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How Did Altruism Evolve?
Season 3 · Episode 2

How Did Altruism Evolve?

If evolution favors the "survival of the fittest," where did the impulse to help others come from? Host Janna Levin speaks with Stephanie Preston, a neuropsychologist who studies the biology of altruism.

The Joy of Why · Steven Strogatz, Janna Levin and Quanta Magazine

February 15, 202434m 22s

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Show Notes

We often talk about evolution as the survival of the fittest. But if it is, then where did the widespread (and widely admired) impulse to help others even at great cost to ourselves come from? In this episode, host Janna Levin speaks with Stephanie Preston, a professor of psychology and head of the Ecological Neuroscience Lab at the University of Michigan, about the evolutionary, neurological and behavioral foundations for altruism.