Chemical recognition cues are used to discriminate among species, con-specifics, and potentially between patrilines in social insect colonies. There is an ongoing debate about the possible persistence of patriline cues despite evidence for the mixing of colony odors via a "gestalt" mechanism in social insects, because patriline recognition could lead to nepotism. We analyzed the variation in re...

Personal connections between creators and evaluators of scientific works are ubiquitous, and the possibility of bias ever-present. Although connections have been shown to bias prospective judgments of (uncertain) future performance, it is unknown whether such biases occur in the much more concrete task of assessing the scientific validity of already completed work, and if so, why. This study pr...

The decision to engage in corruption-public and private corruption, nepotism, and embezzlement-is often attributed to rational actors maximizing benefits to themselves. However, the importance of reciprocal relationships in humans suggests that an actor may weigh the costs of harms of her corrupt behavior to individuals who may generate future benefits for her. We hypothesize that actors who ha...

Kin recognition is a key mechanism to direct social behaviours towards related individuals or avoid inbreeding depression. In insects, recognition is generally mediated by cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) compounds, which are partly inherited from parents. However, in social insects, potential nepotistic conflicts between group members from different patrilines are predicted to select against the ex...

The assessment of relatedness may be crucial in the evolution of socio-sexual behaviour, because it can be associated with fitness benefits mediated by both nepotism and inbreeding avoidance. In this context, one proposed mechanism for kin recognition is 'phenotype matching'; animals might compare phenotypic similarities between themselves and others in order to assess the probability that they...

We study how personal relations affect performance in organizations. In the experimental game we use a manager has to assign different degrees of decision power to two employees. These two employees then have to make distributive decisions which affect themselves and the manager. Our focus is on the effects on managers’ assignment of decision power and on employees’ distributive decisions of on...

Kin recognition (KR) is the ability to identify or distinguish kin from nonkin, and it is thought to be an important driving force in the evolution of social and sexual behaviour. Here, we provide an introduction to KR, including an overview of the main debates, the underlying mechanisms and evolutionary analyses. First, we examine the many evolving definitions for KR, as these have caused some...

The logic of inclusive fitness suggests that people should be attentive to the mating relationships of their kin—especially their genetically closest kin. This logic further suggests that people will be especially attentive to close kin members' relationships when a greater indirect fitness benefit is at stake. Three studies tested implications of this analysis. The primary results were that (a...

Failure of the behavioral sciences to develop an adequate general theory is seen a s a result of the difficulty in deriving from evolutionary theory a subtheory, or set of subtheories, with satisfying applicability to the study of behavior. Efforts a t general theories based on reflex concepts, or simple movements such as in orientation, have been unsuccessful in dealing with complex behaviors....

Indonesia is one of the countries that has carried out personnel reform by implementing open recruitment and selection for Primary High Leadership Positions (JPT) which are currently being openly using a merit system. The National Archives Republic as non-ministerial government institution also implemented this policy in conducting purpose study to analyze how implementation problems with filli...