For most of human history indirect reciprocity led to seemingly altruistic behavior, because humans lived in small groups where they depended on one another for survival throughout their lives and interacted with the same people throughout their life frequently. We explore the existence of seemingly altruistic behavior through different explanations. These explanations consist of inclusive fitness, reciprocal altruism, costly signaling theory and the show-off hypothesis, the tolerated theft

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... thesis, and indirect reciprocity. We then conducted a survey among members of a south Asian women's Facebook group who have attended college, to see whether participating in college organizations led to beneficial outcomes for those who were involved. We found a significant correlation between individuals who participated in college organizations and social status, compared to individuals who did not participate in college organizations. We also found a significant correlation between the amount of time that individuals spent in college organizations and the amount of social status that they had.