Evolutionary Psychology, Human Universals, and the Standard Social Science Model

Proponents of evolutionary psychology take the existence of humanuniversals to constitute decisive evidence in favor of their view. Ifthe same social norms are found in culture after culture, we have goodreason to believe that they are innate, they argue. In this paper Ipropose an alternative explanation for the existence of humanuniversals, which does not depend on them being the product of inbuiltpsychological adaptations. Following the work of Brian Skyrms, I suggestthat if a particular convention possesses even a very small advantageover competitors, whatever the reason for that advantage, we shouldexpect it to become the norm almost everywhere. Tiny advantages aretranslated into very large basins of attraction, in the language of gametheory. If this is so, universal norms are not evidence for innatepsychological adaptations at all. Having shown that the existence ofuniversals is consistent with the so-called Standard Social ScienceModel, I turn to a consideration of the evidence, to show that thisstyle of explanation is preferable to the evolutionary explanation, atleast with regard to patterns of gender inequality.     

Egg concealment in ascidians by females of the Japanese tubesnout, Aulichthys japonicus (Gasterosteiformes), and its subsequent copulation

The reproductive behaviors of the Japanese tubesnout, Aulichthys japonicus, the only fish among gasterosteiform fish that conceals eggs in ascidians, were observed in aquaria. Yellow nuptial-colored males attending at ascidian courted gravid females. The nuptial color could be an advertisement to females for depositing sites, and courtships seemed to facilitate female spawning. The females spawned eggs above the ascidian and immediately placed their eggs with their mouths into the peribranchial cavity. Males never ejaculated on eggs after spawning, but attempted to copulate with females during a period of several minutes, and one or a few males with the remarkable nuptial color frequently copulated using their urogenital papilla. An evolutionary scenario of unique egg concealment and subsequent copulation is proposed.     

Early false-belief understanding in traditional non-Western societies

The psychological capacity to recognize that others may hold and act on false beliefs has been proposed to reflect an evolved, species-typical adaptation for social reasoning in humans; however, controversy surrounds the developmental timing and universality of this trait. Cross-cultural studies using elicited-response tasks indicate that the age at which children begin to understand false beliefs ranges from 4 to 7 years across societies, whereas studies using spontaneous-response tasks with Western children indicate that false-belief understanding emerges much earlier, consistent with the hypothesis that false-belief understanding is a psychological adaptation that is universally present in early childhood. To evaluate this hypothesis, we used three spontaneous-response tasks that have revealed early false-belief understanding in the West to test young children in three traditional, non-Western societies: Salar (China), Shuar/Colono (Ecuador) and Yasawan (Fiji). Results were comparable with those from the West, supporting the hypothesis that false-belief understanding reflects an adaptation that is universally present early in development.     

The significance of biparental care in the brown bullhead,Ictalurus nebulosus

Synopsis Parental care in the brown bullhead is characterized by variation in the participation of each sex. Most broods are attended by both sexes, but some are attended by a male alone, or rarely, a female alone. Two care-givers were more successful than one alone in fostering offspring survival. However, there was no significant difference between two care-givers and one alone in the proportion of time that broods were unattended. Potential brood predators were chased less frequently by one adult alone than by adults aided by their mate. This difference may be unimportant since two adults simultaneously attended their brood only 19% of the time. Males alone attended their broods a significantly greater proportion of time than did either males or females aided by their mates. This difference suggests that males alone sustain a greater cost of care-giving (starvation and therefore reduced future reproduction) than do males aided by their mates. Thus, males alone may more often leave broods (and not return) than males that are aided in care-giving. The differential success observed may be due to a difference in the likelihood that the male (the principal care-giver) leaves the brood permanently, rather than differences in the quality of care one or two adults provide. I suggest that two care-givers are more successful than one because the net benefits of care-giving exceed the net benefits of leaving for males when aided by their mates.     

Archetype, adaptation and the mammalian heart

Forty years ago, we started our quest for ‘The Holy Grail’ of understanding ventricular rate control and rhythm in atrial fibrillation (AF). We therefore studied the morphology and function of a wide range of mammalian hearts. From mouse to whale, we found that all hearts show similar structural and functional characteristics. This suggests that the mammalian heart remained well conserved during evolution and in this aspect it differs from other organs and parts of the mammalian body. The archetype of the mammalian heart was apparently so successful that adaptation by natural selection (evolution) caused by varying habitat demands, as occurred in other organs and many other aspects of mammalian anatomy, bypassed the heart. The structure and function of the heart of placental mammals have thus been strikingly conserved throughout evolution. The changes in the mammalian heart that did take place were mostly adjustments (scaling), to compensate for variations in body size and shape. A remarkable scaling effect is, for instance, the difference in atrioventricular (AV) conduction time, which is vital for optimal cardiac function in all mammals, small and large. Scaling of AV conduction takes place in the AV node (AVN), but its substrate is unknown. This sheds new light on the vital role of the AVN in health and disease. The AVN is master and servant of the heart at the same time and is of salient importance for our understanding of supraventricular arrhythmias in humans, especially AF. In Information Technology a software infra-structure called ‘enterprise service bus’ (ESB) may provide understanding of the mammalian heart’s conservation during evolution. The ESB is quite unspecific (and thus general) when compared with the specialised components it has to support. For instance, one of the functions of an ESB is the routing of messages between system nodes. This routing is independent and unaware of the content of the messages. The function of the heart is likewise independent and unaware of the routing of blood (oxygen) and of the specialised components of the mammalian body it has to support. Conclusions Evolution seems to have bypassed the heart, which is in contrast to the sometimes similarly looking, but yet quite differently functioning of the other organs of the mammalian body.     

世界不同地区现代人及现代行为的出现与区域特征

现代人和现代行为在世界不同地区的出现是多年来学术界的焦点问题, 至今关于这方面的研究与讨论仍然非常热烈。本文简要梳理了不同地区现代人及其行为出现的情况及特点, 并在目前的材料和研究的基础上特别关注了东亚地区, 指出有待进一步研究和解释的问题。现代行为和文化具有显著的区域特征, 这应当是现代人在不同自然和社会环境中适应生存的反映。同时各地区在旧石器时代晚期也展现出相似或相同的技术思维、知识和行为方式,暗示出活跃的人群迁徙与交流。     

Cooperative strategies outside the laboratory — evidence from a long-term large-N-study in five countries

Research on human cooperation as an evolutionary adaptation is largely based on results from the laboratory, e.g. public goods games. However, it is debated whether these results of human cooperative behavior extend beyond such settings and whether they are valid in other contexts. Critical issues include the absence of context, the very short period of play and possible observer effects. This article presents data from an alternative controlled, but context-rich setting – a public goods game in an online browser game – with around 18,000 players from five countries over a period of ten months without observer effects. This article focuses on the robustness of previous findings about cooperative strategies and whether different types of cooperative behavior extend beyond the laboratory setting. Thus, the data presented provides external validity to existing laboratory experiments. The results suggest some important qualifications to previous work, since less high cooperators and a differing proportion of conditional cooperation are found. However, this data confirms the reported proportion of free riders at about 25% of the population. Cooperative strategies appear to be stable over time, individually fixed and rather independent of environmental parameters.     

Yin-yang genetics,or the HSD deCODE controversy

This paper examines a number of social, ethical and cultural issues related to the application of biotechnology. The focus of the paper relies on two different cases of governing biotechnology in Portugal, referring to donation of biological material: the act of donation of eggs and sperm; and volunteers for donation of DNA material for the forensic national DNA database. We analyze the discourses on donation of biological material framing them in rhetorical devices of gift, altruism, informed consent and social responsibility. This comes blended with still unclear and emergent regulation and policies of access, retention, preservation and governing of biological material and of donors' identification. The risks are mitigated by narratives of science and technology as social progress and providers of public good and health benefits, as well as by underlining the individual responsibility in this domain and by reinforcing the rhetoric of gene quality, based on socio-cultural and bio-genetic criteria.     

Human evolutionary research in eastern germany

Human evolutionary research in Eastern Germany, limited in this paper to the origins and evolution of Pleistocene man, has mainly focused during the last decade on theoretical aspects of the evolution of man and human society from multiple and interdisciplinary perspectives. An interdisciplinary working group ‘Probleme der Menschwerdung’ was founded in 1977. About 30 specialists from various fields have discussed problems of the origins and evolution of man and human society under interdisciplinary aspects. The activities, difficulties and results of this cooperation will be outlined in this paper. There will also be given a progress report on the disciplinary initiated research on local sites as well as on general aspects and problems. Paper dedicated to Professor Dr. rer. nat. Dr.sc.med. Hans Grimm, Berlin, on his 80th birthday, February 7, 1990.     

Anisogamy,sexual selection,and the evolution and maintenance of sex

Summary In the present paper we distinguish between two aspects of sexual reproduction. Genetic recombination is a universal features of the sexual process. It is a primitive condition found in simple, single-celled organisms, as well as in higher plants and animals. Its function is primarily to repair genetic damage and eliminate deleterious mutations. Recombination also produces new variation, however, and this can provide the basis for adaptive evolutionary change in spatially and temporally variable environments.The other feature usually associated with sexual reproduction, differentiated male and female roles, is a derived condition, largely restricted to complex, diploid, multicellular organisms. The evolution of anisogamous gametes (small, mobile male gametes containing only genetic material, and large, relatively immobile female gametes containing both genetic material and resources for the developing offspring) not only established the fundamental basis for maleness and femaleness, it also led to an asymmetry between the sexes in the allocation of resources to mating and offspring. Whereas females allocate their resources primarily to offspring, the existence of many male gametes for each female one results in sexual selection on males to allocate their resources to traits that enhance success in competition for fertilizations. A consequence of this reproductive competition, higher variance in male than female reproductive success, results in more intense selection on males.The greater response of males to both stabilizing and directional selection constitutes an evolutionary advantage of males that partially compensates for the cost of producing them. The increased fitness contributed by sexual selection on males will complement the advantages of genetic recombination for DNA repair and elimination of deleterious mutations in any outcrossing breeding system in which males contribute only genetic material to their offspring. Higher plants and animals tend to maintain sexual reproduction in part because of the enhanced fitness of offspring resulting from sexual selection at the level of individual organisms, and in part because of the superiority of sexual populations in competition with asexual clones.     

Strong reciprocity, human cooperation, and the enforcement of social norms

This paper provides strong evidence challenging the self-interest assumption that dominates the behavioral sciences and much evolutionary thinking. The evidence indicates that many people have a tendency to voluntarily cooperate, if treated fairly, and to punish noncooperators. We call this behavioral propensity “strong reciprocity” and show empirically that it can lead to almost universal cooperation in circumstances in which purely self-interested behavior would cause a complete breakdown of cooperation. In addition, we show that people are willing to punish those who behaved unfairly towards a third person or who defected in a Prisoner’s Dilemma game with a third person. This suggests that strong reciprocity is a powerful device for the enforcement of social norms involving, for example, food sharing or collective action. Strong reciprocity cannot be rationalized as an adaptive trait by the leading evolutionary theories of human cooperation (in other words, kin selection, reciprocal altruism, indirect reciprocity, and costly signaling theory). However, multilevel selection theories of cultural evolution are consistent with strong reciprocity.     

A newHomo erectus cranium from Sangiran, Java

A newHomo erectus cranium was found on May 18, 1993 by Budi, a local farmer, at Sangiran. It dates from the Middle Pucangan Formation approximately 1.6–1.8 mya. The braincase is essentially complete and as is most of the face. The vault has the typicalH. erectus gable shape. There is a clear sagittal ridge beginning below the middle of the frontal squama and running to mid-parietal. Parasagittal ridges are rounded angulations halfway up the parietals, and coincide with poorly marked temporal lines. In all measurements, this skull is longer and consistently narrower than Trinil. It is chronologically and morphologically similar to the famousH. erectus skull from east Africa, KNMER-3733. Although existing much older, this new specimen is what one would expect a female counterpart to Sangiran 17 to look like.     

Involvement of polyamines, abscisic acid and anti-oxidative enzymes in adaptation of Blue Panicgrass (Panicum antidotale Retz.) to saline environments

A hydroponic experiment was conducted to assess the possible involvement of polyamines (PAs), abscisic acid (ABA) and anti-oxidative enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) in adaptation of six populations of Panicum antidotale Retz. to selection pressure (soil salinity) of a wide range of habitats. Plants of six populations were collected from six different habitats with ECe ranging from 3.39 to 19.23 dS m⁻¹ and pH from 7.65 to 5.86. Young tillers from 6-month-old plants were transplanted in plastic containers each containing 10 l of half strength Hoagland's nutrient solution alone or with 150 mol m⁻³ NaCl. After 42 days growth, contents of polyamines (Put, Spd and Spm) and ABA, and the activities of anti-oxidative enzymes (SOD, POD and CAT) of all populations generally increased under salt stress. The populations collected from highly saline habitats showed a greater accumulation of polyamines and ABA and the activities of anti-oxidative enzymes as compared to those from mild or non-saline habitats. Moreover, Spm/Spd and Put/(Spd + Spm) ratios generally increased under salt stress. However, the populations from highly saline environments had significantly higher Spm/Spd and Put/(Spd + Spm) ratios as compared to those from mild or non-saline environments. Similarly, the populations adapted to high salinity accumulated less Na⁺ and Cl⁻ in culm and leaves, and showed less decrease in leaf K⁺ and Ca²⁺ under salinity stress. Higher activities of anti-oxidative enzymes and accumulation of polyamines and ABA, and increased Spm/Spd and Put/(Spm + Spd) ratios were found to be highly correlated with the degree of adaptability of Panicum to saline environment.     

Absence of population subdivision in the common shiner,Notropis cornutus (Cyprinidae)

Synopsis Starch gel electrophoresis of the common shiner, Notropis cornutus, was used to determine if this species exhibits genotypic structuring. Specimens were collected from seven widespread localities representing three branches of a single river drainage. χ² tests revealed no significant heterogeneity of Est-A electromorphs within or between localities except where physical barriers prevent contact. Therefore, schooling behavior of N. cornutus is not associated with significant genotypic structuring of this species.     

Detecting molecular adaptation at individual codons in the pattern recognition protein, lipopolysaccharide- and beta-1,3-glucan-binding protein of decapods

Pattern recognition proteins play an important role in the innate immune response of invertebrates. Herein we report the evolutionary relationships among Gram-negative bacteria binding proteins (GNBPs) that were previously identified and characterized from a wide array of invertebrates. Our results, together with those obtained in previous studies, indicate that decapod lipopolysaccharide- and beta-1,3-glucan binding protein (LGBP/BGBP) has retained the crucial components for glucanase activity, and shares a common ancestor with GNBPs, as well as with the glucanase proteins of a wide range of invertebrates, rather than with GNBPs of some arthropods. However, experimental evidence of earlier studies suggested a lack of glucanase activity by these proteins, thus implying that during evolutionary time these proteins might have lost their glucan binding protein, but retained their glucan binding activity. The present results have also revealed that although a vast majority of the decapod LGBP/BGBP codons are constrained to purifying selection, certain codons are shown to have a higher rate of nonsynonymous substitutions per nonsynonymous site (dN) than synonymous substitutions per synonymous site (dS), indicating these codons have evolved adaptively (dN/dS>1). Although purifying selection (dN/dS<1) appears to be the major driving force in the evolution of a vast majority of LGBP/BGBP codons in decapods, the findings of several hotspots for nonsynonymous substitutions in this protein indicate host immune selection might play an important role in maintaining diversity among these ecologically diversified decapod species.     

Sexual selection,reproductive behavior,and speciation in the mbuna species flock of Lake Malawi (Pisces: Cichlidae)

Synopsis The cichlid species flocks of the African Great Lakes represent the most extreme case of adaptive radiation among vertebrates. Recently, attention has focused on the potential for sexual selection to drive or accelerate speciation in these fishes. Cichlids as a whole are social in nature and display complex behavior, particularly during courtship and spawning; however, the extent to which changes in species recognition cues may account for species diversity among haplochromine lineages has remained speculative. Our investigations have indicated that oral incubating haplochromines show a reduction in diversity and extent of courtship relative to substrate brooding cichlids, and apparently retain aspects of a primitive specific mate recognition system. Laboratory observations of courtship in the Malawian endemicPseudotropheus zebra suggest that organization of the spawning bout is loose, and lacking in any well defined stimulus-response chain. Interspecific comparisons of in situ courtship behavior among male mbuna, lithophilous haplochromines of Lake Malawi, revealed only one potential example of species-specific behavior, and indicated that mate choice occurred prior to the onset of intense courtship. Courtship display by male mbuna does not appear critical to species recognition and may represent an evolutionary relict. Alternatively, male courtship display may have an indirect effect on successful reproduction or may be maintained through pleiotropic effects. The mbuna display no evidence of behavioral innovation and show limited interspecific differentiation in behavioral expression. More generally, there is no evidence at present to suggest that epigamic sexual selection, acting on courtship behavior, has been a major mechanism in the diversification of the haplochromine species flocks.     

Replicator-mutator equation, universality property and population dynamics of learning

Replicator-mutator equation is used to describe the dynamics of complex adaptive systems in population genetics, biochemistry and models of language learning. We study "localized", or "coherent", solutions, which are especially relevant in the context of learning and correspond to the existence of a predominant language in the population. There is a coherence threshold for learning fidelity, above which coherent communication can be maintained. We prove the following surprising universality property of coherence threshold: for typical realizations of random coefficients in the fitness matrix, the value of the coherence threshold does not depend on the size of the system.     

Wild justice and fair play: cooperation,forgiveness, and morality in animals

In this paper I argue that we can learn much about ‘wild justice’ and the evolutionary origins of social morality – behaving fairly – by studying social play behavior in group-living animals, and that interdisciplinary cooperation will help immensely. In our efforts to learn more about the evolution of morality we need to broaden our comparative research to include animals other than non-human primates. If one is a good Darwinian, it is premature to claim that only humans can be empathic and moral beings. By asking the question ‘What is it like to be another animal?’ we can discover rules of engagement that guide animals in their social encounters. When I study dogs, for example, I try to be a ‘dogocentrist’ and practice ‘dogomorphism.’ My major arguments center on the following ‘big’ questions: Can animals be moral beings or do they merely act as if they are? What are the evolutionary roots of cooperation, fairness, trust, forgiveness, and morality? What do animals do when they engage in social play? How do animals negotiate agreements to cooperate, to forgive, to behave fairly, to develop trust? Can animals forgive? Why cooperate and play fairly? Why did play evolve as it has? Does ‘being fair’ mean being more fit – do individual variations in play influence an individual's reproductive fitness, are more virtuous individuals more fit than less virtuous individuals? What is the taxonomic distribution of cognitive skills and emotional capacities necessary for individuals to be able to behave fairly, to empathize, to behave morally? Can we use information about moral behavior in animals to help us understand ourselves? I conclude that there is strong selection for cooperative fair play in which individuals establish and maintain a social contract to play because there are mutual benefits when individuals adopt this strategy and group stability may be also be fostered. Numerous mechanisms have evolved to facilitate the initiation and maintenance of social play to keep others engaged, so that agreeing to play fairly and the resulting benefits of doing so can be readily achieved. I also claim that the ability to make accurate predictions about what an individual is likely to do in a given social situation is a useful litmus test for explaining what might be happening in an individual's brain during social encounters, and that intentional or representational explanations are often important for making these predictions.