Empathy is the secret ingredient that makes cooperation – and civilization – possible

Society is shaped by humans' unique capacity to take on another person's perspective - which might be the reason why modern societies have such extraordinary levels of cooperation. Writing for the Conversation, Arunas L. Radzvilavicius, a Postdoctoral Researcher of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Pennsylvania explains that social norms can shed light on why people display altruistic behaviour. Humans are far more likely to be kind to individuals they see as'good', than they are to people of'bad' reputation. But, he says, if everyone agrees that being altruistic toward other cooperators earns you a good reputation, cooperation will persist. A person who appears'good' to someone might seem like a bad individual from another person's perspective.