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What is altruism? What is affiliation? What roles do these behaviors play?

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Final answer:

Altruism is a pure form of helping others out of empathy, while affiliation refers to forming relationships with others. Altruistic behaviors can provide evolutionary advantages by increasing the fitness of another individual at a cost to the altruistic individual’s own fitness.

Step-by-step explanation:

Altruism is a pure form of helping others out of empathy, which can be contrasted with egoistic motivations for helping. Affiliation refers to forming relationships with others, and it is a necessity for social beings. Altruistic behaviors, such as those seen in social insects and mammals, can provide evolutionary advantages by increasing the fitness of another individual even at a cost to the altruistic individual’s own fitness. These behaviors may be driven by genetic relatedness, where individuals sacrifice for the benefit of their genetic relatives.

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