THE PRIMATE ORIGINS OF HUMAN NATURE

PREFACE xiii
SERIES EDITORS’ PREFACE xvii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xix
SECTION I EVOLUTION, BEHAVIOR AND CULTURE 1
1 Elements of Evolutionary Biology 3
1.1 Darwin’s Argument, 3
1.2 Natural Selection and Fitness, 4
1.3 Adaptation, 5
1.4 Evolution, 10
1.5 Phylogeny and Character Reconstruction, 13
1.6 Evolution as a Historical Science, 18
1.7 Conclusions, 19
2 Basics of Behavioral Biology 21
2.1 Introduction, 21
2.2 Proximate and Ultimate Aspects of Behavior, 21
2.3 Proximate Control of Behavior, 22
2.4 Development of Behavior, 24
2.5 Adaptive Function: Optimality or Evolutionary Stability?, 32
2.6 Levels of Selection, 34
2.7 Behavioral Phylogeny, 39
2.8 Conclusions, 39
3 Social Learning and Culture 41
3.1 Introduction, 41
3.2 Social Learning, 42
3.3 Cultures among Animals, 48
3.4 Human Culture and Cultural Evolution, 51
3.5 A Theory of Cultural Evolution, 55
3.6 Conclusions, 56
4 Evolution and Human Behavior 59
4.1 Introduction, 59
4.2 Integrating Competing Approaches to Human Behavior, 59
4.3 Testing Adaptation in Humans, 63
4.4 How to Deal with Uniqueness?, 67
4.5 Reconstructing our Origins, 68
4.6 Conclusions and Outlook, 70
SECTION II THE HISTORY OF HUMANS 71
5 Ancestors: Humans from a Comparative Perspective 73
5.1 Introduction, 73
5.2 Our Deep History up to the Concestor, 75
5.3 The (Near-) Endpoint: Foragers, 78
5.4 Conclusion: The Gap, 81
6 Human Evolution: A Brief Overview 83
6.1 Introduction, 83
6.2 The First Hominins: The Origins of Bipedalism, 84
6.3 The Australopithecines and Early Homo, 85
6.4 Homo erectus, 86
6.5 Middle Pleistocene Hominins, 89
6.6 Modern Humans: Homo sapiens, 90
6.7 General Trends, 95
6.8 Conclusions, 96
SECTION III SUBSISTENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 99
7 Primate Ecology 101
7.1 Introduction, 101
7.2 Diet, 101
7.3 Seasonality, 104
7.4 Extractive Foraging and Hunting by Primates, 106
7.5 Range Use, 111
7.6 Conclusions, 115
8 Forager Ecology and Subsistence 117
8.1 Introduction, 117
8.2 Diet, 117
8.3 Obtaining Food: Gathering and Hunting, 119
8.4 Fluctuations in Energy Intake, 122
8.5 The Sexual Division of Labor, 123
8.6 Central Place Provisioning, 126
8.7 Paleodiet, Exercise, and Diseases of Civilization, 128
8.8 Conclusions, 129
9 The Evolution of Technology 131
9.1 Introduction, 131
9.2 Tool Use and Technology, 131
9.3 The Evolution of Primate Tool Use, 135
9.4 Nonhuman Primates and Hominins Compared, 138
9.5 Conclusions, 140
SECTION IV SEX AND SEXUAL SELECTION 141
10 Sex, Sexual Selection and Sex Differences 143
10.1 Introduction, 143
10.2 Sexual Reproduction, 143
10.3 Sexual Selection, 144
10.4 Intrasexual Selection, 148
10.5 Mate Choice, 152
10.6 Sex Role Equality and Reversal: Who Competes, Who Chooses?, 156
10.7 Sexual Conflict, 157
10.8 Sex Differences Beyond Weapons and Ornaments, 161
10.9 Conclusions, 162
11 Mating Systems and Sexuality in Primates 163
11.1 Introduction, 163
11.2 Sexual Selection in Primates, 163
11.3 Sex in Mammals: The Mating Problem, 166
11.4 Features of Primate Sexuality, 168
11.5 Explaining the Variation in Primate Sexuality, 170
11.6 Conclusions, 174
12 Human Mating Systems and Sexuality 175
12.1 Introduction, 175
12.2 The Human Mating System: Morphological and Physiological Signals, 175
12.3 The Human Mating System: Ethnography and Behavior, 183
12.4 Mate Choice, 186
12.5 Mating Conflict in Humans, 193
12.6 Gender Differences, 198
12.7 Notable Sexual Behavior, 199
12.8 Conclusions, 202
13 Aesthetic Appreciation and Expression 203
13.1 Introduction, 203
13.2 Physical Beauty, 206
13.3 The Arts, 208
13.4 Conclusions, 212
SECTION V LIFE’S CHANGES 213
14 Life History 215
14.1 Introduction, 215
14.2 General Patterns in Mammalian Life History, 216
14.3 The Evolution of Life History, 217
14.4 Life History and Behavior, 220
14.5 Human Life History, 223
14.6 Conclusions, 231
15 Parenting and Reproductive Investment 233
15.1 Introduction, 233
15.2 Parental Care, 233
15.3 Biparental Care, 234
15.4 Communal Breeding among Primates, 235
15.5 Cooperative Breeding among Primates, 235
15.6 Primate Investment Patterns: Seasonality and Life History, 240
15.7 Pregnancy and Birth, 242
15.8 Allocation Decisions, 243
15.9 Conflicts around Reproduction, 248
15.10 Conclusions, 250
16 Growth and Development 251
16.1 Developmental Stages, 251
16.2 Somatic Growth and Development, 253
16.3 Behavioral Aspects: Bonds, Play, Skill Acquisition, 254
16.4 Human Development, 260
16.5 Plasticity in Development, 261
16.6 Conclusions, 262
SECTION VI SOCIAL LIFE 263
17 Social Life in Nonhuman Primates 265
17.1 Introduction, 265
17.2 Competition and Conflict, 266
17.3 Group Living and Its Function, 271
17.4 How to Live in a Group?, 276
17.5 Conclusions, 280
18 Primate Socioeclogy 281
18.1 Socioecology, 281
18.2 The Socioecological Paradigm, 281
18.3 Female Sociality, 284
18.4 Males and Females, 287
18.5 Male Sociality, 289
18.6 Social Evolution in Primates, 296
18.7 Conclusions, 298
19 Social Evolution in Hominins 299
19.1 Introduction, 299
19.2 The Social Organization of Foragers, 299
19.3 The Key Features of Human Social Organization, 301
19.4 The Evolution of Human Pair Bonds, 302
19.5 The Evolution of Human Social Organization, 304
19.6 Human Social Evolution since the Neolithic Period, 308
19.7 Changes in Historical Time, 311
19.8 Human Social Life: Politics, 311
19.9 Conclusions, 313
SECTION VII COOPERATION 315
20 Cooperation in Nature 317
20.1 The Challenge of Cooperation, 317
20.2 The Evolution of Cooperation in Nonhuman Primates, 319
20.3 The Proximate Regulation of Primate Cooperation, 325
20.4 Human Cooperation in Small-scale Societies, 328
20.5 Human Cooperation in Large-scale Societies, 333
20.6 Conclusions, 335
21 Warfare 337
21.1 Introduction, 337
21.2 The Phylogeny of War: Between-group Contests among Animals, 337
21.3 Human Warfare and Its Cultural Evolution, 341
21.4 War as an Adaptation, 345
21.5 The Proximate Control of Warfare, 347
21.6 Conclusions, 350
22 Morality 351
22.1 Introduction, 351
22.2 Biology and Morality, 352
22.3 The Biological Basis of Human Morality, 353
22.4 Cultural Influences on Human Morality, 357
22.5 Phylogeny and Morality, 359
22.6 Philosophical Implications, 360
22.7 Conclusions, 361
23 Religion 363
23.1 Introduction, 363
23.2 The History of Religion, 364
23.3 Proximate Processes, 365
23.4 The Changing Function(s) of Religion, 369
23.5 Religion and Science, 371
23.6 Creationism and Intelligent Design, 372
23.7 Conclusions, 372
SECTION VIII THE COGNITIVE ANIMAL 375
24 The Evolution of Brain Size 377
24.1 Brains and Energy Constraints, 377
24.2 The Expensive Brain: Life-history Costs of Brain Size Increase, 382
24.3 Explaining Variation in (Relative) Brain Size: Life-history Filters, 385
24.4 Explaining the Increase in Hominin Brain Size, 387
24.5 Conclusions, 388
25 The Evolution of Primate Cognition 389
25.1 Introduction, 389
25.2 The Cognitive Skills of Primates, 391
25.3 Grade Shifts: Monkeys, Apes, and Humans, 396
25.4 Cognitive Development, 400
25.5 The Structure of Primate Cognition, 401
25.6 The Evolution of Primate and Human Cognition, 405
25.7 Conclusions, 411
26 Human Language 413
26.1 Introduction, 413
26.2 Animal Communication, 414
26.3 Human Language, 419
26.4 The Functional Uses of Language, 422
26.5 The Evolutionary History of Language, 424
26.6 Language Development, 425
26.7 Language and Cultural Evolution, 426
26.8 Language and Cognition, 427
26.9 Conclusions, 428
SECTION IX CONCLUSIONS 429
27 What Made Us Humans? A Preliminary Synthesis 431
27.1 Mind the Gaps, 431
27.2 The Ape Within Us, 432
27.3 The Cooperative Breeder and Hunter in Us, 433
27.4 Uniquely Human, 437
27.5 Novel Expressions of Human Nature, 439
REFERENCES 443
GLOSSARY 491
INDEX 501

The Primate Origins of Human Nature (Volume 3 in The Foundations of Human Biology series) blends several elements from evolutionary biology as applied to primate behavioral ecology and primate psychology, classical physical anthropology and evolutionary psychology of humans.á However, unlike similar books, it strives to define the human species relative to our living and extinct relatives, and thus highlights uniquely derived human features. The book features a truly multi-disciplinary, multi-theory, and comparative speciesáapproach to subjects not usually presented in textbooks focused on humans, such as the evolution of culture, life history, parenting, and social organization.