kin selection

American  

noun

Biology.

1. a form of natural selection that favors altruistic behavior toward close relatives resulting in an increase in the altruistic individual's genetic contribution to the next generation.

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kin selection British  

noun

1. biology natural selection resulting from altruistic behaviour by animals towards members of the same species, esp their offspring or other relatives

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Example Sentences

This phenomenon, in which one member of a species forgoes its own chance to reproduce so that another can, is called kin selection.

From Science Magazine • Sep. 21, 2023

“Everybody is chasing the same goal, and kin selection gives them incentives” Dr. Creel said.

From New York Times • Jun. 20, 2022

The theory of kin selection holds that helping relatives can improve an individual’s evolutionary fitness because related individuals share a large proportion of their genes.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2018

The biologist William D. Hamilton made an end run around this problem in 1964 by invoking a strategy that Maynard Smith had called kin selection.

From Scientific American • Jul. 17, 2017

Afterward, there was a firestorm of criticism and an unprecedented joint letter to the journal Nature—signed by 137 scientists—supporting the utility of kin selection theory.

From Slate • Apr. 3, 2014