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Kramer KL. Female cooperation: evolutionary, cross-cultural and ethnographic evidence. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210425. [PMID: 36440565 PMCID: PMC9703230 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0425] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Women and girls cooperate with each other across many domains and at many scales. However, much of this information is buried in the ethnographic record and has been overlooked in theoretic constructions of the evolution of human sociality and cooperation. The assumed primacy of male bonding, hunting, patrilocality and philopatry has dominated the discussion of cooperation without balanced consideration. A closer look at the ethnographic record reveals that in addition to cooperative childcare and food production, women and girls collectively form coalitions, have their own cooperative political, ceremonial, economic and social institutions, and develop female-based exchange and support networks. The numerous ethnographic examples of female cooperation urge reconsideration of gender stereotypes and the limits of female cooperation. This review brings together theoretic, cross-cultural and cross-lifespan research on female cooperation to present a more even and empirically supported view of female sociality. Following the lead from trends in evolutionary biology and sexual selection theory, the hope going forward is that the focus shifts from rote characterizations of sex differences to highlighting sources of variation and conditions that enhance or constrain female cooperative engagement. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen L. Kramer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
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2
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Hruschka DJ, Munira S, Jesmin K. Starting from scratch in a patrilocal society: how women build networks after marriage in rural Bangladesh. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210432. [PMID: 36440569 PMCID: PMC9703222 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 05/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans rely on both kin and non-kin social ties for a wide range of support. In patrilocal societies that practice village exogamy, women can face the challenge of building new supportive networks when they move to their husband's village and leave many genetic kin behind. In this paper, we track how women from 10 diverse communities in rural Bangladesh build supportive networks after migrating to their husband's village, comparing their trajectories with women who remained in their childhood village (Bengali: n = 317, Santal: n = 36, Hajong: n = 39, Mandi: n = 36). Women who migrated for marriage started with almost no adult close kin (mean 0.1) compared to women who remained in their childhood village (mean 2.4). However, immigrants compensated for the lack of genetic kin by a combination of close affinal kin and close friends. By their late 20s, immigrants reported substantially more non-kin friends than did non-immigrants (mean 1.4 versus 1.1) and a comparable number of supportive partners in several domains. These findings raise questions about the functions and quality of these different social ties and how different composition of supportive networks may provide different opportunities for women in these settings. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J. Hruschka
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2402, USA
| | - Shirajum Munira
- LAMB Project for Integrated Health and Development, Rajabashor, Parbatipur, Dinajpur 5250, Bangladesh
| | - Khaleda Jesmin
- LAMB Project for Integrated Health and Development, Rajabashor, Parbatipur, Dinajpur 5250, Bangladesh
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Simpson CR, Power EA. Dynamics of cooperative networks associated with gender among South Indian Tamils. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210437. [PMID: 36440558 PMCID: PMC9703249 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Helping behaviour is thought to play a major role in the evolution of group-living animals. Yet, it is unclear to what extent human males and human females use the same strategies to secure support. Accordingly, we investigate help-seeking over a 5-year period in relation to gender using data from virtually all adults in two Tamil villages (N = 782). Simulations of network dynamics (i.e. stochastic actor-oriented models) calibrated to these data broadly indicate that women are more inclined than men to create and maintain supportive bonds via multiple mechanisms of cooperation (e.g. reciprocity, kin bias, friend bias, generalized exchange). However, gender-related differences in the simulated dynamics of help-seeking are modest, vary based on structural position (e.g. out-degree), and do not appear to translate to divergence in the observed structure of respondents' egocentric networks. Findings ultimately suggest that men and women in the two villages are similarly social but channel their sociality differently. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cohen R. Simpson
- Nuffield College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1NF, UK
- Department of Methodology, The London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK
| | - Eleanor A. Power
- Department of Methodology, The London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE, UK
- The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
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Social Support and Network Formation in a Small-Scale Horticulturalist Population. Sci Data 2022; 9:570. [PMID: 36109560 PMCID: PMC9477840 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01516-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2021] [Accepted: 06/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Evolutionary studies of cooperation in traditional human societies suggest that helping family and responding in kind when helped are the primary mechanisms for informally distributing resources vital to day-to-day survival (e.g., food, knowledge, money, childcare). However, these studies generally rely on forms of regression analysis that disregard complex interdependences between aid, resulting in the implicit assumption that kinship and reciprocity drive the emergence of entire networks of supportive social bonds. Here I evaluate this assumption using individual-oriented simulations of network formation (i.e., Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models). Specifically, I test standard predictions of cooperation derived from the evolutionary theories of kin selection and reciprocal altruism alongside well-established sociological predictions around the self-organisation of asymmetric relationships. Simulations are calibrated to exceptional public data on genetic relatedness and the provision of tangible aid amongst all 108 adult residents of a village of indigenous horticulturalists in Nicaragua (11,556 ordered dyads). Results indicate that relatedness and reciprocity are markedly less important to whom one helps compared to the supra-dyadic arrangement of the tangible aid network itself.
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Lende DH, Casper BI, Hoyt KB, Collura GL. Elements of Neuroanthropology. Front Psychol 2021; 12:509611. [PMID: 34712160 PMCID: PMC8545903 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.509611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2019] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuroanthropology is the integration of neuroscience into anthropology and aims to understand “brains in the wild.” This interdisciplinary field examines patterns of human variation in field settings and provides empirical research that complements work done in clinical and laboratory settings. Neuroanthropology often uses ethnography in combination with theories and methods from cognitive science as a way to capture how culture, mind, and brain interact. This article describes nine elements that outline how to do neuroanthropology research: (1) integrating biology and culture through neuroscience and biocultural anthropology; (2) extending focus of anthropology on what people say and do to include what people process; (3) sizing culture appropriately, from broad patterns of culture to culture in small-scale settings; (4) understanding patterns of cultural variation, in particular how culture produces patterns of shared variation; (5) considering individuals in interaction with culture, with levels of analysis that can go from biology to social structures; (6) focusing on interactive elements that bring together biological and cultural processes; (7) conceptual triangulation, which draws on anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience in conjunction with field, clinic, and laboratory; (8) critical complementarity as a way to integrate the strengths of critical scholarship with interdisciplinary work; and (9) using methodological triangulation as a way to advance interdisciplinary research. These elements are illustrated through three case studies: research on US combat veterans and how they use Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a way to manage the transition to becoming civilians, work on human-raptor interactions to understand how and why these interactions can prove beneficial for human handlers, and adapting cue reactivity research on addiction to a field-based approach to understand how people interact with cues in naturalistic settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel H Lende
- Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States
| | - Breanne I Casper
- Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States
| | - Kaleigh B Hoyt
- Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States
| | - Gino L Collura
- Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, United States
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Forster DE, Billingsley J, Burnette JL, Lieberman D, Ohtsubo Y, McCullough ME. Experimental evidence that apologies promote forgiveness by communicating relationship value. Sci Rep 2021; 11:13107. [PMID: 34162912 PMCID: PMC8222305 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92373-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Robust evidence supports the importance of apologies for promoting forgiveness. Yet less is known about how apologies exert their effects. Here, we focus on their potential to promote forgiveness by way of increasing perceptions of relationship value. We used a method for directly testing these causal claims by manipulating both the independent variable and the proposed mediator. Namely, we use a 2 (Apology: yes vs. no) × 2 (Value: high vs. low) concurrent double-randomization design to test whether apologies cause forgiveness by affecting the same causal pathway as relationship value. In addition to supporting this causal claim, we also find that apologies had weaker effects on forgiveness when received from high-value transgressors, suggesting that the forgiveness-relevant information provided by apologies is redundant with relationship value. Taken together, these findings from a rigorous methodological paradigm help us parse out how apologies promote relationship repair.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E Forster
- U.S. Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA
- University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
| | - Joseph Billingsley
- University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
- North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | | | | | - Yohsuke Ohtsubo
- Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
- University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Michael E McCullough
- University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA.
- University of California, San Diego, CA, USA.
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Abstract
The many tools that social and behavioral scientists use to gather data from their fellow humans have, in most cases, been honed on a rarefied subset of humanity: highly educated participants with unique capacities, experiences, motivations, and social expectations. Through this honing process, researchers have developed protocols that extract information from these participants with great efficiency. However, as researchers reach out to broader populations, it is unclear whether these highly refined protocols are robust to cultural differences in skills, motivations, and expected modes of social interaction. In this paper, we illustrate the kinds of mismatches that can arise when using these highly refined protocols with nontypical populations by describing our experience translating an apparently simple social discounting protocol to work in rural Bangladesh. Multiple rounds of piloting and revision revealed a number of tacit assumptions about how participants should perceive, understand, and respond to key elements of the protocol. These included facility with numbers, letters, abstract number lines, and 2D geometric shapes, and the treatment of decisions as a series of isolated events. Through on-the-ground observation and a collaborative refinement process, we developed a protocol that worked both in Bangladesh and among US college students. More systematic study of the process of adapting common protocols to new contexts will provide valuable information about the range of skills, motivations, and modes of interaction that participants bring to studies as we develop a more diverse and inclusive social and behavioral science.
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Tiokhin L, Hackman J, Munira S, Jesmin K, Hruschka D. Generalizability is not optional: insights from a cross-cultural study of social discounting. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2019; 6:181386. [PMID: 30891268 PMCID: PMC6408392 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.181386] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2018] [Accepted: 02/05/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Current scientific reforms focus more on solutions to the problem of reliability (e.g. direct replications) than generalizability. Here, we use a cross-cultural study of social discounting to illustrate the utility of a complementary focus on generalizability across diverse human populations. Social discounting is the tendency to sacrifice more for socially close individuals-a phenomenon replicated across countries and laboratories. Yet, when adapting a typical protocol to low-literacy, resource-scarce settings in Bangladesh and Indonesia, we find no independent effect of social distance on generosity, despite still documenting this effect among US participants. Several reliability and validity checks suggest that methodological issues alone cannot explain this finding. These results illustrate why we must complement replication efforts with investment in strong checks on generalizability. By failing to do so, we risk developing theories of human nature that reliably explain behaviour among only a thin slice of humanity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonid Tiokhin
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- Human Technology Interaction Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, IPO 1.24, PO Box 513, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Joseph Hackman
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Shirajum Munira
- LAMB Project for Integrated Health and Development, Parbatipur 5250, Bangladesh
| | - Khaleda Jesmin
- LAMB Project for Integrated Health and Development, Parbatipur 5250, Bangladesh
| | - Daniel Hruschka
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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Segal NL, Hernandez BA, Graham JL, Ettinger U. Pairs of Genetically Unrelated Look-Alikes : Further Tests of Personality Similarity and Social Affiliation. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2018; 29:402-417. [PMID: 30251001 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-018-9326-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Relationships of physical resemblance to personality similarity and social affiliation have generated considerable discussion among behavioral science researchers. A "twin-like" experimental design (involving genetically unrelated look-alikes, U-LAs) explores associations among resemblance in appearance, the Big Five personality traits, self-esteem, and social attraction within an evolutionary framework. The Personality for Professionals Inventory (PfPI), NEO/NEO-FFI-3, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and a Social Relationship Survey were variously completed by 45 U-LA pairs, identified from the "I'm Not a Look-Alike" project, Mentorn Media, and personal referrals. The mean U-LA intraclass correlations were negligible for all Big Five personality traits on the PfPI and NEO/NEO-FFI-3 (ri = -.02 and - .04, respectively). In contrast, mean ri values of .53 and .15 for monozygotic (MZA) and dizygotic (DZA) reared-apart twins, respectively, have been reported for these personality measures. The U-LA self-esteem correlation (ri = -.18) was also below the correlations reported for MZ and DZ reared-together twins (ri = .31 and .13, respectively). Finally, far fewer U-LAs expressed close social relationships (20%) than MZA (80%) and DZA (65%) twins. The present study extends earlier findings indicating that appearance is not meaningfully related to personality similarity and social relatedness. The criticism that MZ twins are alike in personality because their matched looks invite similar treatment by others is refuted. A more judicious interpretation is reactive genotype-environment correlation, namely that MZ twins' similar personalities evoke similar reactions from others. MZ twins' close social relations most likely derive from their perceptions of genetically based within-pair similarities that are lacking in U-LAs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nancy L Segal
- Department of Psychology, California State University, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA, 92834, USA.
| | | | - Jamie L Graham
- Department of Human Development & Family Sciences, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
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Thomas MG, Ji T, Wu J, He Q, Tao Y, Mace R. Kinship underlies costly cooperation in Mosuo villages. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2018; 5:171535. [PMID: 29515868 PMCID: PMC5830757 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171535] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2017] [Accepted: 01/18/2018] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The relative importance of social evolution theories such as kin selection, direct reciprocity and need-based transfers in explaining real-world cooperation is the source of much debate. Previous field studies of cooperation in human communities have revealed variability in the extent to which each of these theories explains human sociality in different contexts. We conducted multivariate social network analyses predicting costly cooperation-labouring on another household's farm-in 128 082 dyads of Mosuo farming households in southwest China. Through information-theoretic model selection, we tested the roles played by genealogical relatedness, affinal relationships (including reproductive partners), reciprocity, relative need, wealth, household size, spatial proximity and gift-giving in an economic game. The best-fitting model included all factors, along with interactions between relatedness and (i) reciprocity, (ii) need, (iii) the presence of own children in another household and (iv) proximity. Our results show how a real-world form of cooperation was driven by kinship. Households tended to help kin in need (but not needy non-kin) and travel further to help spatially distant relatives. Households were more likely to establish reciprocal relationships with distant relatives and non-kin but closer kin cooperated regardless of reciprocity. These patterns of kin-driven cooperation show the importance of inclusive fitness in understanding human social behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Gwynfryn Thomas
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW, UK
| | - Ting Ji
- Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Centre for Computational and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China
| | - Jiajia Wu
- Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, 222 Tianshui South Road, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, 730000, People's Republic of China
| | - QiaoQiao He
- Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Centre for Computational and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China
| | - Yi Tao
- Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Centre for Computational and Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China
| | - Ruth Mace
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW, UK
- Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, 222 Tianshui South Road, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, 730000, People's Republic of China
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Altruistic Behavior among Twins. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2017; 29:1-12. [DOI: 10.1007/s12110-017-9304-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Warmth, competence, and closeness may provide more empirically grounded starts for a theory of sentiments. Behav Brain Sci 2017; 40:e240. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x16000790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
AbstractGervais & Fessler dissect the folk concept of “contempt” to argue for a functionally integrated model of attitudes and emotions in the context of social relationships. Existing studies of how evaluations of warmth, competence, and closeness shape people's reactions and behaviors towards others may help in operationalizing and testing the proposed model.
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