1
|
Smith KM, Mabulla IA, Apicella CL. Hearing Prosocial Stories Increases Hadza Hunter-Gatherers' Generosity in an Economic Game. HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2023; 34:103-121. [PMID: 36826777 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-023-09444-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
Abstract
Folk stories featuring prosocial content are ubiquitous across cultures. One explanation for the ubiquity of such stories is that stories teach people about the local socioecology, including norms of prosociality, and stories featuring prosocial content may increase generosity in listeners. We tested this hypothesis in a sample of 185 Hadza hunter-gatherers. We read participants a story in which the main character either swims with another person (control story) or rescues him from drowning (prosocial story). After hearing the story, participants played a dictator game with dried meat sticks and then were given a recall test of facts presented in the story. There was moderate evidence for a small effect of the prosocial story: participants who heard the prosocial story gave an estimated 0.22 [90% HDI: -0.12-0.57] more meat sticks than those who heard the control story. However, the association between generosity and sex, marital status, and region of residence was stronger; men gave more than women, unmarried participants gave more than married participants, and participants living in a region with more exposure to markets gave more than participants living further from markets. There was no evidence that the prosocial story was more easily recalled than the control story. These results provide some support for the hypothesis that prosocial stories can increase prosociality in listeners, though the effect of hearing a single story is small.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kristopher M Smith
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.
| | - Ibrahim A Mabulla
- Department of Archaeology and History, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Coren L Apicella
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Smith KM, Pisor AC, Aron B, Bernard K, Fimbo P, Kimesera R, Borgerhoff Mulder M. Friends near and afar, through thick and thin: Comparing contingency of help between close-distance and long-distance friends in Tanzanian fishing villages. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
|
3
|
Pisor AC, Ross CT. Distinguishing Intergroup and Long-Distance Relationships. HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2022; 33:280-303. [PMID: 36181615 PMCID: PMC9741575 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-022-09431-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Intergroup and long-distance relationships are both central features of human social life, but because intergroup relationships are emphasized in the literature, long-distance relationships are often overlooked. Here, we make the case that intergroup and long-distance relationships should be studied as distinct, albeit related, features of human sociality. First, we review the functions of both kinds of relationship: while both can be conduits for difficult-to-access resources, intergroup relationships can reduce intergroup conflict whereas long-distance relationships are especially effective at buffering widespread resource shortfalls. Second, to illustrate the importance of distinguishing the two relationship types, we present a case study from rural Bolivia. Combining ethnography and two different experimental techniques, we find that the importance of intergroup relationships-and the salience of group membership itself-varies across populations and across methods. Although ethnography revealed that participants often rely on long-distance relationships for resource access, we were unable to capture participant preferences for these relationships with a forced-choice technique. Taken together, our review and empirical data highlight that (1) intergroup and long-distance relationships can have different functions and can be more or less important in different contexts and (2) validating experimental field data with ethnography is crucial for work on human sociality. We close by outlining future directions for research on long-distance relationships in humans.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anne C. Pisor
- grid.30064.310000 0001 2157 6568Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA USA ,grid.419518.00000 0001 2159 1813Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Cody T. Ross
- grid.419518.00000 0001 2159 1813Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Rigaud S, Manen C, García-Martínez de Lagrán I. Symbols in motion: Flexible cultural boundaries and the fast spread of the Neolithic in the western Mediterranean. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0196488. [PMID: 29715284 PMCID: PMC5929525 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2017] [Accepted: 04/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The rapid diffusion of farming technologies in the western Mediterranean raises questions about the mechanisms that drove the development of intensive contact networks and circulation routes between incoming Neolithic communities. Using a statistical method to analyze a brand-new set of cultural and chronological data, we document the large-scale processes that led to variations between Mediterranean archaeological cultures, and micro-scale processes responsible for the transmission of cultural practices within farming communities. The analysis of two symbolic productions, pottery decorations and personal ornaments, shed light on the complex interactions developed by Early Neolithic farmers in the western Mediterranean area. Pottery decoration diversity correlates with local processes of circulation and exchange, resulting in the emergence and the persistence of stylistic and symbolic boundaries between groups, while personal ornaments reflect extensive networks and the high level of mobility of Early Neolithic farmers. The two symbolic productions express different degrees of cultural interaction that may have facilitated the successful and rapid expansion of early farming societies in the western Mediterranean.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Solange Rigaud
- CNRS, UMR 5199 –PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, Bâtiment, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, Pessac, France
- * E-mail:
| | - Claire Manen
- CNRS, UMR 5608 –TRACES, Université Toulouse–Jean Jaurès, Maison de la Recherche, 5, allées Antonio-Machado, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
| | | |
Collapse
|
5
|
Bunce JA, McElreath R. Sustainability of minority culture when inter-ethnic interaction is profitable. Nat Hum Behav 2018. [DOI: 10.1038/s41562-018-0306-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
|
6
|
|
7
|
Schniter E, Wilcox NT, Beheim BA, Kaplan HS, Gurven M. Information transmission and the oral tradition: Evidence of a late-life service niche for Tsimane Amerindians. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2018; 39:94-105. [PMID: 34650327 PMCID: PMC8513776 DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Storytelling can affect wellbeing and fitness by transmitting information and reinforcing cultural codes of conduct. Despite their potential importance, the development and timing of storytelling skills, and the transmission of story knowledge have received minimal attention in studies of subsistence societies that more often focus on food production skills. Here we examine how storytelling and patterns of information transmission among Tsimane forager-horticulturalists are predicted by the changing age profiles of storytellers' abilities and accumulated experience. We find that storytelling skills are most developed among older adults who demonstrate superior knowledge of traditional stories and who report telling stories most. We find that the important information transmitted via storytelling typically flows from older to younger generations, and stories are primarily learned from older same-sex relatives, especially grandparents. Our findings suggest that the oral tradition provides a specialized late-life service niche for Tsimane adults who have accumulated important experience and knowledge relevant to foraging and sociality, but have lost comparative advantage in other productive domains. These findings may help extend our understanding of the evolved human life history by illustrating how changes in embodied capital predict the development of information transmission services in a forager-horticulturalist economy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eric Schniter
- Economic Science Institute, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866, United States
| | - Nathaniel T. Wilcox
- Economic Science Institute, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866, United States
| | - Bret A. Beheim
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Hillard S. Kaplan
- Economic Science Institute, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange, CA 92866, United States
| | - Michael Gurven
- Integrative Anthropological Sciences Unit, University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, United States
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Bortolini E, Pagani L, Crema ER, Sarno S, Barbieri C, Boattini A, Sazzini M, da Silva SG, Martini G, Metspalu M, Pettener D, Luiselli D, Tehrani JJ. Inferring patterns of folktale diffusion using genomic data. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:9140-9145. [PMID: 28784786 PMCID: PMC5576778 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1614395114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Observable patterns of cultural variation are consistently intertwined with demic movements, cultural diffusion, and adaptation to different ecological contexts [Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman (1981) Cultural Transmission and Evolution: A Quantitative Approach; Boyd and Richerson (1985) Culture and the Evolutionary Process]. The quantitative study of gene-culture coevolution has focused in particular on the mechanisms responsible for change in frequency and attributes of cultural traits, the spread of cultural information through demic and cultural diffusion, and detecting relationships between genetic and cultural lineages. Here, we make use of worldwide whole-genome sequences [Pagani et al. (2016) Nature 538:238-242] to assess the impact of processes involving population movement and replacement on cultural diversity, focusing on the variability observed in folktale traditions (n = 596) [Uther (2004) The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography. Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson] in Eurasia. We find that a model of cultural diffusion predicted by isolation-by-distance alone is not sufficient to explain the observed patterns, especially at small spatial scales (up to [Formula: see text]4,000 km). We also provide an empirical approach to infer presence and impact of ethnolinguistic barriers preventing the unbiased transmission of both genetic and cultural information. After correcting for the effect of ethnolinguistic boundaries, we show that, of the alternative models that we propose, the one entailing cultural diffusion biased by linguistic differences is the most plausible. Additionally, we identify 15 tales that are more likely to be predominantly transmitted through population movement and replacement and locate putative focal areas for a set of tales that are spread worldwide.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eugenio Bortolini
- Complexity and Socio-Ecological Dynamics Research Group, Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Institución Milá y Fontanals, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), 08001 Barcelona, Spain;
- Department of Humanities, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08005 Barcelona, Spain
- Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology, Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Luca Pagani
- Estonian Biocentre, 51010 Tartu, Estonia
- Department of Biology, University of Padova, 35131 Padua, Italy
| | - Enrico R Crema
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, CB2 3DZ Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Stefania Sarno
- Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology, Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Chiara Barbieri
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Alessio Boattini
- Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology, Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Marco Sazzini
- Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology, Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Sara Graça da Silva
- Institute for the Study of Literature and Tradition, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, New University of Lisbon, 1069-061 Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Gessica Martini
- Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, DH1 3LE Durham, United Kingdom
| | | | - Davide Pettener
- Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology, Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Donata Luiselli
- Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology, Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Jamshid J Tehrani
- Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Department of Anthropology, Durham University, DH1 3LE Durham, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Whiten A, Ayala FJ, Feldman MW, Laland KN. The extension of biology through culture. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:7775-7781. [PMID: 28739924 PMCID: PMC5544333 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1707630114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Whiten
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9JP, United Kingdom;
| | - Francisco J Ayala
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697
| | | | - Kevin N Laland
- Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9JP, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
|
11
|
Pisor AC, Gurven M. Risk buffering and resource access shape valuation of out-group strangers. Sci Rep 2016; 6:30435. [PMID: 27470126 PMCID: PMC4965756 DOI: 10.1038/srep30435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2016] [Accepted: 07/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Unlike other primates, humans exhibit extensive inter-group tolerance and frequently build relationships with out-group members. Despite its common occurrence, little is known about the conditions leading to out-group relationship building in humans. What are the social and ecological factors promoting valuation of out-group members as potential social partners? Do they differ from those promoting valuation of in-group members? We propose that opportunities for non-local resource access and resource buffering, crucial in the human foraging niche, will increase valuation of out-group strangers. Using survey and experimental data collected among three Bolivian horticultural populations, we find that individuals with fewer non-locally available resources and more information about out-groups demonstrate more generosity toward out-group strangers, but not in-group strangers. The effects are specific to subjective resource access, not objective measures of access, and out-group exposure, not stereotypes. Further, depending on the measure, existing network connections affect both out-group and in-group giving, suggesting that new partnerships from both in-groups and out-groups may bolster one's networks. Our results illustrate how evolved human psychology is sensitive to the costs and benefits of both out-group and in-group relationships, but underscore that the social and ecological factors favoring new relationships with in-group versus out-group strangers may differ.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anne C Pisor
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210, USA.,Department of Human Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Michael Gurven
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-3210, USA
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
da Silva SG, Tehrani JJ. Comparative phylogenetic analyses uncover the ancient roots of Indo-European folktales. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2016; 3:150645. [PMID: 26909191 PMCID: PMC4736946 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2015] [Accepted: 12/10/2015] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Ancient population expansions and dispersals often leave enduring signatures in the cultural traditions of their descendants, as well as in their genes and languages. The international folktale record has long been regarded as a rich context in which to explore these legacies. To date, investigations in this area have been complicated by a lack of historical data and the impact of more recent waves of diffusion. In this study, we introduce new methods for tackling these problems by applying comparative phylogenetic methods and autologistic modelling to analyse the relationships between folktales, population histories and geographical distances in Indo-European-speaking societies. We find strong correlations between the distributions of a number of folktales and phylogenetic, but not spatial, associations among populations that are consistent with vertical processes of cultural inheritance. Moreover, we show that these oral traditions probably originated long before the emergence of the literary record, and find evidence that one tale ('The Smith and the Devil') can be traced back to the Bronze Age. On a broader level, the kinds of stories told in ancestral societies can provide important insights into their culture, furnishing new perspectives on linguistic, genetic and archaeological reconstructions of human prehistory.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sara Graça da Silva
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Institute for the Study of Literature and Tradition, New University of Lisbon, Avenida de Berna, 26-C, Lisboa 1069-061, Portugal
| | - Jamshid J. Tehrani
- Department of Anthropology and Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Durham University, Durham DH1 1LE, UK
| |
Collapse
|