Sep 24, 2009 we propose that the evolution of these derived features was a consequence of the adoption of cooperative breeding by early homo. Cooperative breeding center for academic research and. Second, i show that dubreuil likely misdates the occurrence of human cooperative feeding and cooperative breeding section 4. Until recently, evolutionists reconstructing motherinfant bonding among human ancestors relied on nonhuman primate models characterized by exclusively maternal care, overlooking the highly variable responsiveness exhibited by mothers in species with obligate reliance on allomaternal care and provisioning. Fitness tradeoffs in the history and evolution of delegated mothering with. By this definition, humans are cooperative breeders, but our cooperative breeding. The hypothesized pathway for a link between cooperative breeding and socio. Therefore, although the whole of human cognition may be unparalleled in the animal kingdom, key components of our cognitive phenotype can be found in other taxa, including not only great apes, but also more distantly related species bearing cognitive resemblances to humans as a result of convergent evolution. Human reciprocity and its evolution states a clearly articulated geneculture coevolution explanation for why we are a cooperative species.
Hrdy university of california, department of anthropology, davis, ca 956168522, u. The most obvious discontinuities are related to our cognitive. Journal of human evolution has two papers dealing with the phenomenon of cooperative breeding in humans, primates and mammals. Answering this question will require a much better understanding of patterns of increasing cultural diversity, complexity and rates of change in human evolution. Cooperative breeding scholars commonly estimate that cooperative breeding arose with homo erectus, ca. This article is part of a special issue parental care.
In particular, cooperative breeding has been identified as a potentially crucial factor in the evolution of human prosociality and our tremendous cognitive. This concept is hard to understand and the evolution of cooperative breeding is important, but difficult to explain. Research on the communicative skills of other cooperative breeders. Cooperative breeding and monogamy in mammalian societies. The derivation of hamiltons rule is clean, intuitive, and simple. Among the species that adopted it, cooperative breeding generally produced changes in psychology toward. Using an integrated data set from the fossil record and contemporary human and nonhuman primate biology, we provide a fresh perspective on three important shifts in human evolutionary history. We propose that the evolution of these derived features was a consequence of the adoption of cooperative breeding by early homo. Revisiting the consequences of cooperative breeding uzh. Despite sharing a recent common ancestor, humans are surprisingly different from other great apes. Recent years have seen the emergence of a novel variant of this hypothesis, suggesting that cooperative breeding is associated with the elaboration of. Similarities between cooperative breeding among humans and among platyrrhines are strikingly concrete and specific. Burkhart jm, hrdy sb, van schaik cp 2009 cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution. Cognitive psychology is a section of psychology that studies the cognitive, for example, the cognitive processes of human consciousness.
Recent years have seen the emergence of a novel variant of this hypothesis, suggesting that cooperative breeding is associated with the elaboration of socio cognitive abilities. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution semantic. Cooperative breeding is viewed as a consequence of group territorial behavior, and a nonmathematical model is presented which predicts that maximum positive assistance by nonbreeders to the reproductive success of the breeding pair should occur in situations where it would not otherwise increase the fitness of the breeders to allow nonbreeders. Stone toolmaking and the evolution of human culture and. We propose that during human evolution improved diet quality, allomaternal subsidies, cognitive buffering, reduced locomotion costs and reduced.
Language is a cognitively demanding human trait, but it is also a fundamentally cooperative enterprise that rests on the motivation to share information. Recent fossil and archaeological finds have complicated our interpretation of the origin and early evolution of genus homo. Cooperative breeding is found in only a few hundred bird species worldwide, and understanding this often strikingly altruistic behaviour has remained an. Their focus on the evolution of human nature also paints a much richer picture of our behavior than traditional economics tends to do.
Cooperative breeding hypothesis, prosociality, social tolerance, callitrichid monkeys. The chapters are organised by individual studies of particular species or in the case of molerats two closely related cooperatively breeding species. Cultural group selection plays an essential role in explaining human cooperation. Cooperative breeding theory was developed in biology to explain a social system found in relatively few animals in which nonparental members of a social group help to support offspring.
The cooperative breeding hypothesis predicts that cooperative breeding or extensive allomaternal care is associated with a set of proximate mechanisms necessary. Among primates, humans and callitrichid monkeys are the only. Cooperative feeding and breeding, and the evolution of. This breeding system permitted hominid females to produce offspring without increasing interbirth intervals, and allowed for movement into new habitats. No evidence for larger brains in cooperatively breeding. Nonhuman primates, including the great apes, are curiously constrained by weak motor.
Although several recent volumes have summarized the state of our knowledge of the ecology and evolution of cooperative breeding in birds, cooperative breeding in mammals is the first book devoted to these issues in mammals, and it will appeal to zoologists, ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and those interested in animal behavior. Jun 07, 2012 since extrapair paternity is relatively uncommon in socially monogamous and cooperatively breeding mammals, our analyses support the suggestion that high levels of average kinship between group members have played an important role in the evolution of cooperative breeding in non human mammals, as well as in birds and insects. A causal link might exist because motivational and cognitive processes necessary for the execution and coordination of helping behaviors could also favor cognitive performance in contexts. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution burkart. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution j. Cooperative breeding and the evolution of vocal flexibility oxford. A causal link might exist because motivational and cognitive processes necessary for the execution and coordination of helping behaviors could also favor cognitive performance in contexts not directly. May 01, 2011 this book challenges kin selection theory as a basis for various forms of reciprocity and cooperation. Bell, kathryn demps, karl frost, vicken hillis, sarah mathew, emily k. Nov 20, 20 in particular, cooperative breeding has been identified as a potentially crucial factor in the evolution of human prosociality and our tremendous cognitive advantage over our nearest relatives, the great apes. Jul 24, 2009 several hypotheses propose that cooperative breeding leads to increased cognitive performance, in both nonhuman and human primates, but systematic evidence for such a relationship is missing. Great apes possess many of the cognitive prerequisites for language, but largely lack the motivation to share information.
I synthesize the emerging evidence that foraging cognition. When sharon sent me her late husbands draft manuscript, i found that danny not only had the core of an idea to explain the evolution of the human mind but that he also went on to present some. Because the human subsistence niche incorporates a broad diversity of resources that require variable procurement and processing costs, dependent children can also be important producers, furthering both a need and an opportunity for cooperative breeding. Cooperative breeding is found in only a few hundred bird species worldwide, and understanding this often strikingly altruistic behaviour has remained an important challenge in behavioural ecology for over 30 years. The authors almost start with the fact that we cooperate for mutual benefit, that we will even extend benefits to nonrelated others at a cost to ourselves true altruism, and that such otherregardedness can and does extend to strangers. Is this extraordinary complexity a product of cognitive evolution, cultural evolution or some interaction of the two. Cognitive consequences of cooperative breeding in primates. Human reciprocity and its evolution ebook written by samuel bowles, herbert gintis. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution citeseerx. Variable postpartum responsiveness among humans and other. Newton, nicole naar, lesley newson, cody ross, paul e. According to the cooperative breeding hypothesis, allomaternal assistance was essential for child survival during the pleistocene. In traditional human societies, numerous studies document that a variety of kin and nonkin of different ages.
Cooperative breeding may be viewed primarily as a means by which young adults put off the start of their own breeding in order to maximize their lifetime reproductive output, and in the process occasionally promote genes identical with their own via kin selection. Van schaik despite sharing a recent common ancestor, humans are surprisingly different from other great apes. Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. Cooperative feeding and breeding, and the evolution of executive. Suppose there is an allele at a locus of a haploid organism that leads individual a to incur a fitness cost c that bestows a fitness gain b on individual b. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution wiley online. Early homo fossils are also the earliest hominin fossils to be found associated with the drier. Cooperative breeding and human evolution request pdf.
The evolution of cooperative breeding is particularly complex in humans because many other traits that directly affect parental care shorter birth intervals, increased offspring survivorship, juvenile dependence, and older ages at dispersal also emerge during the pleistocene. What evolutionary biology can tell us about cooperation and. Journal of economic literature a cooperative species. Research in this area is usually related to issues of memory, attention, feelings, providing information, logical thinking, imagination, the ability to make decisions. The concept behind cooperative breeding is the forfeiting of an individuals reproductive fitness to aid the reproductive success of others. Two key steps in the evolution of human cooperation. A fascinating new theory about the human mind, evolution and. Among the species that adopted it, cooperative breeding generally produced changes in psychology toward greater prosociality and greater cognitive abilities. Pdf despite sharing a recent common ancestor, humans are surprisingly different from other great apes. First, cooperative breeding is favored where successful dispersal is difficult, and infant helping positively affects survival rates. These behavioral correlates of cooperative breeding can have implications for understanding human evolution burkart et al. A sketch of the evidence volume 39 peter richerson, ryan baldini, adrian v. This book challenges kin selection theory as a basis for various forms of reciprocity and cooperation. This behaviour is particularly well studied in birds, using both longterm and comparative studies that have provided insights into the evolution of reproductive altruism.
Hrdy is professor emerita at the university of california. In fact, due to more complex cognitive abilities in humans, and perhaps supported by. Several hypotheses propose that cooperative breeding leads to increased cognitive performance, in both nonhuman and human primates, but systematic evidence for such a relationship is missing. The evolution of human cooperation the evolution institute. Occasional cooperative breeding in birds and the robustness. The role of cooperative breeding in modern human evolution. Cooperative breeding is a widespread and intense form of cooperation, in which individuals help raise offspring that are not their own. Comparative evidence for cooperative breeding in early homo by karin. In most cooperatively breeding species, helpers are offspring that remain with. Bringing together longterm studies of cooperatively breeding birds, mammals, and fishes, cooperative breeding in vertebrates provides a synthesis of current studies in the field. Energetics and the evolution of human brain size nature. The evolution of human cooperation by herbert gintis january 11, 2012 no comments the study of human cooperation today is the current state of a continuous line of intellectual inheritance from adam smith and david hume, through thomas malthus, charles darwin, and emile durkheim, and more recently the biologists william hamilton and robert trivers. The expensivetissue hypothesis 1 explains its evolution by proposing a tradeoff between the size of the brain and that of the.
Pdf cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution. The human brain stands out among mammals by being unusually large. How our ancestors broke through the gray ceiling jstor. Unraveling the evolution of uniquely human cognition.
What evolutionary biology can tell us about cooperation and trust in online networks. Cooperative breeders are species in which more than a pair of individuals assist in the production of young. Jul 18, 2012 cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution, evolutionary anthropology 18 2009. In particular, cooperative breeding has been identified as a potentially crucial factor in the evolution of human prosociality and our tremendous cognitive advantage over our nearest relatives, the great apes 8, 29. In addition to helping to explain the extraordinary demographic expansion of the human species, cooperative breeding has important implications for understanding the evolution of human life history traits such as early weaning, longer periods of postweaning dependence and longer maternal lifespans, as well as such characteristically human. An extension of the social brains hypothesis, known as the cooperative breeding brain hypothesis, postulates that cooperatively breeding species, which live in stable social groups and provide allocare, face particularly pronounced cognitive demands because they must recognize, remember, and differentially respond to multiple group members. Let me start with dubreuils timing of cooperative breeding. Abstract despite sharing a recent common ancestor, humans are surprisingly different from other great apes.
Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution. I argue that a cooperative breeding model provides a more compelling explanation for distinctive human emotional and mental aptitudes than do competing hypotheses. Most scholars of language evolution recognize that the first use of language, in particular words, presupposed an unusual ability to cooperate. The most obvious discontinuities are related to our cognitive abilities, including language, but we also have a markedly different, coopera. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution, evolutionary anthropology 18 2009. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read a cooperative species. The most obvious discontinuities are related to our cognitive abilities, including language, but we also have a markedly different, cooperative breeding system. The cooperative breeding hypothesis predicts that cooperative breeding or extensive allomaternal care is associated with a set of proximate mechanisms necessary to support and enable allomaternal behaviours. This article focuses on the critical role that children themselves play. However, recent comparative research indicates that ecological variation can also shape cognitive abilities. Humans and chimps are the most unlike in on these measures, with humans showing a very similar profile to callitrichids.
Callitrichids including marmosets and tamarins are highly vocal monkeys that are more distantly related to humans. Bobe r, leakey mg 2009 ecology of pliopleistocene mammals in the omoturkana basin and the emergence of homo. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline their mothers lineage and which can involve the inheritance of property andor titles. Comparative studies of social insects and birds show that the evolution of cooperative and eusocial breeding systems has been confined to species where females mate completely or almost exclusively with a single male, indicating that high levels of average kinship between group members are necessary for the evolution of reproductive altruism. She is considered a highly recognized pioneer in modernizing our understanding of the evolutionary basis of female behavior in both nonhuman and human primates. Many hypotheses have been presented to explain the evolution of cooperative breeding. Long term studies of ecology and behaviour a variety of authors give detailed and fascinating descriptions of cooperation in birds, from the splendid fairywren and noisy miner of australia to such birds as the green woodhoopoe and arabian babbler of the great rift valley desert belts to a number of. Suppose the frequency of this allele in the population is q, and the probability that b has a copy of the allele is p.
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