropological Prosociality via Sub-Group Level Selection.Integrative psychological & behavioral science · 2022
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Design principles for risk-pooling systems.Nature human behaviour · 2021
    Review
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Metastasis and the evolution of dispersal.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019
    Article
  14. Review
  15. Ecological feedback on diffusion dynamics.Royal Society open science · 2019
    Article
  16. Intercellular competition and the inevitability of multicellular aging.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2017
    Article
  17. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Athena AktipisDepartment of Psychology Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity Center for Evolution and Medicine Biodesign Institute Arizona State University Tempe AZ USA; Center for Evolution and Cancer University of California San Francisco San Francisco CA USA.

Funding

Application of Evolutionary Principles to Maintain Cancer Control (PQ21)R01CA170595 · NCI · H. LEE MOFFITT CANCER CTR & RES INST · PI GATENBY, ROBERT A · 2012 to 2015
$2.1M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA170595
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

From cells to societies, several general principles arise again and again that facilitate cooperation and suppress conflict. In this study, I describe three general principles of cooperation and how they operate across systems including human sharing, cooperation in animal and insect societies and the massively large-scale cooperation that occurs in our multicellular bodies. The first principle is that of Walk Away: that cooperation is enhanced when individuals can leave uncooperative partners. The second principle is that resource sharing is often based on the need of the recipient (i.e., need-based transfers) rather than on strict account-keeping. And the last principle is that effective scaling up of cooperation requires increasingly sophisticated and costly cheater suppression mechanisms. By comparing how these principles operate across systems, we can better understand the constraints on cooperation. This can facilitate the discovery of novel ways to enhance cooperation and suppress cheating in its many forms, from social exploitation to cancer.

Indexed as

cancer suppressioncheater suppressionfood sharingkinshipneed‐based transfersWalk Away

Identifiers

PMID27087837
PMCPMC4780378

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.