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Published online 15 January 2002 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news020114-3
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Help for names' sakes
Shared names prompt good deeds.
When seeking help from a stranger, ask someone who shares your name: people are more likely to assist a namesake, an e-mail study has revealed1.
A shared name indicates two people are likely to share genes, so evolution may have taught us to be nice to our namesakes, suggests psychologist Margo Wilson who carried out the study at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
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