Kin Recognition
Kin recognition (kin detection) refers to an animal's potential ability to distinguish between close genetic kin and non-kin. In evolutionary biology and in psychology, such capabilities are presumed to have evolved to serve the adaptive function of inbreeding avoidance.
An additional adaptive function sometimes posited for kin recognition is its possible role in relation to kin selection. There is debate over this additional role, since in strict theoretical terms that it is not necessary for kin altruism or the cooperation that accompanies it. Additionally, in experimental results, active powers of recognition play a negligent role in mediating social cooperation relative to less elaborate cue-based mechanisms, such as familiarity, imprinting and phenotype matching. Nevertheless, much research has been produced investigating the possible role of kin recognition mechanisms in mediating altruism.
Because kin recognition is overwhelmingly cue-based, outcomes are non-deterministic in relation to actual genetic kinship. A well-known example is the Westermarck effect, in which unrelated individuals who spend their childhood in the same household find each other sexually unattractive. Similarly, due to the cue-based mechanisms that mediate social bonding and cooperation, unrelated individuals who grow up together in this way are also likely to demonstrate strong social and emotional ties, and enduring altruism (see nurture kinship).
Read more about Kin Recognition: Theoretical Background, Criticism, Evidence
Famous quotes containing the words kin and/or recognition:
“D--n me, stranger, ef you can’t stay as long as you please, and I’ll give you plenty to eat and drink. Play away, stranger, you kin sleep on the dry spot tonight!”
—Administration in the State of Arka, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Productive collaborations between family and school, therefore, will demand that parents and teachers recognize the critical importance of each other’s participation in the life of the child. This mutuality of knowledge, understanding, and empathy comes not only with a recognition of the child as the central purpose for the collaboration but also with a recognition of the need to maintain roles and relationships with children that are comprehensive, dynamic, and differentiated.”
—Sara Lawrence Lightfoot (20th century)