Altruism, Group Selection and Correlated Interaction

Group selection is one acknowledged mechanism for the evolution of altruism. It is well known that for altruism to spread by natural selection, interactions must be correlated; that is, altruists must tend to associate with one another. But does group selection itself require correlated interactions? Two possible arguments for answering this question affirmatively are explored. The first is a bad argument, for it rests on a product/process confusion. The second is a more subtle argument, whose validity (or otherwise) turns on issues concerning the meaning of multi-level selection and how it should be modelled. A cautious defence of the second argument is offered. 1. Introduction 2. Multi-level selection and the evolution of altruism 3. Price's equation and multi-level selection 4. Contextual analysis and multi-level selection 5. The neighbour approach 6. Recapitulation and conclusion