The effect is so powerful that selection for organisms has apparently produced mechanisms to suppress such events. Selection among cells can also operate in plants which have multiple growth points, The favored meristem can overwhelm other branches, but the outcome can be beneficial for the entire plant. Most adaptations are traditionally understood as features which benefit individual organisms. This view is probably true. Natural selection working on groups of close genetic relatives is called kin selection.
Animals sometimes behave in ways which benefit others at cost to themselves.
This phenomenon has been labelled altruistic behavior . Giving warning cries which help others to escape but attract a predator's attention to one's self. Much altruistic behavior can be explained by kin selection . Kin selection is a powerful concept for understanding the evolution of behavior in which the actions of one organism benefit other, related organisms. The basic idea of kin selection is that actions which benefit close relatives benefit copies of one's own genes.