If you are a cooperative animal you need to watch what you get. If you, or even a whole community, invest in something but then a few individuals receive a much larger return, it's not a good arrangement. If it happens consistently, it's time to look for an arrangement that is more beneficial. That's why we're so sensitive to how rewards are being divided.

People want to work with somebody who feels shame, who worries about the perceptions of others. Dishonesty is something we don't like in others.

The thinking is that we started evolving language not by speaking but by gesturing.

There's actually a lot of evidence in primates and other animals that they return favors.

Dogmatists have one advantage: they are poor listeners.

I think we need to start thinking about grounding our moral systems in our biology.

Armies are a purely human invention. Most soldiers who go to war nowadays don't even do it because they're inherently aggressive.