Like many evolutionary anthropologists, I am interested in understanding how humans became such an intensely social species, capable of tolerant and cooperative interactions in large social groups. In this talk, I evaluate the relative importance of kin selection and group selection in the evolution of human social behaviour. I will present: (i) data on the social organisation of the Agta, a community of hunter-gatherers from the northern Philippines, (ii) theoretical work looking at the importance of shared reproductive interests between in-laws in human societies, (iii) an analysis of cooperate behaviour in meerkats, (iv) a reanalysis of a famous computational model for the evolution of altruism through war.
Everyone is welcome.
