To scrounge or not to scrounge? Towards a unified theory of human food-sharing

To scrounge or not to scrounge? Towards a unified theory of human food-sharing | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article To scrounge or not to scrounge? Towards a unified theory of human food-sharing Marcos Paiva Pinheiro This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3645160/v2 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract While it is widely believed that human food-sharing behavior can be explained by the concurrent influence of tolerated scrounging, kin selection and reciprocal exchange, no theoretically unified set of predictions has ever been derived from these models. The present work develops such an integrated explanatory framework for the first time and shows that a pure scrounging equilibrium is the only evolutionarily stable outcome when the tolerated scrounging, kin selection and reciprocal exchange mechanisms simultaneously concur to determine food-sharing behavior. In the discussion section, I argue that the formal proof developed here invites extensive revision of theoretical claims put forward by evolutionary anthropologists in their study of human food sharing and cooperation. Cooperation Food Sharing Kin Selection Reciprocal Exchange Tolerated Scrounging Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 2 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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