James A. Little Theater
Community Event
  US Mountain Time

Friendship: An Evolutionary Puzzle

Dan Hruschka, Assistant Professor, Anthropology, Arizona State University; author Friendship:  Development, Ecology and Evolution of a Relationship, SFI Omidyar Fellow Alumnus. 

Friends sacrifice for one another with little concern for past behavior or consequences. Such unconditional helping provides an important buffer against hardship. But it also poses an evolutionary puzzle. How have people managed to benefit from selfless aid while avoiding exploitation by false friends? Dan Hruschka searches for clues by looking to the origins of human friendship - how it develops, how it varies across human cultures, and how it relates to social ties in other species. 

Sponsored in memory of Kate Klein, from the Kate Klein fund at the Santa Fe Community Foundation

Purpose: 
Community Event
SFI Host: 
Ginger Richardson