cooperation
n. a process whereby two or more individuals work together toward the attainment of a mutual goal or complementary goals. This contrasts with competition, in which an individual’s actions in working toward a goal lessen the likelihood of others achieving the same goal. In game theory, cooperation is regarded as the strategy that maximizes the rewards and minimizes the costs for all participants in the game; this is sometimes posited as an explanation for altruism. Studies of nonhuman animals often suggest cooperation, but whether animals understand that individuals must act together to reach a common solution or whether they act randomly and occasionally appear to cooperate by chance is still unclear. Often cooperation leads to outcomes, such as increased food, predator avoidance, or survival of kin, that make it adaptive (see adaptation), but the benefit to each individual is not always obvious. See also
animal cooperation. —cooperate
vb.
—cooperative
adj.