The Evolution of Teamwork , Cooperation and Risk

Our aims in this chapter are twofold. First, we place teamwork in the context of the evolutionary analysis of cooperation and altruism. This allows us to predict the evolutionary scenarios likely to have favoured the evolution of team work, the likely origins of human teamwork and the biases to be predicted in team thinking. Second, we examine the influences of environmental risk – conceptualized as both environmental adversity and uncertainty on cooperation in the organic world and describe a new model to explain these influences. We conclude by drawing conclusions about the role of environmental risk in the emergence of human cooperation and teamwork.