Social Behaviour
Social organisation, dominance, cooperative behaviour, kin selection, altruism and reciprocal cooperation.
How to study Higher Biology
Move from accurate biological mechanisms to unfamiliar data, experimental evidence and justified conclusions. Use current official materials for the written, extended-response and controlled-assignment formats that this question bank does not reproduce.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Evaluate how social organisation can improve access to food, mates, protection and care.
Exam cue: Evaluate how social organisation can improve access to food, mates, protection and care.
Concept 2
Use relatedness and inclusive fitness to explain kin-selected altruism.
Exam cue: Use relatedness and inclusive fitness to explain kin-selected altruism.
Concept 3
Explain reciprocal cooperation using repeated interactions, costs, benefits and detection of non-cooperators.
Exam cue: Explain reciprocal cooperation using repeated interactions, costs, benefits and detection of non-cooperators.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Altruistic behaviour reduces the actor’s direct fitness in the immediate interaction.
Guardrail: Check vocabulary, sequence, direction, compartment, units and whether the evidence supports causation or only an association.
Kin selection depends on shared genes and benefit, not simply group membership.
Guardrail: Check vocabulary, sequence, direction, compartment, units and whether the evidence supports causation or only an association.
Memory anchors
Kin selection
Helping relatives can pass shared alleles onward.
Reciprocity
Help can persist when partners meet again and cheaters are detected.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
What is one benefit of a stable social hierarchy?
Why can co-operative hunting increase food intake?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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