| Project Detail |
All Disciplines (2)
Discipline
Anthropology, Primatology
Psychology
Keywords (10)
thermoimaging, phylogenetic comparative analyses, coordinated joint and collective action, evolution of cooperation, behavioral endocrinology, nonhuman primates, cooperative breeding, species comparisons, common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), reputation effects
Lay Summary (German)
Lead
Not just for two, but all together! A comparative approach to the origin of human cooperation All together now - cooperation beyond the dyad The human cooperation capability is extraordinary and its evolutionary origin has long been a subject of intensive research. However, these efforts have hitherto mainly focused on cooperation in the dyadic context, although several individuals are typically involved in cooperative interactions in humans.
Lay summary
Content and objectives of the research project
Our goal is to explore the evolutionary biology of cooperation at the group level. For this purpose, we conduct comparative behavioral observations on different species of monkeys. In particular, we are interested in Callitrichiden . These small new worlds are not very closely related to us humans, but share an important feature with us: in the rearing of the offspring the whole group is involved.
We want to find out what processes are necessary to maintain co-operation in the long term: does self-interest, or does it also need a portion of genuine selflessness? Do observers from their own group influence how willing individuals are willing to contribute to a common goal? Is there greater mutual dependence on one another, for example because one has to cope with a danger externally, to a greater degree of cooperation and prosociality in other contexts?
Scientific and social context of the research project
This project will help to better understand the evolutionary origin of man and solve the greatest mystery of biological anthropology. Why did man develop so differently from all other human beings? Community boy rearing promises to be an important part of the answer to this question.
Direct link to Lay Summary Last update: 22.08.2017
Responsible applicant and co-applicants
Name Institute
Burkart Judith Anthropological Institute and Museum University of Zurich-Irchel
Employees
Name Institute
Boggiani Ludovica
Project partner
Natural persons
Name Institute
Rossano Federico Department of Cognitive SciencesUC San Diego
Ziegler Toni National Primate Research Center Head of Assay Services Unit & ICTR Core Lab University of Wisconsin - Madison
Telkänranta Helena Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Helsinki
Deschner Tobias Department of Primatology Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthro
Isler Karin Anthropological Institute and Museum University of Zurich-Irchel
Haroush Cool HHMI Janelia Research Campus
Associated projects
Number Title Start Funding scheme
149796 From Sharing Food To Sharing Information: Information donation, coordination, and the evolution of human language 01.01.2014 Project support (Dept. I-III)
130383 Did cooperative breeding shape our minds? Comparative tests with nonhuman primates 01.06.2010 Project support (Dept. I-III)
130383 Did cooperative breeding shape our minds? Comparative tests with nonhuman primates 01.06.2010 Project support (Dept. I-III)
Abstract
The evolution of cooperation is a particularly burning issue for anthropologists because it is increasingly clear that cooperation must have played a crucial role in human evolution. Consequently, much research effort has focused on investigating the evolutionary roots of human cooperation by comparative tests with nonhuman primates. However, this task is far from being completed, first because the tests of cooperative interactions and decisions typically focus on isolated dyads whereas they take place in the group context, and second because research efforts have focused on very few elements of human cooperation; in fact, systematic comparative data is only available for the element of proactive prosociality (Burkart et al., 2014). The goal of this proposal is to remedy these shortcomings, by going beyond the dyadic context, and by investigating the primate origin of two key aspects of human cooperation that have received less attention so far in comparative tests: reputation effects and coordinated joint and collective action. Detailed studies of the callitrichid marmoset monkeys will reveal individual decision rules (subproject A) and proximate mechanisms (subproject B and C), whereas broad comparative analyses over multiple species (subproject B and C) will allow me to comparatively test the most prominent evolutionary hypotheses (i.e. cooperative hunting, cooperative breeding, intelligence, and [cultural] group selection) that have been put forward for the evolution of human cooperation. Subproject A embeds previous work on marmoset prosociality in a larger social context to assess potential reputation-like effects. I will (i) assess marmosets’ sensitivity to prosocial and antisocial third party interactions using expectancy violation experiments, including the measurement of emotional reactions based on thermo-imaging; (ii) examine whether marmosets engage in reputation management when having the opportunity to share food in the presence or absence of an audience; (iii) experimentally manipulate the putative reputation of an individual to assess the reactions of its fellow group members; and (iv) assess the long-term effects of being prosocial on length of tenure in the group. Subproject B investigates the evolutionary origin of an element of human cooperation that has so far not been tested in nonhuman primates: action co-representation during a collaborative task. Recent pilot results based on the Joint Simon task show that like humans, marmosets co-represent each others’ actions in the joint task in this context. Furthermore, when jointly engaged in the task, they were more likely to engage in mutual gaze prior to acting. I will extend these studies to additional primate species to perform targeted phylogenetic comparisons and test whether this trait is linked to cooperative breeding, to some other socio-ecological factor, or alternatively represents a primate universal. Subproject C focusses on the link between within-group coordination and between-group conflict, and its hormonal correlates. For comparative tests of the most relevant evolutionary hypotheses, I will collect data from a selected set of primate species by using playbacks that mimic group encounters. At the proximate level, I will use controlled experiments with common marmosets to test whether an increase in in-group cohesion and interdependence leads to better coordination in between-group conflicts, and/or vice versa, and assess the hormonal correlates of these effects (oxytocin and cortisol). Together, the results of this project will add novel insights to the highly debated issue of the evolution of human hyper-cooperation, based on comparative analyses of a broad number of species. Such broad comparative approaches have been identified as a crucial next step toward understanding the evolutionary origin of any human trait (MacLean, 2016). |
