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Yeshurun R. Signalling Palaeolithic identity. Nat Hum Behav 2024; 8:414-415. [PMID: 38287176 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01805-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Reuven Yeshurun
- Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
- School of Archaeology and Maritime Cultures, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
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2
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Fuentes A, Kim N, Kissel M. Capacities for peace, and war, are old and related to Homo construction of worlds and communities. Behav Brain Sci 2024; 47:e8. [PMID: 38224087 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x23002558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2024]
Abstract
The capacities required for both peace and war predate 100,000 years ago in the genus Homo are deeply entangled in the modes by which humans physically and perceptually construct their worlds and communities, and may not be sufficiently captured by economic models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agustín Fuentes
- Department of Anthropology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA ://anthropology.princeton.edu/people/faculty/agustin-fuentes
| | - Nam Kim
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA ://www.anthropology.wisc.edu/staff/kim-nam-c/
| | - Marc Kissel
- Department of Anthropology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA ://anthro.appstate.edu/directory/dr-marc-kissel
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3
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Davison DR, Michod RE. Steps to individuality in biology and culture. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210407. [PMID: 36688387 PMCID: PMC9869451 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Did human culture arise through an evolutionary transition in individuality (ETI)? To address this question, we examine the steps of biological ETIs to see how they could apply to the evolution of human culture. For concreteness, we illustrate the ETI stages using a well-studied example, the evolution of multicellularity in the volvocine algae. We then consider how those stages could apply to a cultural transition involving integrated groups of cultural traditions and the hominins that create and transmit traditions. We focus primarily on the early Pleistocene and examine hominin carnivory and the cultural change from Oldowan to Acheulean technology. We use Pan behaviour as an outgroup comparison. We summarize the important similarities and differences we find between ETI stages in the biological and cultural realms. As we are not cultural anthropologists, we may overlook or be mistaken in the processes we associate with each step. We hope that by clearly describing these steps to individuality and illustrating them with cultural principles and processes, other researchers may build upon our initial exercise. Our analysis supports the hypothesis that human culture has undergone an ETI beginning with a Pan-like ancestor, continuing during the Pleistocene, and culminating in modern human culture. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dinah R. Davison
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Richard E. Michod
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, College of Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
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4
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Glowacki L. The evolution of peace. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 47:e1. [PMID: 36524358 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22002862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
While some species have affiliative and even cooperative interactions between individuals of different social groups, humans are alone in having durable, positive-sum, interdependent relationships across unrelated social groups. Our capacity to have harmonious relationships that cross group boundaries is an important aspect of our species' success, allowing for the exchange of ideas, materials, and ultimately enabling cumulative cultural evolution. Knowledge about the conditions required for peaceful intergroup relationships is critical for understanding the success of our species and building a more peaceful world. How do humans create harmonious relationships across group boundaries and when did this capacity emerge in the human lineage? Answering these questions involves considering the costs and benefits of intergroup cooperation and aggression, for oneself, one's group, and one's neighbor. Taking a game theoretical perspective provides new insights into the difficulties of removing the threat of war and reveals an ironic logic to peace - the factors that enable peace also facilitate the increased scale and destructiveness of conflict. In what follows, I explore the conditions required for peace, why they are so difficult to achieve, and when we expect peace to have emerged in the human lineage. I argue that intergroup cooperation was an important component of human relationships and a selective force in our species history beginning at least 300 thousand years. But the preconditions for peace only emerged in the past 100 thousand years and likely coexisted with intermittent intergroup violence which would have also been an important and selective force in our species' history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luke Glowacki
- Department of Anthropology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA ://www.hsb-lab.org/
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5
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Meneganzin A. Sharing in an unequal world: The origins and survival of human cooperation. PHILOSOPHICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2022.2128323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andra Meneganzin
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- KU Leuven Institute of Philosophy, Belgium
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6
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Hagen EH. The Biological Roots of Music and Dance : Extending the Credible Signaling Hypothesis to Predator Deterrence. HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2022; 33:261-279. [PMID: 35986877 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-022-09429-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
After they diverged from panins, hominins evolved an increasingly committed terrestrial lifestyle in open habitats that exposed them to increased predation pressure from Africa's formidable predator guild. In the Pleistocene, Homo transitioned to a more carnivorous lifestyle that would have further increased predation pressure. An effective defense against predators would have required a high degree of cooperation by the smaller and slower hominins. It is in the interest of predator and potential prey to avoid encounters that will be costly for both. A wide variety of species, including carnivores and apes and other primates, have therefore evolved visual and auditory signals that deter predators by credibly signaling detection and/or the ability to effectively defend themselves. In some cooperative species, these predator deterrent signals involve highly synchronized visual and auditory displays among group members. Hagen and Bryant (Human Nature, 14(1), 21-51, 2003) proposed that synchronized visual and auditory displays credibly signal coalition quality. Here, this hypothesis is extended to include credible signals to predators that they have been detected and would be met with a highly coordinated defensive response, thereby deterring an attack. Within-group signaling functions are also proposed. The evolved cognitive abilities underlying these behaviors were foundations for the evolution of fully human music and dance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward H Hagen
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, 14204 NE Salmon Creek Ave, Vancouver, WA, 98686, USA.
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7
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De Dreu CKW, Triki Z. Intergroup conflict: origins, dynamics and consequences across taxa. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210134. [PMID: 35369751 PMCID: PMC8977662 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Although uniquely destructive and wasteful, intergroup conflict and warfare are not confined to humans. They are seen across a range of group-living species, from social insects, fishes and birds to mammals, including nonhuman primates. With its unique collection of theory, research and review contributions from biology, anthropology and economics, this theme issue provides novel insights into intergroup conflict across taxa. Here, we introduce and organize this theme issue on the origins and consequences of intergroup conflict. We provide a coherent framework by modelling intergroup conflicts as multi-level games of strategy in which individuals within groups cooperate to compete with (individuals in) other groups for scarce resources, such as territory, food, mating opportunities, power and influence. Within this framework, we identify cross-species mechanisms and consequences of (participating in) intergroup conflict. We conclude by highlighting crosscutting innovations in the study of intergroup conflict set forth by individual contributions. These include, among others, insights on how within-group heterogeneities and leadership relate to group conflict, how intergroup conflict shapes social organization and how climate change and environmental degradation transition intergroup relations from peaceful coexistence to violent conflict. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Intergroup conflict across taxa’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carsten K W De Dreu
- Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.,Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Zegni Triki
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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8
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Abstract
The mid-1990s through the first decade of the new millennium marked an increase in publications pertaining to war and violence in the ancient past. This review considers how scholars of the past decade have responded to that work. The emerging consensus is that war and violence were endemic to all societies studied by archaeologists, and yet the frequency, intensity, causes, and consequences of violence were highly variable for reasons that defy simplistic explanation. The general trend has been toward archaeologies of war and violence that focus on understanding the nuances of particular places and historical moments. Nevertheless, archaeologists continue to grapple with grand narratives of war, such as the proposition that violence has decreased from ancient to modern times and the role of war and violence in state formation and collapse. Recent research also draws attention to a more expansive definition of violence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew K. Scherer
- Department of Anthropology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA
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10
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Southern LM, Deschner T, Pika S. Lethal coalitionary attacks of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) on gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in the wild. Sci Rep 2021; 11:14673. [PMID: 34282175 PMCID: PMC8290027 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-93829-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Intraspecies violence, including lethal interactions, is a relatively common phenomenon in mammals. Contrarily, interspecies violence has mainly been investigated in the context of predation and received most research attention in carnivores. Here, we provide the first information of two lethal coalitionary attacks of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) on another hominid species, western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), that occur sympatrically in the Loango National Park in Gabon. In both events, the chimpanzees significantly outnumbered the gorillas and victims were infant gorillas. We discuss these observations in light of the two most widely accepted theoretical explanations for interspecific lethal violence, predation and competition, and combinations of the two-intraguild predation and interspecific killing. Given these events meet conditions proposed to trigger coalitional killing of neighbours in chimpanzees, we also discuss them in light of chimpanzees' intraspecific interactions and territorial nature. Our findings may spur further research into the complexity of interspecies interactions. In addition, they may aid in combining field data from extant models with the Pliocene hominid fossil record to better understand behavioural adaptations and interspecific killing in the hominin lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara M Southern
- Institute of Cognitive Science, Comparative BioCognition, University of Osnabrück, Artilleriestrasse 34, 49076, Osnabrück, Germany.,Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Interim Group Primatology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tobias Deschner
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Interim Group Primatology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Simone Pika
- Institute of Cognitive Science, Comparative BioCognition, University of Osnabrück, Artilleriestrasse 34, 49076, Osnabrück, Germany.
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11
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Benítez-Burraco A, Ferretti F, Progovac L. Human Self-Domestication and the Evolution of Pragmatics. Cogn Sci 2021; 45:e12987. [PMID: 34170029 DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2020] [Revised: 04/25/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
As proposed for the emergence of modern languages, we argue that modern uses of languages (pragmatics) also evolved gradually in our species under the effects of human self-domestication, with three key aspects involved in a complex feedback loop: (a) a reduction in reactive aggression, (b) the sophistication of language structure (with emerging grammars initially facilitating the transition from physical aggression to verbal aggression); and (c) the potentiation of pragmatic principles governing conversation, including, but not limited to, turn-taking and inferential abilities. Our core hypothesis is that the reduction in reactive aggression, one of the key factors in self-domestication processes, enabled us to fully exploit our cognitive and interactional potential as applied to linguistic exchanges, and ultimately to evolve a specific form of communication governed by persuasive reciprocity-a trait of human conversation characterized by both competition and cooperation. In turn, both early crude forms of language, well suited for verbal aggression/insult, and later more sophisticated forms of language, well suited for persuasive reciprocity, significantly contributed to the resolution and reduction of (physical) aggression, thus having a return effect on the self-domestication processes. Supporting evidence for our proposal, as well as grounds for further testing, comes mainly from the consideration of cognitive disorders, which typically simultaneously present abnormal features of self-domestication (including aggressive behavior) and problems with pragmatics and social functioning. While various approaches to language evolution typically reduce it to a single factor, our approach considers language evolution as a multifactorial process, with each player acting upon the other, engaging in an intense mutually reinforcing feedback loop. Moreover, we see language evolution as a gradual process, continuous with the pre-linguistic cognitive abilities, which were engaged in a positive feedback loop with linguistic innovations, and where gene-culture co-evolution and cultural niche construction were the main driving forces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville
| | - Francesco Ferretti
- Department of Philosophy, Communication and Performing Arts. Roma Tre University
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12
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Crevecoeur I, Dias-Meirinho MH, Zazzo A, Antoine D, Bon F. New insights on interpersonal violence in the Late Pleistocene based on the Nile valley cemetery of Jebel Sahaba. Sci Rep 2021; 11:9991. [PMID: 34045477 PMCID: PMC8159958 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-89386-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2020] [Accepted: 04/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
The remains of 61 individuals buried in the cemetery of Jebel Sahaba (site 117) offer unique and substantial evidence to the emergence of violence in the Nile Valley at the end of the Late Pleistocene. Excavated and assessed in the 1960s, some of the original findings and interpretations are disputed. A full reanalysis of the timing, nature and extent of the violence was conducted through the microscopic characterization of the nature of each osseous lesion, and the reassessment of the archaeological data. Over 100 previously undocumented healed and unhealed lesions were identified on both new and/or previously identified victims, including several embedded lithic artefacts. Most trauma appears to be the result of projectile weapons and new analyses confirm for the first time the repetitive nature of the interpersonal acts of violence. Indeed, a quarter of the skeletons with lesions exhibit both healed and unhealed trauma. We dismiss the hypothesis that Jebel Sahaba reflects a single warfare event, with the new data supporting sporadic and recurrent episodes of inter-personal violence, probably triggered by major climatic and environmental changes. At least 13.4 ka old, Jebel Sahaba is one of the earliest sites displaying interpersonal violence in the world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabelle Crevecoeur
- UMR 5199-PACEA, CNRS, Université de Bordeaux, B8, Allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, CS 50023, 33615, Pessac Cedex, France.
| | - Marie-Hélène Dias-Meirinho
- UMR 5608-TRACES, Université de Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Maison de La Recherche, 5 Allées Antonio Machado, 31058, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
| | - Antoine Zazzo
- UMR 7209-AASPE, CNRS, MNHN, CP 56 - 43 Rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France
| | - Daniel Antoine
- Department of Egypt and Sudan, The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG, UK
| | - François Bon
- UMR 5608-TRACES, Université de Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Maison de La Recherche, 5 Allées Antonio Machado, 31058, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
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13
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Benítez-Burraco A, Progovac L. Language evolution: examining the link between cross-modality and aggression through the lens of disorders. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200188. [PMID: 33745319 PMCID: PMC8059641 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We demonstrate how two linguistic phenomena, figurative language (implicating cross-modality) and derogatory language (implicating aggression), both demand a precise degree of (dis)inhibition in the same cortico-subcortical brain circuits, in particular cortico-striatal networks, whose connectivity has been significantly enhanced in recent evolution. We examine four cognitive disorders/conditions that exhibit abnormal patterns of (dis)inhibition in these networks: schizophrenia (SZ), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), synaesthesia and Tourette's syndrome (TS), with the goal of understanding why the two phenomena altered reactive aggression and altered cross-modality cluster together in these disorders. Our proposal is that enhanced cross-modality (necessary to support language, in particular metaphoricity) was a result, partly a side-effect, of self-domestication (SD). SD targeted the taming of reactive aggression, but reactive impulses are controlled by the same cortico-subcortical networks that are implicated in cross-modality. We further add that this biological process of SD did not act alone, but was engaged in an intense feedback loop with the cultural emergence of early forms of language/grammar, whose high degree of raw metaphoricity and verbal aggression also contributed to increased brain connectivity and cortical control. Consequently, in conjunction with linguistic expressions serving as approximations/'fossils' of the earliest stages of language, these cognitive disorders/conditions serve as confident proxies of brain changes in language evolution, helping us reconstruct certain crucial aspects of early prehistoric languages and cognition, as well as shed new light on the nature of the disorders. This article is part of the theme issue 'Reconstructing prehistoric languages'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish, Linguistics and Theory of Literature (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Ljiljana Progovac
- Linguistics Program, Department of English, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
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14
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Kissel M, Fuentes A. The ripples of modernity: How we can extend paleoanthropology with the extended evolutionary synthesis. Evol Anthropol 2021; 30:84-98. [PMID: 33547734 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2019] [Revised: 09/05/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Contemporary understandings of paleoanthropological data illustrate that the search for a line defining, or a specific point designating, "modern human" is problematic. Here we lend support to the argument for the need to look for patterns in the paleoanthropological record that indicate how multiple evolutionary processes intersected to form the human niche, a concept critical to assessing the development and processes involved in the emergence of a contemporary human phenotype. We suggest that incorporating key elements of the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) into our endeavors offers a better and more integrative toolkit for modeling and assessing the evolution of the genus Homo. To illustrate our points, we highlight how aspects of the genetic exchanges, morphology, and material culture of the later Pleistocene complicate the concept of "modern" human behavior and suggest that multiple evolutionary patterns, processes, and pathways intersected to form the human niche.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Kissel
- Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, USA
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15
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16
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Fuentes A. Searching for the “Roots” of Masculinity in Primates and the Human Evolutionary Past. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1086/711582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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17
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Smith R, Steklis HD, Steklis NG, Weihs KL, Lane RD. The evolution and development of the uniquely human capacity for emotional awareness: A synthesis of comparative anatomical, cognitive, neurocomputational, and evolutionary psychological perspectives. Biol Psychol 2020; 154:107925. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2020] [Accepted: 06/23/2020] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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18
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Group Cooperation, Carrying-Capacity Stress, and Intergroup Conflict. Trends Cogn Sci 2020; 24:760-776. [PMID: 32620334 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2020] [Revised: 06/05/2020] [Accepted: 06/09/2020] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Peaceful intergroup relations deteriorate when individuals engage in parochial cooperation and parochial competition. To understand when and why intergroup relations change from peaceful to violent, we present a theoretical framework mapping out the different interdependence structures between groups. According to this framework, cooperation can lead to group expansion and ultimately to carrying-capacity stress. In such cases of endogenously created carrying-capacity stress, intergroup relations are more likely to become negatively interdependent, and parochial competition can emerge as a response. We discuss the cognitive, neural, and hormonal building blocks of parochial cooperation, and conclude that conflict between groups can be the inadvertent consequence of human preparedness - biological and cultural - to solve cooperation problems within groups.
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19
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Gleeson BT. Masculinity and the Mechanisms of Human Self-Domestication. ADAPTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s40750-019-00126-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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20
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Progovac L, Benítez-Burraco A. From Physical Aggression to Verbal Behavior: Language Evolution and Self-Domestication Feedback Loop. Front Psychol 2019; 10:2807. [PMID: 31920850 PMCID: PMC6930236 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02807] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2019] [Accepted: 11/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
We propose that human self-domestication favored the emergence of a less aggressive phenotype in our species, more precisely phenotype prone to replace (reactive) physical aggression with verbal aggression. In turn, the (gradual) transition to verbal aggression and to more sophisticated forms of verbal behavior favored self-domestication, with the two processes engaged in a mutually reinforcing feedback loop, considering that verbal behavior entails not only less violence and better survival but also more opportunities to interact longer and socialize with more conspecifics, ultimately enabling the emergence of more complex forms of language. Whereas in the case of self-domestication, sexual selection has been proposed to work against physical aggression traits, in the case of verbal insult, the selection has been proposed to work in favor of verbal aggression. The tension between these two seemingly opposing forces gets resolved/alleviated by a tendency to replace physical aggression with verbal aggression and with verbal behavior more generally. This also helps solve the paradox of the Self-Domestication Hypothesis regarding aggression, more precisely why aggression in humans has been reduced only when it comes to reactive aggression, but not when it comes to proactive aggression, the latter exhibiting an increase in the advent of modern language. We postulate that this feedback loop was particularly important during the time period arguably between 200 and 50 kya, when humans were not fully modern, neither in terms of their skull/brain morphology and their behavior/culture nor in terms of their self-domestication. The novelty of our approach lies in (1) giving an active role to early forms of language in interacting with self-domestication processes; (2) providing specific linguistic details and functions of this early stage of grammar (including insult and humor); (3) supplying neurobiological, ontogenetic, and clinical evidence of a link between (reactive) aggression and (reactive) verbal behavior; (4) identifying proxies of the earlier stages in evolution among cognitive disorders; and (5) identifying specific points of contact and mutual reinforcement between these two processes (self-domestication and early language evolution), including reduction in physical aggression and stress/tension, as well as sexual selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ljiljana Progovac
- Linguistics Program, Department of English, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States
| | - Antonio Benítez-Burraco
- Department of Spanish Language, Linguistics and Literary Theory (Linguistics), Faculty of Philology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
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21
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Majolo B. Warfare in an evolutionary perspective. Evol Anthropol 2019; 28:321-331. [PMID: 31691443 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2018] [Revised: 05/07/2019] [Accepted: 09/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
The importance of warfare for human evolution is hotly debated in anthropology. Some authors hypothesize that warfare emerged at least 200,000-100,000 years BP, was frequent, and significantly shaped human social evolution. Other authors claim that warfare is a recent phenomenon, linked to the emergence of agriculture, and mostly explained by cultural rather than evolutionary forces. Here I highlight and critically evaluate six controversial points on the evolutionary bases of warfare. I argue that cultural and evolutionary explanations on the emergence of warfare are not alternative but analyze biological diversity at two distinct levels. An evolved propensity to act aggressively toward outgroup individuals may emerge irrespective of whether warfare appeared early/late during human evolution. Finally, I argue that lethal violence and aggression toward outgroup individuals are two linked but distinct phenomena, and that war and peace are complementary and should not always be treated as two mutually exclusive behavioral responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bonaventura Majolo
- School of Psychology, University of Lincoln, Sarah Swift Building, Lincoln, UK
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22
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Tokuyama N, Sakamaki T, Furuichi T. Inter‐group aggressive interaction patterns indicate male mate defense and female cooperation across bonobo groups at Wamba, Democratic Republic of the Congo. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2019; 170:535-550. [DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2019] [Revised: 07/19/2019] [Accepted: 09/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nahoko Tokuyama
- Department of Evolutionary Studies of BiosystemsSokendai, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies Hayama Kanagawa Japan
- Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University Inuyama Aichi Japan
| | - Tetsuya Sakamaki
- Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University Inuyama Aichi Japan
| | - Takeshi Furuichi
- Primate Research Institute of Kyoto University Inuyama Aichi Japan
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Pacifying Hunter-Gatherers. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2019; 30:155-175. [DOI: 10.1007/s12110-019-09340-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Review of Nam C. Kim and Marc Kissel’s Emergent Warfare in Our Evolutionary Past. HUMAN NATURE 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s12110-019-09343-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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