Why do humans cooperate and live in groups?

Cooperation is really important to human survival!  Our ability to cooperate is what allows us to live in big groups. When we live in groups, we can work together. We divide up tasks so that different people can get really good at different things and do them better and more quickly. When everyone is working on different things they can get more done. So cooperating with each other has allowed humans to build cities, make more complex technology, and cure disease. 

 

Cooperation is built into who we are as humans and our ability to work with and care for people who aren’t related to us is part of what makes us special as a species. So, we cooperate because we have evolved to cooperate and we evolved to cooperate because together we can do more than anyone could ever accomplish alone.