Therefore, human offspring are highly dependent on caregiver investment, a necessity that serves as the precursor for theories on the development of pairbonding, alloparenting, and cooperative breeding. Cooperative breeding center for academic research and. Although relatively rare, cooperative breeding is widespread taxonomically and continues to pose challenges to our understanding of the evolution of cooperation and altruistic behavior. The expensivetissue hypothesis1 explains its evolution by proposing a tradeoff between the size of the brain and that of the digestive tract, which is smaller than expected for. 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. Longterm studies of behavior and ecology 1990, hb isbn 0521 372984, pb isbn 0521 378907. Particularly vexing has been identifying the ecological correlates of this phenomenon, which has been suggested to be favored in populations inhabiting both relatively stable, productive. Cooperative breeding in vertebrates edited by walter d. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution, evolutionary anthropology 18 2009. In eusocial insects, kin selection provides the only viable explanation for the evolution and maintenance of worker sterility 68, while in many obligately. Evolution of human cooperation anthropology bibliographies. Cooperative breeding and human evolution request pdf.
Comparative analyses suggest that cooperative breeding and allomaternal care in plural and communal breeders have distinct evolutionary. Studies of ecology, evolution, and behavior kindle edition by koenig, walter d. Cooperative breeding is a social system in which individuals contribute care to offspring that are not their own at the expense of their own reproduction. Big brains consume a large proportion of the energy available to an organism, in particular in immatures.
Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution burkart. According to the cooperative breeding hypothesis, allomaternal assistance was essential for child survival during the pleistocene. Cooperative breeding, in which more than a pair of conspecifics cooperate to raise young at a single nest or brood, is widespread among vertebrates but highly variable in its geographic distribution. Pdf despite sharing a recent common ancestor, humans are surprisingly different from other great apes. In terms of vocal behavior, however, both monkeys and apes appear to be much less flexible, which. Cooperative breeding encompasses a range of unusually flexible monogamous, polygynous and polyandrous mating systems in which individuals of either sex may mate sequentially or at the same time with one more partners, with one common feature. 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. In this commentary to his recent book a natural history of human thinking, i first critique some of. This is well documented in the context of ape gestural signals, which have revealed a considerable degree of flexibility in interesting ways. The questions above address different levels of explanation 1, 2 for human cognitive uniqueness, but ultimately a satisfactory account of human cognitive evolution will explain not only the mechanisms that make our species unique, but also how, when, and why these traits evolved.
I argue that a cooperative breeding model provides a more compelling explanation for distinctive human emotional and mental aptitudes than do competing hypotheses. Here we propose that these cognitive consequences of cooperative breeding could have become more pervasive in the human lineage because the psychological changes were added to an apelevel cognitive system capable of understanding simple mental states, albeit mainly in. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution faculty. Most scholars of language evolution recognize that the first use of language, in particular words, presupposed an unusual ability to cooperate. May 01, 2011 this ambitious book covers many areas including policy, society, economics, game theory, sociology, neurobiology, evolution, and group dynamics, just to name a few. Cooperative behaviour has been shown to provide individuals with either direct fitness benefits e. The evolution of cooperative breeding in early homo species also promoted other prosocial behaviors such as social learning, increased social. Yitzchak ben mocha1,2,3, roger mundry2 and simone pika4,5 1research group evolution of communication, max planck institute for ornithology, seewiesen, germany.
This book highlights the theoretical, empirical and technical advances that have taken place in the field of cooperative breeding research since the publication of the seminal work cooperative breeding in birds. Abstract despite sharing a recent common ancestor, humans are surprisingly different from other great apes. Jul 18, 2012 cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution, evolutionary anthropology 18 2009. Unraveling the evolution of uniquely human cognition pnas. This behaviour is particularly well studied in birds, using both longterm and comparative studies that have provided insights into the evolution of reproductive altruism. Among many nonhuman primates and mammals in general, cooperative breeding is accompanied by psychological changes leading to greater prosociality, which directly enhances performance in. The most obvious discontinuities are related to our cognitive abilities, including language, but we also have a markedly different, coopera. To date, scientists have made substantial progress toward defining uniquely human aspects of cognition, but considerably less effort has been devoted to questions about the evolutionary processes through which. The expensivetissue hypothesis 1 explains its evolution by proposing a tradeoff between the size of the brain and that of the. Humans take more or less twenty years to reach reproductive ma. Energetics and the evolution of human brain size nature. Sep 27, 2011 1 a similar argument is found in dubreuils book human evolution and the origins of hierarchies. Suzuki2 abstract cooperative breeding is a widespread and intense form of coop eration, in which individuals help raise offspring that are not their own.
Proponents of the cbh argue that cooperative breeding leads to increased cognitive performance, calling upon cognitive and motivational processes including spontaneous prosocial tendencies, attending to and learning from. I strongly recommend this book to any biologist interested in behavioral ecology, sociality, or ornithology. The most obvious discontinuities are related to our cognitive. Cambridge core animal behaviour cooperative breeding in vertebrates edited by walter d. 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.
Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution semantic. Pdf cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution. Reliance on allomaternal assistance would make maternal commitment more dependent on the mothers. Cognitive evolution provides an indepth exploration of the history and development of cognition, from the beginning of life on earth to presentday humans. In cooperative games it is possible to make a binding agreement. The origins of cooperative breeding are traced to misdirected parental care in species with intense parenting of altricial young. Ultimately, the absence of any compelling evidence that cooperative breeding is associated with elevated cognitive ability or large brains indeed data suggest the opposite is true in non. Similarities between cooperative breeding among humans and among platyrrhines are strikingly concrete and specific. Occasional cooperative breeding in birds and the robustness of comparative analyses concerning the evolution of cooperative breeding michael griesser1,2 and toshitaka n.
Humans and chimps are the most unlike in on these measures, with humans showing a very similar profile to callitrichids. Great apes possess many of the cognitive prerequisites for language, but largely lack the motivation to share information. Humans are not cooperative breeders but practice biocultural. Callitrichids including marmosets and tamarins are highly vocal monkeys that are more distantly related to humans.
Cooperative breeding encompasses a wide variety of group structures, from a breeding pair with helpers that are offspring from a previous season, to groups with multiple breeding males and females polygynandry and helpers that are the adult offspring of some but not all of the breeders in the group, to groups in which helpers sometimes achieve cobreeding status by producing their own offspring as. Cooperative breeders are species in which more than two individuals participate in raising young at a single nest. Implications of this evolutionary context for the sociocognitive and emotional. According to this viewpoint, human intelligence rests on a. Here we propose that these cognitive consequences of cooperative breeding could have become more pervasive in the human lineage because the psycho. Cooperative breeding and the evolution of vocal flexibility. The evolution and development of human cooperation federica amici. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution. Humans have a number of adaptations that facilitate the creation and. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution citeseerx. Second, pressure to recruit adult cooperation is most pronounced under more derived conditions of late dispersal and later ages of juvenile dependence, with a strong interaction at short birth intervals. Nov 20, 20 increasingly, human parenting behavior, which has been described as cooperative breeding because allomaternal parental care is essential for the raising of human young, is recognized as having played an important role in the evolution of these characteristics.
Among many nonhuman primates and mammals in general, cooperative breeding is accompanied by psychological changes leading to greater. Revisiting the consequences of cooperative breeding uzh. The cultural group selection cgs approach provides a compelling explanation for recent changes in human societies, but has trouble explaining why our ancestors, rather than any other great ape, evolved into a hyper cooperative niche. Two key steps in the evolution of human cooperation. She is considered a highly recognized pioneer in modernizing our understanding of the evolutionary basis of female behavior in both nonhuman and human primates. Ecology and evolution of cooperative breeding in birds. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution j.
One predominant hypothesis postulates that this hallmark of the unique cognitive system of humans evolved due to the combination of an apelike cognitive system and the prosocial motives that facilitate cooperative breeding. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution 2009 evolutionary anthropology. If cooperative breeding does not generate novel selection pressures on. Sep 24, 2009 we propose that the evolution of these derived features was a consequence of the adoption of cooperative breeding by early homo. Human cooperation strongly relies on the ability of interlocutors to coordinate each others attentional state. Oct 26, 2009 the most obvious discontinuities are related to our cognitive abilities, including language, but we also have a markedly different, cooperative breeding system.
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. Cooperation and helping behavior download ebook pdf. Fundamental problems with the cooperative breeding. Book symposium open access henrike moll tension in the natural history of human thinking doi 10. Primates communicate not only because they are biologically hardwired to do so, but also because they pursue specific goals during social interactions. 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 related to caregiving. Cooperative breeding is relevant to debates in anthropology concerning the evolution of human life history, sociality, and psychology and has implications for demographic patterns in todays world. In most cooperatively breeding species, helpers are offspring that remain with their. Evolution of human cooperation anthropology bibliographies in harvard style. Joint attention skills in wild arabian babblers turdoides squamiceps.
Hrdy university of california, department of anthropology, davis, ca 956168522, u. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading cooperative breeding in vertebra tes. No evidence for larger brains in cooperatively breeding. Kramer one conspicuous lifehistory feature of primates generally and humans speci. Group territorial behavior and cooperative breeding are now recognized as widespread phenomena among birds of warmtemperate, subtropical, and tropical climates. This breeding system permitted hominid females to produce offspring without increasing interbirth intervals, and allowed for movement into new habitats. Cooperative breeding and monogamy in mammalian societies. The acceptance of novel foods by infants is socially. Cooperative breeding is a widespread and intense form of cooperation, in which individuals help raise offspring that are not their own. Building on decades of research, hrdy 2009 and others e. Hatchwell department of animal and plant sciences, university of shef. 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. The cooperative breeding hypothesis can plug this gap and thus complement cgs, because recent comparative.
Wilson updates his earlier groundbreaking treatment of homo sapiens. Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. Among many nonhuman primates and mammals in general, cooperative breeding is accompanied by psychological changes leading to greater prosociality, which directly enhances performance in social cognition. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution core. Fundamental problems with the cooperative breeding hypothesis. Revisiting the consequences of cooperative breeding. When reproduction is monopolized by one or few of the adult group members and most adults do not reproduce, but help rear the breeders offspring, the majority of these cooperative breeding species exhibit high reproductive skew.
Van schaik despite sharing a recent common ancestor, humans are surprisingly different from other great apes. The timeline of human evolution spans approximately 7 million years, from the separation of the genus pan until the emergence of behavioral modernity by 50,000 years ago. Michael tomasello has greatly expanded our knowledge of human cognition and how it differs from that of other animals. Chapter 6, meet the alloparents, focuses instead on the development of cooperative breeding in the human lineage. Review the evolution of cooperative breeding in birds. Jul 24, 2009 snowdon 2001 suggested for non human primates which suggest that among mammals, cooperative breeding that cooperative breeding is linked to improved skills in generally produces conditions conducive to socio cognitive socio cognitive and communicative processes, and hrdy 1999, 2005a, b, 2009, burkart et al. Cognitive evolution download ebook pdf, epub, tuebl, mobi. The evolution of group territorial behavior and cooperative.
The lack of any evidence linking cooperative breeding with brain size evolution in non. Joint attention skills in wild arabian babblers turdoides. The role of ontogeny in the evolution of human cooperation. The role of cooperative breeding in modern human evolution. Here i focus on the implications for the emotional and cognitive. Drawing together evolutionary and comparative research, this book. Energetics and the evolution of human brain size ana navarrete 1, carel p. With this cooperative breeding hypothesis cbh rapidly gaining currency, the time is ripe for a critical appraisal. E book or pdf edited book email encyclopedia article govt. Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution jm burkart, sb hrdy, cp van schaik evolutionary anthropology. There, however, the focus is more on joint attention and norm following than on executive control. Cooperative breeders are species in which individuals beyond a pair assist in the production of young in a single brood or litter.
Among the species that adopted it, cooperative breeding generally produced changes in psychology toward greater prosociality and greater cognitive abilities. Humans are not cooperative breeders in surveys of the literature on breeding systems, cluttonbrock 2002 and hrdy 2009 reported that between 510% of mammalian species are cooperative in breeding. Here we propose that these cognitive consequences of cooperative breeding. Cooperative feeding and breeding, and the evolution of. The most obvious discontinuities are related to our cognitive abilities, including language, but we also have a markedly different, cooperative breeding system. Unraveling the evolution of uniquely human cognition. Occasional cooperative breeding in birds and the robustness. Although relatively rare, this behaviour entails dramatic forms of both cooperation and competition, and gives important insights into many areas including sexual selection and incest avoidance. Cognitive consequences of cooperative breeding in primates. Among many nonhuman primates and mammals in general, cooperative breeding is accompanied by psychological changes leading to greater prosociality, which directly enhances performance in social. Ecological factors which cause selection for group territorial behavior are considered to be high adult survival and saturation of suitable habitat, modified by the demands of.