Life history impacts on infancy and the evolution of human social cognition
Greater longevity, slower maturation and shorter birth intervals are life history features that distinguish humans from the other living members of our hominid family, the great apes. Theory and evidence synthesized here suggest the evolution of those features can explain both our bigger brains and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1197378/full |
| _version_ | 1797629687683350528 |
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| author | Kristen Hawkes |
| author_facet | Kristen Hawkes |
| author_sort | Kristen Hawkes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Greater longevity, slower maturation and shorter birth intervals are life history features that distinguish humans from the other living members of our hominid family, the great apes. Theory and evidence synthesized here suggest the evolution of those features can explain both our bigger brains and our cooperative sociality. I rely on Sarah Hrdy’s hypothesis that survival challenges for ancestral infants propelled the evolution of distinctly human socioemotional appetites and Barbara Finlay and colleagues’ findings that mammalian brain size is determined by developmental duration. Similar responsiveness to varying developmental contexts in chimpanzee and human one-year-olds suggests similar infant responsiveness in our nearest common ancestor. Those ancestral infants likely began to acquire solid food while still nursing and fed themselves at weaning as chimpanzees and other great apes do now. When human ancestors colonized habitats lacking foods that infants could handle, dependents’ survival became contingent on subsidies. Competition to engage subsidizers selected for capacities and tendencies to enlist and maintain social connections during the early wiring of expanding infant brains with lifelong consequences that Hrdy labeled “emotionally modern” social cognition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T10:56:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d60189d6387648778cc9c44b7b0fcfd2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T10:56:39Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-d60189d6387648778cc9c44b7b0fcfd22023-11-13T06:29:40ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782023-11-011410.3389/fpsyg.2023.11973781197378Life history impacts on infancy and the evolution of human social cognitionKristen HawkesGreater longevity, slower maturation and shorter birth intervals are life history features that distinguish humans from the other living members of our hominid family, the great apes. Theory and evidence synthesized here suggest the evolution of those features can explain both our bigger brains and our cooperative sociality. I rely on Sarah Hrdy’s hypothesis that survival challenges for ancestral infants propelled the evolution of distinctly human socioemotional appetites and Barbara Finlay and colleagues’ findings that mammalian brain size is determined by developmental duration. Similar responsiveness to varying developmental contexts in chimpanzee and human one-year-olds suggests similar infant responsiveness in our nearest common ancestor. Those ancestral infants likely began to acquire solid food while still nursing and fed themselves at weaning as chimpanzees and other great apes do now. When human ancestors colonized habitats lacking foods that infants could handle, dependents’ survival became contingent on subsidies. Competition to engage subsidizers selected for capacities and tendencies to enlist and maintain social connections during the early wiring of expanding infant brains with lifelong consequences that Hrdy labeled “emotionally modern” social cognition.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1197378/fullhominid comparisonsmaturation ratesbirth intervalsfeeding dependencesibling rivalryparent-offspring conflict |
| spellingShingle | Kristen Hawkes Life history impacts on infancy and the evolution of human social cognition Frontiers in Psychology hominid comparisons maturation rates birth intervals feeding dependence sibling rivalry parent-offspring conflict |
| title | Life history impacts on infancy and the evolution of human social cognition |
| title_full | Life history impacts on infancy and the evolution of human social cognition |
| title_fullStr | Life history impacts on infancy and the evolution of human social cognition |
| title_full_unstemmed | Life history impacts on infancy and the evolution of human social cognition |
| title_short | Life history impacts on infancy and the evolution of human social cognition |
| title_sort | life history impacts on infancy and the evolution of human social cognition |
| topic | hominid comparisons maturation rates birth intervals feeding dependence sibling rivalry parent-offspring conflict |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1197378/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kristenhawkes lifehistoryimpactsoninfancyandtheevolutionofhumansocialcognition |