Editing Kin selection (section)

=== Viscous populations ===

Secondly, indiscriminate altruism may be favoured in "viscous" populations, those with low rates or short ranges of dispersal. Here, social partners are typically related, and so altruism can be selective advantageous without the need for kin recognition and kin discrimination faculties—spatial proximity, together with limited dispersal, ensures that social interactions are more often with related individuals. This suggests a rather general explanation for altruism. Directional selection always favours those with higher rates of [[fecundity]] within a certain population. Social individuals can often enhance the survival of their own kin by participating in and following the rules of their own group.<ref name="Hamilton 1964 1–16"/>

Hamilton later modified his thinking to suggest that an innate ability to recognise actual genetic relatedness was unlikely to be the dominant mediating mechanism for kin altruism:<ref name="H1987">{{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=W. D. |author-link=W. D. Hamilton |date=1987 |chapter=Discriminating Nepotism: Expectable, Common and Overlooked |title=Kin Recognition in Animals |editor1-first=D. J. C. |editor1-last=Fletcher |editor2-first=C. D. |editor2-last=Michener |location=New York |publisher=Wiley |page=425}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|But once again, we do not expect anything describable as an innate kin recognition adaptation, used for social behaviour other than mating, for the reasons already given in the hypothetical case of the trees.}}

Hamilton's later clarifications often go unnoticed. [[Stuart West]] and colleagues have countered the long-standing assumption that kin selection requires innate powers of kin recognition.<ref name="West et al 2011">{{cite journal |last1=West |first1=Stuart A. |author1-link=Stuart West |last2=El Mouden |first2=Claire |last3=Gardner |first3=Andy |year=2011 |title=Sixteen common misconceptions about the evolution of cooperation in humans |journal=Evolution and Social Behaviour |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=231–262 |citeseerx=10.1.1.188.3318 |doi=10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.08.001|bibcode=2011EHumB..32..231W }}</ref> Another doubtful assumption is that social cooperation must be based on limited dispersal and shared developmental context. Such ideas have obscured the progress made in applying kin selection to species including humans, on the basis of cue-based mediation of [[Social bonding and nurture kinship|social bonding and social behaviours]].<ref>[https://ssrn.com/abstract=1791365 Holland, Maximilian. (2004) ''Social Bonding and Nurture Kinship: Compatibility between Cultural and Biological Approaches''. London School of Economics, PhD Thesis]</ref><ref name="SBNK">Holland, Maximilian. (2012) [[Social Bonding and Nurture Kinship|''Social Bonding and Nurture Kinship: Compatibility between Cultural and Biological Approaches'']]. North Charleston: Createspace Press.</ref>