Social Complexity

Question 1

Hypothesis of brain evolution

- Biological Approach

Answer 1

Cognition = Product of evolution
- Cognitive skills = Adaptations to socio-ecological environment

• Functions = Decision making, controlling behaviour
• Brain size = Rough proxy for sophistication of cognition (esp. intraspecifically)
• Benefit = Large brains -> Higher flexibility (process and store more info)
• Cost factor: Development and maintenance of the brain/CNS is expensive

Question 2

Hypothesis of brain evolution

- Comparative Approach

Answer 2

Homology argument

• Comparison of closely related species (common ancestor)
• > Which traits are shared?
• Relatives share similar skills
• Every species relies on cog. adaptations (as long as they work)

Analogy argument:

• Comparison of distantly related species (e.g. mammals and birds)
• Similar selection pressures -> Similar cog. adaptations
• Convergent cog. evolution

Question 3

Cognitive adaptations / Main drivers (theories) of cognition/brain evolution
- Overview

Answer 3

Cognitive skills = Domain general

Ecological domain

• Foraging: Food distribution + Extractive foraging
• Locomotion: Bipedia + Locomotion flexibility

Social domain
- Social intelligence / Social Complexity Hypothesis

Question 4

Cognitive adaptations / Main drivers (theories) of cognition/brain evolution
- Ecological domain: Foraging

Answer 4

• Food distribution
  = Patchly distributed food should push capacity for
  > orientation
  > calculation
  > memory
  to find, identify, categorise, quantify and manipulate food.

- Extractive foraging
= Accessibility of food
> Problem solving
> Means-end understanding
> Tool use
> Some kind of understanding of underlying physical cause

Question 5

Cognitive adaptations / Main drivers/theories of cog./brain evolution
- Ecological domain: Locomotion

Answer 5

Bipedia
- Opportunity to work with hands, tool use

> Improves intelligence
Not very much supported, no correlation to intelligence!

Locomotion flexibility
- Orthograde climbing requires body-/self-recognition

> Diff. movement of apes and monkey due to weight diff. (apes = heavier -> need to be more aware of what they can do and what not)
Not very much supported!

Question 6

Cognitive adaptations / Main drivers/theories of cog./brain evolution
- Social domain (incl. diff. to ecological domain/cogn. adaptations)

Answer 6

Social Intelligence / Social Complexity Hypothesis

Social domain implys additional cognitive adaptations:

• Animals = (Re-)active, behave autonomously
  > Require interactions (based on social knowledge)
  > Require diff. kinds of manipulation (e.g. via communication)
  > Can be used as source of information (social learning)
  > Members of a group possess same cogn. adaptations -> Ratchet effect
• Intra- vs. interspecific relations

Question 7

Ratchet effect

Answer 7

Intraspecific

• Same cog. skills lead to high pressure in outsmarting conspecifics
• If higher cog. abilities lead to higher reproductive success in some individuals -> Average cog. skills of populations shifts up over generations

Question 8

Prosocial behaviour

- Def. + examples

Answer 8

Social behaviour that benefits another individual or a whole group:

• Helping
• Sharing
• Cooperating

Question 9

Prosocial behaviour

- Motivations

Answer 9

• Empathy
• Sympathetic concern
• Reciprocity
• Own reputation

Question 10

Prosocial behaviour

- Test

Answer 10

Tool transfer task (targeted helping?)
- Ind. A needs help
- B has tool that A needs
- Does B help A without being immediately rewarded?
> Chimps, Goffins(?)