The Biology of Prosocial Behavior
The Biology of Prosocial Behavior
The Swiss science and technology consulate in Boston and the University of Zurich Research Priority Program on the Foundations of Human Social Behavior (Professor Ernst Fehr) teamed up to organize a workshop on the Biology of Prosocial Behavior. The event was part of ThinkSwiss - an US-wide program on education, research and innovation.
The goal of this one-day conference was to explore the biological basis of prosociality in animals and humans. The main purpose was to connect multiple research communities of psychology, social sciences, economics, biology and other fields. 35 researches attended the workshop. Some participants traveled far to join this conference at SHARE Boston, from Australia, Germany, Sweden, Israel and Switzerland. The full report about the workshop can be downloaded as pdf by clicking on this link: Report on the Biology of Prosocial Behavior.
For each of the chosen topics, we had invited an animal researcher who discussed discussed the most recent findings in his or her field with a corresponding human researcher. The four topics and speakers were:
Other-regarding Preferences and Behaviors
Animal Research: Marc Hauser, Harvard University
Human Research: Ernst Fehr, University of Zurich
Evolutionary Biology of Altruism and Prosociality
Individual Selection & Altruism: Martin Nowak, Harvard University
Group Selection & Altruism: Sam Bowles, Santa Fe Institute
Attachment and Bonding
Animal Research: Larry Young, Emory University
Human Research: Markus Heinrichs, University of Zurich
Empathy
Animal Research: Jeffrey Mogil, McGill University
Human Research: Tania Singer, University of Zurich
The workshop got a very good response from the media. Dr. Gilbert Chan of Science and Dr. Rory Howlett of Nature both attended the workshop. Dr. Joerg Blech (Boston correspondent of DER SPIEGEL) participated as well.
This very successful conference continued the discussion of the biannual World Knowledge Dialogue Symposium to bridge the gap between the natural and the human/social sciences.
This event deserves special thanks to Alice "Sally" Gschwend (secretary to Professor Fehr) and Andreas "Andy" Obrist (part-time intern at SHARE). The workshop was organized by Remo Steinmetz and Pascal Marmier.
