Human Sociobiology

Human Sociobiology

• Scientific study that drives the evolution of social behavior that borrows disciplines of psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and genetics

• Humans adapted to living in a social environment

Example of an adaptive, evolved physical traits
of sociobiology

• Bipedalism in the primate lineage

• Thick fur in animals living in cold regions

Examples of adaptive, evolved social behaviors of Sociobiology

• Mothers protective of their offspring

• Altruism: Food sharing among chimpanzees

• Infanticide: killing of infants by newly dominant male

• Aggression: Mate & resource competition

  MIT Press Reader

• Dmitry Belyaev’s (1954)

  attempts to domesticate

  foxes and influence

  behavioral traits

Dmitry Belyaev

• Started fox breeding program and selectively bred foxes that showed low fear and high friendliness toward humans

• Findings: Behavior can be evolved the same way physical traits can, dogs have evolved due to human interference to be more docile

Social Biology of Facial Expressions: Darwin - Today

• First to consider human behavioral characteristics through evolutionary lens

• Noticed humans around the world display similar emotions through their facial expressions

Paul Ekman (FACS)

• Study of how biology correlates with emotions and how humans convey them through facial expressions

• Developed Facial Action Coding System to categorize emotions expressed in the face

• AU - Units of FACS is a combination of AU’s to produce basic emotion expression

Cross Cultural Conservation

• Facial expressions are universal with basic emotions

• Do exhibit unconscious biases in attending to info based on familiarity with groups of people

• Helps others from the community to stay away from food or objects, danger/safety

Own Race Advantage

People can ID emotion in own racial/ethnic group vs of other groups

History of Sociobiology: E.O Watson

His book combined humans and animals into Sociobiology

• Controversial

  • Last chapter most controversial it addressed the evolutionary basis of social behavior

• Argued we should analyze social behaviors through evolutionary lenses instead of psychological or sociological lens

Evolutionary Psychology

• Identifies how psychological processes emotions and behaviors evolved from early humans and examines how natural selection shaped human psych traits

• Some evolved behaviors may be maladaptive since environments change i.e motivation for high sugar/high-fat foods to find high quality food now causes health issues when food is abundant.

Nature vs Nuture

• Social, cultural factors (nurture) change human behavior, genetic factors (nature) can also play a significant role

• Humans have the capacity to change their behaviors to better fit in with society. This capacity is likely evolved. For example, Phineas Gage

• Interestingly enough, your environment can actually change how your genes are expressed

Basic tenets of human sociobiology research

1. The human mind and human behavior are/were shaped by natural selection

2. The human mind uses heuristics (strategies) to increase the likelihood of solving problems our ancestors routinely faces

3. There is a shared, and more or less universal, core human nature

1. The Cinderella Effect

• HUMAN MIND + BEHAVIOR SHAPED BY NATURAL SELECTION

• Evolution favors ensuring survival and reproduction of genetically related offspring (Inclusive Fitness).

• The phenomenon of favoritism for genetically related children and higher incidence of mistreatment by stepparents than by biological parents.

2. Oxytocin and Social Trusting

• HUMAN MIND + BEHAVIOR SHAPED BY NATURAL SELECTION

• Oxytocin is colloquially described as the love hormone because of its prosocial effect

• Participants were given oxytocin or placebo and played a trust game or a lottery game

• Participants who took oxytocin bet more than placebo in a game of trust rather than a game of lottery

• Oxytocin makes people more trusting of other people but doesn’t make them more risky

• Findings: Oxytocin prevented distrust of another person but did not affect risking behavior

Wason Task & Cheater Detection

• HUMAN MIND USES HEURISTICS (STRATS) TO INCREASE LIKELIHOOD OF SOLVING PROBLEMS OUR ANCESTORS ROUTINELY FACES

• Tasks were logically identical, but one seemed easier to complete than the other.

• Superior performance on the second version of the task may be due to the human possession of a specialized cheater detection module.

• Such a module would presumably benefit individuals in

  environments where repeated, reciprocal interactions occurred

Why detect cheaters

• So you can punish people who cheat!

• And, if you really want to support cooperation, you can even use such a module to punish others who neglect to punish cheaters (strong reciprocity)

• If you do not punish cheaters, cooperation doesn’t happen in large groups

Visiting Green Spaces Increases Mindfulness

• SHARED CORE HUMAN NATURE RESULTING IN COMMON EXPERIENCE

• Researchers found that people who went on walks throughout the parks and forests were less stressed, more mindful, and happier compared to those who went to the city happens appreciate green space since it is connected to feelings of wellbeing

Facial symmetry is attractive

• SHARED CORE HUMAN NATURE RESULTING IN COMMON EXPERIENCE

• Suggest health and fertility → enhance reproductive success

• A biological pattern symmetry = attractiveness

The Naturalistic Fallacy

• Is the idea that what is found in nature is inherently good

Biological Determinism

Assumption: -the idea that most human characteristics, physical and mental, are determined at conception by hereditary factors passed from parent to offspring

‘Just so’ Stories + Ancient Humans

Some scientists have been/are guilty of “adaptive storytelling”

• an ad hoc evolutionary narrative to explain a behavior that is unverifiable and unfalsifiable