Animal behavior is often altruistic. In the frame of the theory of natural selection, altruism can only exist under specific conditions like kin selection or reciprocal cooperation. We show that reciprocal cooperation, which is generally invoked to explain non-kin altruism, requires very restrictive conditions to be stable. Some of these conditions are not met in many cases of altruism observed...

This paper examines the structural distinctions made in contemporary ego state theory. Freud consciously avoided placing boundaries between the superego, ego and id, whilst Berne openly attacked the problem of concretely delineating the three psychic subsystems. As this paper unfolds it will become apparent that descriptively Berne achieved success, yet structurally he had major problems. INTRO...

Caenorhabditis elegans EGO-1, a putative cellular RNA-directed RNA polymerase, promotes several aspects of germline development, including proliferation, meiosis, and gametogenesis, and ensures a robust response to RNA interference. In C. elegans, GLP-1/Notch signaling from the somatic gonad maintains a population of proliferating germ cells, while entry of germ cells into meiosis is triggered ...

ABSTRACT For this project, we look at network properties of ego networks in a email network from a research lab. Due to the nature of the email network, most of the ego networks have a star-like structure. After the removal of the ego, there is one large connected component that roughly corresponds to email addresses within the lab, and isolated nodes corresponding to the external addresses. We...

Evolutionary theorists have long been interested in the conditions that permit the evolution of altruistic cooperation. Recent work has demonstrated that altruistic donation can evolve in surprisingly simple models, in which agents base their decisions to donate solely on the similarity of evolved "tags" relative to evolved tag-difference tolerances. There is disagreement, however, about the co...

The purpose of this study was to identify personality characteristics associated with kin altruism and reciprocal altruism, and to relate those characteristics to the Big Five personality dimensions. We hypothesized that traits such as empathy and attachment mainly facilitate kin altruism, and that traits such as forgiveness and non-retaliation mainly facilitate reciprocal altruism. Self-report...

The author investigated whether interpersonal cognition mediated the relationships between defense, social sensitivity, and ego development. Participants (N = 616; M age = 15.66 years, SD = .52 year; 276 boys) from northwestern Taiwan completed a battery of questionnaires. Structural equation modeling and mediation analyses supported the hypothesis that interpersonal cognition would mediate the...

The altruism of insect workers has puzzled researchers for decades. Inclusive fitness theory suggests that high relatedness has been key in promoting such altruism. Recent theory, however, indicates that the intermediate levels of relatedness found within insect societies are too low to directly cause the extreme altruism observed in many species. Instead, recent results show that workers are f...

Social sustainability of teacher communities addresses the risk isolation and low vitality. Blended professional learning networks (B-PLNs) providing online face-to-face collegial are booming in Web 2.0 era to support teachers face various challenges. So far, what is lacking a thorough investigation into process where break isolation, regain their energy, sustain life B-PLNs. The purpose this c...