* Personality = unique variation of human nature * Personality develops across one’s life course vs. * Human nature has developed through evolution and history Human nature’s beginning: humans were intelligent, bipedal, and lived together in social groups ## ^^The Evolution of Big Brains and Human Sociality^^ * Features of human nature that differentiate us from different species: * Tremendous cognitive power/ intelligence * Eg: language, reason, creativity, innovation, imagination, tool use, advances in science and technology * Social nature; we naturally group together * Eg: pair-bonding, family formation, group identification, cooperation, altruism, competition, warfare, religion, government, culture * Personality is expressed through behavior, thought, and feeling that occur in __social contexts__ * Big brains + intense social relationships go together * Eg: species with the biggest brains relative to body size tend to form monogamous pair-bond * Primates = big brains + the neocortex occupies a big part of their brain * Neocortex = responsible for governing conscious thought, planning, and decision making * The bigger the groups in which individuals live, the bigger their neocortex is Eg: humans live in the largest groups and our neocortex accounts for 80% of our whole brain * Eusociality: members of eusocial species live in coordinated and multigenerational groups using division of labor * Evolution: 1- Bipedalism: free hands - manipulate objects and food 2- Tools: use of tools 3- Meat: the harvesting of meat became one of many social tasks requiring coordination and cooperation → led to the formation of highly organized groups 4- Fire: learned to control fire - used to cook - led to social activity such as sharing cooked meals, which enhanced social bonding 5- Campsites: establishment of campsites created a greater division of labor and more complex organizations 6- Culture: the development of language led to human creativity 7- Agriculture: led to an increase in group size and eventually the creation of small towns and cities * Shared intentionality: sharing with others our intentions to work more efficiently to accomplish a joint task * The development of this trait led to the establishment of shared morality, ethical codes, religious sensibilities, and human government * Prefrontal cortex: complex decision-making + social behavior * Temporal lobes: language ## ^^It’s All About the Group^^ * Autrey’s story: he saved a man having a seizure from being crushed by a subway - selfless heroism * __Mother-infant attachment__: a bond of love that forms in the first year of the infant’s life to serve the evolutionary demand of protecting the helpless infant from predators and other dangers in the environment * __Kin selection__: individuals may show altruism toward those with whom they share a significant allotment of genes * __Reciprocal altruism__: helping other individual human beings in your group and expecting them to return the favor eventually * __Inclusive fitness__: someone’s survival and overall reproductive chances * People cooperate because group members cannot survive without each other * __Multilevel selection__: evolution works at many different levels * Eg: evolved tendencies that directly benefit groups may exist simultaneously with evolved tendencies that directly benefit selfish behavior within the group * Humans have a natural *need to belong* to all sorts of social groupings * Condition to belong to a group = prosocial behavior * __Group identification__: people naturally identify with social groups and experience the group’s triumphs and setbacks as if they were their own * __Minimal group paradigm__: people in a random group start to believe their group is superior to another opposing group and develop a prejudice against the “other” group * Eg: allegiance to sports teams * __Social identity__: someone’s own thoughts and feelings regarding how they fit into a group, their role, and function in the group, and what membership in the group means more generally for their life * Groups * In-groups: groups to which one belongs * Out-groups: groups that are in direct opposition to the groups to which you belong → Parents, teachers, and other socializers of a group teach children the group’s customs, traditions, moral codes, valued technologies, and history * Humans hold strong moral intuitions regarding: 1. physical harm 2. fairness and reciprocity 3. respect for legitimate authority 4. loyalty to in-groups 5. purity or sanctity * Religion: shared beliefs and feelings of kinship - leads to subordination * It has given motivation for some of the greatest achievements and acts of infamy ## ^^Exhibit A For a Eusocial Species: Charles Darwin, Himself^^ * __Natural selection__: theory of evolution * The problem of balance: how do humans achieve both social acceptance and social status? how to win both power and love in one’s group? how to get along with others while also getting ahead of them? ## ^^Getting Along And Getting Ahead^^ * These 2 challenges have been around for over 100,000 years ago * __Socioanalytic theory of personality__ (by Robert Hogan): human beings are biologically wired to live in social groups that are organized into status hierarchies * It is in human nature to seek social acceptance and social status * Group life = social performance * We are all actors playing our roles and trying to manage the impressions of other group members * Self-presentation + Impression management * Importance of reputation: how you are perceived by your group. It is mainly conveyed by gossip, which often promotes cooperation in groups * Personality begins with the different reputations that humans achieve in their social groups * The variations in personality mattered throughout evolution for getting along and getting ahead in social groups * __Personality__: depends on recognizable variation in social performance → Human beings can have social relationships with a maximum of 150 other human beings at a given time in their lives (beyond 150, we can’t keep track of who is who) * Personality: * Behavioral attributions that other people make about you as they observe your social performances * The attributions you make about yourself as you observe yourself in social action and as you observe others observing you