scholarly journals Processing power limits social group size: computational evidence for the cognitive costs of sociality

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1765) ◽  
pp. 20131151 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Dávid-Barrett ◽  
R. I. M. Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Communication Complexity ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Coordination Problem ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Processing Power ◽  
The Social ◽  
Power Limits ◽  
The Cost

Sociality is primarily a coordination problem. However, the social (or communication) complexity hypothesis suggests that the kinds of information that can be acquired and processed may limit the size and/or complexity of social groups that a species can maintain. We use an agent-based model to test the hypothesis that the complexity of information processed influences the computational demands involved. We show that successive increases in the kinds of information processed allow organisms to break through the glass ceilings that otherwise limit the size of social groups: larger groups can only be achieved at the cost of more sophisticated kinds of information processing that are disadvantageous when optimal group size is small. These results simultaneously support both the social brain and the social complexity hypotheses.

Irregular immigration: economic convenience and other factors

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 557-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Ambrosini
Keyword(s):  
Trade Unions ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
Hidden Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ethnic Economies ◽  
Principal Tool ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Cost

This article illustrates the factors leading to the entry of irregular immigrants and their integration into the labour market, that is to say: the economic convenience for both businesses and families of employing unauthorised manpower; the support from compatriot networks and ethnic economies; the embedded liberalism within democratic states' legal systems; the cost and organisational difficulty of controls and expulsion; and the part played by solidarity providers in civil society, including trade unions. Repeated mass amnesties especially in southern Europe, periodically regularise the situation of these migrants and function as the principal tool of migration policy. To this extent, the irregular immigrant appears to be a transitional figure, awaiting recognition and destined to obtain authorisation sooner or later. Trade unions are one of the social groups pushing for the enactment of regularisation measures. In this way they are asserting their attachment to the ideals of justice and solidarity, while at the same time combating the unfair competition which the hidden economy poses to law-abiding companies and declared workers.

scholarly journals Assessing sources of error in comparative analyses of primate behavior: Intraspecific variation in group size and the social brain hypothesis

2016 ◽  
Vol 94 ◽  
pp. 126-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron A. Sandel ◽  
Jordan A. Miller ◽  
John C. Mitani ◽  
Charles L. Nunn ◽  
Samantha K. Patterson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Intraspecific Variation ◽  
Primate Behavior ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Comparative Analyses ◽  
Sources Of Error ◽  
The Social

scholarly journals When Individuals Do Not Stop at the Skin

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Barnard
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Group Size ◽  
Collective Consciousness ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Three Phases

This chapter examines contemporary hunter-gatherer societies in Africa and elsewhere in light of the social brain and the distributed mind hypotheses. One question asked is whether African hunter-gatherers offer the best model for societies at the dawn of symbolic culture, or whether societies elsewhere offer better models. The chapter argues for the former. Theoretical concepts touched on include sharing and exchange, universal kin classification, and the relation between group size and social networks. The chapter offers reinterpretations of classic anthropological notions such as Wissler's age-area hypothesis, Durkheim's collective consciousness and Lévi-Strauss's elementary structures of kinship. Finally, the chapter outlines a theory of the co-evolution of language and kinship through three phases (signifying, syntactic and symbolic) and the subsequent breakdown of the principles of the symbolic phase across much of the globe in Neolithic times.

Optimized E-Government User Support Allocation and Its Influence on Citizens’ Adoption of E-Government

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang Chang ◽  
Manabu Ichikawa ◽  
Hiroshi Deguchi
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Allocation ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Adoption Rate ◽  
User Support ◽  
Multi Objective Genetic Algorithm ◽  
The Social ◽  
Meaningful Research

In recent decades, E-government systems have been developed and deployed to provide more efficient, effective and transparent public services. However the citizen adoption rate is still relatively low. In order to encourage more citizens to utilize E-government services, there are many kinds of user support provided, though the effectiveness might vary among different social groups. Due to limited resources, if the authors allocate more resources to social groups who are not favoured by E-government service, it is very possible that in turn other social groups will not be satisfied and thus further influences the adoption rate. Therefore how to allocate the limited resources in an optimized way such that all the social groups are satisfied is a challenging and meaningful research problem. In this work they aim at resolving those conflicted objectives and achieving a Pareto optimal allocation of the resources among different social groups by using agent based approach with multi-objective genetic algorithm.

scholarly journals Religion, the social brain and the mystical stance

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-62
Author(s):  
RIM Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
Problem Analysis ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
World Religions ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Utopian Communities ◽  
Evolution Of Religion ◽  
Two Stages

This article explores the implications of the social brain and the endorphin-based bonding mechanism that underpins it for the evolution of religion. I argue that religion evolved as one of the behavioural mechanisms designed to facilitate community bonding when humans first evolved the larger social groups of ~150 that now characterise our species. This is not a matter of facilitating cooperation, but of engineering social cohesion – a very different problem. Analysis of the size of C19th utopian communities suggests that a religious basis both allowed larger groups to form and greatly enhanced their longevity. I suggest that religion evolved in two stages: an early immersive form with no formal structure based on trance-dancing (a form still evident in the rituals and practices of many hunter-gatherers) and a later form which had more formal structures and gave rise to our modern doctrinal religions. I argue that the modern doctrinal religions did not replace ancestral immersive religions but rather that the doctrinal component was overlaid on the ancient immersive form, thereby giving rise to the mystical stance that underlies all world religions. I suggest that it is this mystical stance that causes the constant upwelling of cults and sects within world religions.

scholarly journals Estimating cost-benefit of quarantine length for COVID-19 mitigation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Eilersen ◽  
Kim Sneppen
Keyword(s):  
Short Duration ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Relative Effect ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
The Cost

ABSTRACTBackgroundThe international community has been put in an unprecedented situation by the COVID-19 pandemic. Creating models to describe and quantify alternative mitigation strategies becomes increasingly urgent.MethodsIn this study, we propose an agent-based model of disease transmission in a society divided into closely connected families, workplaces, and social groups. This allows us to discuss mitigation strategies, including targeted quarantine measures.ResultsWe find that workplace and more diffuse social contacts are roughly equally important to disease spread, and that an effective lockdown must target both. We examine the cost-benefit of replacing a lockdown with tracing and quarantining contacts of the infected. Quarantine can contribute substantially to mitigation, even if it has short duration and is done within households. When reopening society, testing and quarantining is a strategy that is much cheaper in terms of lost workdays than a long lockdown of workplaces.ConclusionsA targeted quarantine strategy is quite efficient with only 5 days of quarantine, and its relative effect increases when supplemented with other measures that reduce disease transmission.

Cliques, Coalitions, Comrades and Colleagues: Sources of Cohesion in Groups

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Arrow
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Marginal Cost ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Emotional Bonds ◽  
The Social ◽  
Interpersonal Ties

Cohesion may be based primarily on interpersonal ties or rely instead on the connection between member and group, while groups may cohere temporarily based on the immediate alignment of interests among members or may be tied together more permanently by socio-emotional bonds. Together, these characteristics define four prototypical group types. Cliques and coalitions are based primarily on dyadic ties. Groups of comrades or colleagues rely instead on the connection of members to the group for cohesion, which reduces the marginal cost of increasing group size. The strong glue of socio-emotional cohesion binds cliques and comrades, while coalitions and groups of colleagues are often based on weaker forms of cohesion. The mix of strong and weak adhesives and the greater scalability offered by the member-group bond provide the building blocks for assembling very large societies without overtaxing the social brain.

The Social Brain Hypothesis and Human Evolution

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin I. M. Dunbar
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Behavioral Complexity ◽  
Cognitive Component ◽  
Hominin Evolution ◽  
The Social ◽  
Primate Sociality

Primate societies are unusually complex compared to those of other animals, and the need to manage such complexity is the main explanation for the fact that primates have unusually large brains. Primate sociality is based on bonded relationships that underpin coalitions, which in turn are designed to buffer individuals against the social stresses of living in large, stable groups. This is reflected in a correlation between social group size and neocortex size in primates (but not other species of animals), commonly known as the social brain hypothesis, although this relationship itself is the outcome of an underlying relationship between brain size and behavioral complexity. The relationship between brain size and group size is mediated, in humans at least, by mentalizing skills. Neuropsychologically, these are all associated with the size of units within the theory of mind network (linking prefrontal cortex and temporal lobe units). In addition, primate sociality involves a dual-process mechanism whereby the endorphin system provides a psychopharmacological platform off which the cognitive component is then built. This article considers the implications of these findings for the evolution of human cognition over the course of hominin evolution.

The Social Brain

Neuro ◽  
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas Rose ◽  
Joelle M. Abi-Rached
Keyword(s):  
Brain Size ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Mental Life ◽  
Orbital Frontal Cortex ◽  
Social Brain ◽  
Form Of Life ◽  
The Social

This chapter looks at the social brain hypothesis. The term social brain has come to stand for the argument that the human brain, and indeed that of some other animals, is specialized for a collective form of life. One part of this argument is evolutionary: that the size and complexity of the brains of primates, including humans, are related to the size and complexity of their characteristic social groups. However, the social brain hypothesis is more than a general account of the role of brain size: for in this thesis, the capacities for sociality are neurally located in a specific set of brain regions shaped by evolution, notably the amygdala, orbital frontal cortex, and temporal cortex—regions that have the function of facilitating an understanding of what one might call the “mental life” of others.

scholarly journals Cost–benefit of limited isolation and testing in COVID-19 mitigation

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Eilersen ◽  
Kim Sneppen
Keyword(s):  
Short Duration ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
Agent Based Model ◽  
Social Contacts ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
The Cost

Abstract The international community has been put in an unprecedented situation by the COVID-19 pandemic. Creating models to describe and quantify alternative mitigation strategies becomes increasingly urgent. In this study, we propose an agent-based model of disease transmission in a society divided into closely connected families, workplaces, and social groups. This allows us to discuss mitigation strategies, including targeted quarantine measures. We find that workplace and more diffuse social contacts are roughly equally important to disease spread, and that an effective lockdown must target both. We examine the cost–benefit of replacing a lockdown with tracing and quarantining contacts of the infected. Quarantine can contribute substantially to mitigation, even if it has short duration and is done within households. When reopening society, testing and quarantining is a strategy that is much cheaper in terms of lost workdays than a long lockdown. A targeted quarantine strategy is quite efficient with only 5 days of quarantine, and its effect increases when testing is more widespread.

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