Mutual benefit can promote the evolution of preferential interactions and in this way can lead to the evolution of true altruism

We analyse the evolution of the assortment of encounters through active choice of companions among individuals that interact cooperatively in a situation of mutual benefit. Using a simple mathematical model, we show that mutual benefit can favour the evolution of a preference to interact with individuals that are similar to themselves with respect to an arbitrary tag even when both the preference and the tag depend on two independent and unlinked genes. Two necessary requisites to obtain this result are (i) a small population or a large subdivided metapulation and (ii) an asymmetry between partners in such a way that one of them (donor) proposes the cooperation and elects the partner, whereas the other (receiver) never rejects the offer. We also show that mutual benefit can be the starting point for the evolution of altruistic behaviours as long as there are preferential interactions. This requires that the tag used in the election of partners is the altruistic or selfish behaviour itself. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.