scholarly journals A review of David F. Bjorklund’s How Children Invented Humanity: The Role of Development in Human Evolution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farid Pazhoohi
Keyword(s):  
Human Evolution

Group Selection in the Evolution of Religion: Genetic Evolution or Cultural Evolution?

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 235-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor Davis
Keyword(s):  
Human Evolution ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Group Selection ◽  
Genetic Group ◽  
Genetic Evolution ◽  
Psychological Traits ◽  
Religious Psychology ◽  
Religious Evolution ◽  
The Relationship

In the scientific literature on religious evolution, two competing theories appeal to group selection to explain the relationship between religious belief and altruism, or costly, prosocial behavior. Both theories agree that group selection plays an important role in cultural evolution, affecting psychological traits that individuals acquire through social learning. They disagree, however, about whether group selection has also played a role in genetic evolution, affecting traits that are inherited genetically. Recently, Jonathan Haidt has defended the most fully developed account based on genetic group selection, and I argue here that problems with this account reveal good reasons to doubt that genetic group selection has played any important role in human evolution at all. Thus, considering the role of group selection in religious evolution is important not just because of what it reveals about religious psychology and religious evolution, but also because of what it reveals about the role of group selection in human evolution more generally.

Pregnancy as a Factor of Adaptive Human Evolution. The Role of Natural Selection in the Origin of Preeclampsia

2021 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
V. N. Serebrova ◽  
E. A. Trifonova ◽  
V. A. Stepanov
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Human Evolution

scholarly journals SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT OF LEADER - IS NECESSARY CONDITION OF HIS EVOLUTION

2021 ◽  
pp. 34-42
Author(s):  
Olexandr Romanovskiy ◽  
Valentyna Mykhaylychenko ◽  
Nina Semke
Keyword(s):  
Human Evolution ◽  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Future Leaders ◽  
Modern Era

the content of imposed on a person requirement of the modern era and the need for a new worldview are revealed. The content of the concepts “evolution” and “spirituality” is considered. The role of spirituality in human evolution and the formation of leaders’ worldview is shown. It was emphasized that leader’s worldview should be based on his broad humanitarian training, a new philosophy. The essence, approaches, methods of spiritual, moral and mental improvement and the role of the system of training, education and self-upbringing in the process of training future leaders are revealed.

Measuring Moros

2020 ◽  
pp. 65-87
Author(s):  
Michael C. Hawkins
Keyword(s):  
Human Evolution ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
World's Fair ◽  
The Real ◽  
Olympic Athletes ◽  
Double Function ◽  
Human Difference ◽  
Biological Development ◽  
Primary Measure

This chapter examines the role of Moro bodies in the quantification of humanity at the St. Louis World's Fair. Although Moro bodies were routinely quantified in a variety of contexts, the real measure of the Moros' physical prowess was to be established in a grand athletic spectacle known as “Anthropology Days.” With the 1904 Olympics as a backdrop, anthropologist William J. McGee hoped the Anthropology Days would provide an undeniable comparison between “savage” and “civilized” athletes, thus diminishing emphasis on biological development and endorsing culture and technology as the primary measure of human difference. Ultimately, the Moros' role in the quantification of humanity served an important double function. The “semi-civilized” Moros allowed for notions of Caucasian superiority while simultaneously offering an analogy of physical and cultural improvement for all people, thus affirming the efficacy of colonial tutelage and universal human potential. In this way, the Moros were embedded firmly within the central arch of human evolution rather than on its extremes. Unlike “savage” live exhibits or indeed the exceptional Olympic athletes, Moros were more akin to average American patrons.

Reconstructing the Role of Insects in the Diets of Early Hominins

2018 ◽  
pp. 90-108
Author(s):  
Julie J. Lesnik
Keyword(s):  
Human Evolution ◽  
Social Insects ◽  
Edible Insects ◽  
Fossil Evidence

Ultimately the goal of the book is to reconstruct the role of insects over the course of human evolution. The aforementioned behavioral accounts will be combined with fossil evidence to reconstruct past diets and determine the role fulfilled by edible insects. This first paleoanthropology chapter focuses on australopithecines, our early ancestors on the hominin lineage. For these reconstructions, the data presented in the chapter on primates are especially enlightening. Chimpanzees as well as other apes tend to specialize in social insects such as termites and ants, making it likely that our earliest ancestors benefited from this behavior as well.

Love, the Brain, and Becoming Human

2019 ◽  
pp. 44-71
Author(s):  
Riane Eisler
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Human Development ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
The Brain ◽  
The Continuum

This chapter introduces a new perspective on the role of love in human evolution and human development. The bonds of love, whether between parent and child, lovers, or close friends, may all have a common biological root, activating neurochemicals that make us feel good. Like other human capacities, such as consciousness, learning, and creativity, love has a long and fascinating evolutionary history. Indeed, the evolution of love appears to be integral to the development of our human brain and hence to much that distinguishes us from other species. Moreover, love plays a vital, though still largely unrecognized, role in human development, with evidence accumulating about the negative effects of love deprivation as well as the benefits of love. But whether or not our needs for meaning and love are met, and whether or not our capacities for creativity and love are expressed, are largely determined by the interaction of biology and culture—specifically, the degree to which a culture or subculture orients to the partnership or domination end of the continuum.

Is Language Necessary for the Social Transmission of Lithic Technology?

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dor Shilton
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Lithic Technology ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Social Transmission ◽  
Specific Function ◽  
Group Activities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theory Of Language

AbstractRecently, a growing number of studies have considered the role of language in the social transmission of tool-making skill during human evolution. In this article, I address this question in light of a new theory of language and its evolution, and review evidence from anthropology and experimental archaeology related to it. I argue that the specific function of language—the instruction of imagination—is not necessary for the social transmission of tool-making skill. Evidence from hunter-gatherer ethnographies suggests that social learning relies mainly on observation, participation, play, and experimentation. Ethnographies of traditional stone cultures likewise describe group activities with simple, context-bound interactions embedded in the here and now. Experiments comparing gestural and verbal teaching of tool-making skills also demonstrate that language is not necessary for that process. I conclude that there is no convincing evidence that language played an important role in the social transmission of lithic technology, although the possibility that linguistic instruction was involved as part of the social interactions accompanying tool-making cannot be excluded.

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