scholarly journals Male cooperation for breeding opportunities contributes to the evolution of multilevel societies

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1863) ◽  
pp. 20171480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Guang Qi ◽  
Kang Huang ◽  
Gu Fang ◽  
Cyril C. Grueter ◽  
Derek W. Dunn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Satellite Telemetry ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Phylogenetic Reconstructions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Social Evolution ◽  
Male Bonds ◽  
Multilevel Societies ◽  
Insight Into

A small number of primate species including snub-nosed monkeys (colobines), geladas (papionins) and humans live in multilevel societies (MLSs), in which multiple one-male polygamous units (OMUs) coexist to form a band, and non-breeding males associate in bachelor groups. Phylogenetic reconstructions indicate that the papionin MLS appears to have evolved through internal fissioning of large mixed-sex groups, whereas the colobine MLS evolved through the aggregation of small, isolated OMUs. However, how agonistic males maintain tolerance under intensive competition over limited breeding opportunities remains unclear. Using a combination of behavioural analysis, satellite telemetry and genetic data, we quantified the social network of males in a bachelor group of golden snub-nosed monkeys. The results show a strong effect of kinship on social bonds among bachelors. Their interactions ranged from cooperation to agonism, and were regulated by access to mating partners. We suggest that an ‘arms race’ between breeding males' collective defence against usurpation attempts by bachelor males and bachelor males' aggregative offence to obtain reproductive opportunities has selected for larger group size on both sides. The results provide insight into the role that kin selection plays in shaping inter-male cohesion which facilities the evolution of multilevel societies. These findings have implications for understanding human social evolution, as male–male bonds are a hallmark of small- and large-scale human societies.

New research frameworks in the study of chimpanzee and gorilla sociality and communication

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam G. B. Roberts ◽  
Anna Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Social Evolution ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Social Evolution ◽  
Research Frameworks ◽  
New Research ◽  
Large Groups

Group size in primates is strongly correlated with brain size, but exactly what makes larger groups more ‘socially complex’ than smaller groups is still poorly understood. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) are among our closest living relatives and are excellent model species to investigate patterns of sociality and social complexity in primates, and to inform models of human social evolution. The aim of this paper is to propose new research frameworks, particularly the use of social network analysis, to examine how social structure differs in small, medium and large groups of chimpanzees and gorillas, to explore what makes larger groups more socially complex than smaller groups. Given a fission-fusion system is likely to have characterised hominins, a comparison of the social complexity involved in fission-fusion and more stable social systems is likely to provide important new insights into human social evolution

Dream-Sharing and Human Self-Domestication

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Blagrove ◽  
Julia Lockheart
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
The Social ◽  
Primary Driver ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Human Social Evolution ◽  
Dream Sharing ◽  
Experimental Findings

There are many theories of the function of dreams, such as memory consolidation, emotion processing, threat simulation and social simulation. In general, such theories hold that the function of dreams occurs within sleep; occurs for unrecalled dreams as well as for dream that are recalled on awakening; and that conscious recall of dreams is not necessary for their function to occur. In contrast, we propose that dreams have an effect of enhancing empathy and group bonding when dreams are shared and discussed with others. We propose also that this effect would have occurred in history and pre-history and, as it would have enhanced the cohesiveness and mutual understanding of group members, the fictional and engaging characteristics of dream content would have been selected for during human social evolution, interacting with cultural practices of dream-sharing. Such dream-sharing may have taken advantage of the long REM periods that occur for biological reasons near the end of the night. Dream-production and dream-sharing may have developed alongside story-telling, utilising common neural mechanisms. Dream-sharing hence would have contributed to Human Self-Domestication, held by many researchers to be the primary driver of the evolution of human prosociality, tolerance and reduced intragroup emotional reactivity. We note that within-sleep theories of dream function rely on correlational rather than experimental findings, and have as yet untested and speculative mechanisms, whereas post-sleep effects of dream-sharing are easily testable and have mechanisms congruent with the social processes proposed by the theory of Human Self-Domestication.

The cognitive science of souls: Clarifications and extensions of the evolutionary model

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 486-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse M. Bering
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Intelligent Design ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Model ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Cognitive System ◽  
Symbolic Meaning ◽  
Human Social Evolution ◽  
Insight Into

The commentaries are a promising sign that a research programme on the cognitive science of souls will continue to move toward empirical and theoretical rigor. Most of the commentators agree that beliefs in personal immortality, in the intelligent design of souls, and in the symbolic meaning of natural events can provide new insight into human social evolution. In this response I clarify and extend the evolutionary model, further emphasizing the adaptiveness of the cognitive system that underlies these beliefs.

scholarly journals Behavioural homogenization with spillovers in a normative domain

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1879) ◽  
pp. 20180492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Efferson ◽  
Sonja Vogt
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Decision Maker ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Social Condition ◽  
Short Film ◽  
Combined Effects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Social Evolution ◽  
Self Consistency

The importance of culture for human social evolution hinges largely on the extent to which culture supports outcomes that would not otherwise occur. An especially controversial claim is that social learning leads groups to coalesce around group-typical behaviours and associated social norms that spill over to shape choices in asocial settings. To test this, we conducted an experiment with 878 groups of participants in 116 communities in Sudan. Participants watched a short film and evaluated the appropriate way to behave in the situation dramatized in the film. Each session consisted of an asocial condition in which participants provided private evaluations and a social condition in which they provided public evaluations. Public evaluations allowed for social learning. Across sessions, we randomized the order of the two conditions. Public choices dramatically increased the homogeneity of normative evaluations. When the social condition was first, this homogenizing effect spilled over to subsequent asocial conditions. The asocial condition when first was thus alone in producing distinctly heterogeneous groups. Altogether, information about the choices of others led participants to converge rapidly on similar normative evaluations that continued to hold sway in subsequent asocial settings. These spillovers were at least partly owing to the combined effects of conformity and self-consistency. Conformity dominated self-consistency when the two mechanisms were in conflict, but self-consistency otherwise produced choices that persisted through time. Additionally, the tendency to conform was heterogeneous. Females conformed more than males, and conformity increased with the number of other people a decision-maker observed before making her own choice.

Human Social Evolution: A Comparison of Hunter-gatherer and Chimpanzee Social Organization

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Layton ◽  
Sean O'Hara
Keyword(s):  
Social Evolution ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Social Unit ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Social Evolution ◽  
Similar Body ◽  
Human Foraging ◽  
Lower Population

This chapter compares the social behaviour of human hunter-gatherers with that of the better-studied chimpanzee species, Pan troglodytes, in an attempt to pinpoint the unique features of human social evolution. Although hunter-gatherers and chimpanzees living in central Africa have similar body weights, humans live at much lower population densities due to their greater dependence on predation. Human foraging parties have longer duration than those of chimpanzees, lasting hours rather than minutes, and a higher level of mutual dependence, through the division of labour between men (hunting) and women (gathering); which is in turn related to pair-bonding, and meat sharing to reduce the risk of individual hunters' failure on any particular day. The band appears to be a uniquely human social unit that resolves the tension between greater dispersion and greater interdependence.

The New Human Science

2019 ◽  
pp. 117-156
Author(s):  
Joanne Souza ◽  
Paul M. Bingham
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Coercion Theory ◽  
Ultimate Causation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Social Evolution ◽  
Social Coercion

All prior attempts to understand human origins, behavior, and history have led to paradoxes and dilemmas, highly resistant to resolution. This chapter reviews specific cases of failures to resolve these apparent paradoxes and dilemmas in human evolution and the social sciences. The authors argue that these failures are rooted in confusing proximate with ultimate causation. They further argue that a sound theory of human origins, behavior, and history (social coercion theory) can help to understand the human condition scientifically; specifically, this theory argues that all the unique properties of humans emerge from the unprecedented human social evolution, driven, in turn by the evolution of cost-effective coercive management of conflicts of interest. Finally, the authors argue that social coercion theory yields the first general theory of history, economics, and politics, which provides an approach to problems within the social sciences while armed with a grasp of ultimate causation. Consequently, formerly intractable scientific questions and social concerns become manageable and solvable.

scholarly journals The evolution of altruistic social preferences in human groups

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1687) ◽  
pp. 20150097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan B. Silk ◽  
Bailey R. House
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Breeding ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Group Level ◽  
Selective Pressures ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Animal Societies

In this paper, we consider three hypotheses to account for the evolution of the extraordinary capacity for large-scale cooperation and altruistic social preferences within human societies. One hypothesis is that human cooperation is built on the same evolutionary foundations as cooperation in other animal societies, and that fundamental elements of the social preferences that shape our species' cooperative behaviour are also shared with other closely related primates. Another hypothesis is that selective pressures favouring cooperative breeding have shaped the capacity for cooperation and the development of social preferences, and produced a common set of behavioural dispositions and social preferences in cooperatively breeding primates and humans. The third hypothesis is that humans have evolved derived capacities for collaboration, group-level cooperation and altruistic social preferences that are linked to our capacity for culture. We draw on naturalistic data to assess differences in the form, scope and scale of cooperation between humans and other primates, experimental data to evaluate the nature of social preferences across primate species, and comparative analyses to evaluate the evolutionary origins of cooperative breeding and related forms of behaviour.

Pauperismus und Assoziation

1936 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Stein
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
European Continent ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Associations ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
West European

The present study with pauperism, its causes, its prevention and its significance for the social evolution on the West-European continent, endeavours to provide for one of the gaps which social history, seen as a science of the social dynamics prevailing in history, brings to light. The Rhine-territory here is presented as an exceptionally suggestive illustration.This investigation shows that both the social associations which the age of pauperism called up in defence against the distress of the masses, and the revolutionary tendencies are a determinant factor in the birth of the modem type of workman, as well as in the origin of the great West-European labour-organisations of the second half of the nineteenth century (trade-unions, cooperations and parties). The shaping of the Farmers'- and the Artisans'-Movement, particularly in Germany, is decisively influenced by them. This evolution of social associations means for the ruling classes the first attempt at neutralising the inner social tensions of the system of industrial capitalism.Thus the age of pauperism and associations is a period of preparation, of great social-historical importance, without insight into which the later social evolution — upon which our times are based — can be understood and explained in but a very imperfect manner. The investigation of this period again shows the necessity of regarding social history as in independant part of the discipline of the discipline of the social sciences.

scholarly journals Voting contagion: Modeling and analysis of a century of U.S. presidential elections

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Braha ◽  
Marcus A. M. de Aguiar
Keyword(s):  
Social Influence ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Contagion ◽  
Modeling And Analysis ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Contagion Effects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Parsimonious Model ◽  
Insight Into

Social influence plays an important role in human behavior and decisions. Sources of influence can be divided as external, which are independent of social context, or as originating from peers, such as family and friends. An important question is how to disentangle the social contagion by peers from external influences. While a variety of experimental and observational studies provided insight into this problem, identifying the extent of contagion based on large-scale observational data with an unknown network structure remains largely unexplored. By bridging the gap between the large-scale complex systems perspective of collective human dynamics and the detailed approach of social sciences, we present a parsimonious model of social influence, and apply it to a central topic in political science--elections and voting behavior. We provide an analytical expression of the county vote-share distribution, which is in excellent agreement with almost a century of observed U.S. presidential election data. Analyzing the social influence topography over this period reveals an abrupt phase transition from low to high levels of social contagion, and robust differences among regions. These results suggest that social contagion effects are becoming more instrumental in shaping large-scale collective political behavior, with implications on democratic electoral processes and policies.

Evolutionary Theory in the Social Philosophy of Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Hypatia ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maureen L. Egan
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Social Philosophy ◽  
Charlotte Perkins Gilman ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Human Social Evolution

This paper examines Charlotte Perkins Gilman's connection with the evolutionist ideas of late nineteenth century Reform Darwinism. It focuses on the assumptions that her language and use of metaphor reveal, and upon her vision of human social evolution as a meUoristic process through which the equality of the sexes must finally emerge.

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