Abstract
Many evolutionary models assume that behaviors are caused directly by genes. An implication is that behavioral uniformity should be found only in groups that are genetically uniform. Yet, the members of human social groups often behave in a uniform fashion, despite the fact that they are genetically diverse. Behavioral uniformity can occur through a variety of psychological mechanisms and social processes, such as imitation, consensus decision making, or the imposition of social norms. We present a series of models in which genes code for social transmission rules, which in turn govern the behaviors that are adopted. Transmission rules can evolve in randomly formed groups that concentrate phenotypic variation at the between-group level, favoring the evolution of altruistic behaviors and other group-advantageous traits. In addition, a direct bias toward adopting altruistic behaviors can evolve. Our models begin to show how group selection can be a strong force in human evolution, despite the absence of extreme genetic variation among groups.
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David Sloan Wilson is an evolutionary biologist interested in a broad range of issues relevant to human behavior. He has published in psychology, anthropology, and philosophy journals in addition to his mainstream biological research. With philosopher Elliott Sober, he is author of Unto Others: The Evolution and Psychology of Unselfish Behavior (Harvard University Press, 1998).
Kevin M. Kniffin is a doctoral student in the Department of Anthropology at SUNY-Binghamton. His M.A. thesis, entitled “The Selfish Teams: Richard Dawkins’ Rowing Metaphor Revisited” (1998), explores the levels-of-selection debate in the context of three original experiments aimed at addressing evolutionary psychologists’ work on physical attractiveness, previous work on the various function(s) served by language, and the degree to which group experiences can or cannot change a person’s attitudes toward individualism and collectivism. His dissertation research will test the effects of social change on biological stress markers.
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Wilson, D.S., Kniffin, K.M. Multilevel selection and the social transmission of behavior. Hum Nat 10, 291–310 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-999-1005-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-999-1005-x