ABSTRACT
Is human nature cooperative?
Man is often said to be a social animal – but what does that mean? Michael Argyle believed that one of the most important components – our capacity to cooperate – had been overlooked and indeed that the whole notion of cooperation had not been properly understood.
In this book, originally published in 1991, the author showed he was critical of earlier approaches, and put forward a new and extended understanding of what cooperation consists of, showing the form it took in different relationships and its origins in evolution and socialisation. He offered new solutions to intergroup and other social problems and took a new look at language and communication as a cooperative enterprise.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|44 pages
The study of cooperation
part 2|61 pages
The origins of cooperation
part 3|63 pages
Cooperation in different relationships
part 4|78 pages
Personality and social interaction