Kin selection suggests that helping behaviors are favored by which process?

Kin selection is a key concept in social psychology and evolutionary biology that emphasizes the importance of genetic relationships in the evolution of altruistic behaviors. The theory posits that individuals are more likely to exhibit helping behaviors towards their relatives due to the shared genetic material between them.

Natural selection favors individuals who engage in behaviors that increase the survival and reproductive success of their genetic relatives. This means that by helping relatives survive, individuals essentially increase the chances of their own genes being passed on to future generations. Hence, acts of altruism, such as taking risks to help a sibling or a parent, can enhance the propagation of shared genes in the population.

This understanding indicates that the underlying mechanism driving the evolution of such helping behaviors is the genetic relationship between individuals, whereby helping relatives can indirectly benefit the helper’s own genetic legacy. Therefore, the notion that natural selection favors genetic relatives accurately encapsulates the essence of kin selection.