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Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) Sep 2023This research provides evidence regarding the causal effect of group conformity on task performance in stable and variable environments. Drawing on studies in cultural... (Randomized Controlled Trial)
Randomized Controlled Trial
This research provides evidence regarding the causal effect of group conformity on task performance in stable and variable environments. Drawing on studies in cultural evolution, social learning, and social psychology, we experimentally tested the hypotheses that conformity improves group performance in a stable environment (H1) and decreases performance (by hindering adaptability) in a temporally variable environment (H2). We compare the performance of individuals, low conformity groups, and high conformity groups in a four-arm randomized lab experiment (N = 240). High conformity was manipulated by rewarding agreement with the group's majority and imposing a cost on disagreement. The monetary implications of conformity impaired performance in a variable environment but did not have a significant effect on performance in the stable environment. Intragroup individual-level analyses provide insights into the mechanisms that account for the group-level results by showing that lower conformity in groups facilitates efficient adaptability in the use of social information.
Topics: Humans; Cultural Evolution; Group Processes; Social Behavior; Social Conformity; Social Learning
PubMed: 37541988
DOI: 10.1007/s12110-023-09454-2 -
Current Opinion in Neurobiology Jun 2024A variety of organisms exhibit collective movement, including schooling fish and flocking birds, where coordinated behavior emerges from the interactions between group... (Review)
Review
A variety of organisms exhibit collective movement, including schooling fish and flocking birds, where coordinated behavior emerges from the interactions between group members. Despite the prevalence of collective movement in nature, little is known about the neural mechanisms producing each individual's behavior within the group. Here we discuss how a neurobiological approach can enrich our understanding of collective behavior by determining the mechanisms by which individuals interact. We provide examples of sensory systems for social communication during collective movement, highlight recent discoveries about neural systems for detecting the position and actions of social partners, and discuss opportunities for future research. Understanding the neurobiology of collective behavior can provide insight into how nervous systems function in a dynamic social world.
Topics: Animals; Neurobiology; Social Behavior; Behavior, Animal; Humans; Animal Communication
PubMed: 38852986
DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2024.102866 -
Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) Dec 2023Humans share with other mammals and primates many social motivations and emotions, but they are also much more cooperative than even their closest primate relatives.... (Review)
Review
Humans share with other mammals and primates many social motivations and emotions, but they are also much more cooperative than even their closest primate relatives. Here I review recent comparative experiments and analyses that illustrate humans' species-typical social motivations and emotions for cooperation in comparison with those of other great apes. These may be classified most generally as (i) 'you > me' (e.g., prosocial sympathy, informative and pedagogical motives in communication); (ii) 'you = me' (e.g., feelings of mutual respect, fairness, resentment); (iii) 'we > me' (e.g., feelings of obligation and guilt); and (iv) 'WE (in the group) > me' (e.g., in-group loyalty and conformity to norms, shame, and many in-group biases). The existence of these species-typical and species-universal motivations and emotions provides compelling evidence for the importance of cooperative activities in the human species.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Motivation; Emotions; Guilt; Hominidae; Shame; Mammals
PubMed: 37971576
DOI: 10.1007/s12110-023-09464-0 -
Quarterly Journal of Experimental... Aug 2023Our conscious experience is determined by a combination of top-down processes (e.g., prior beliefs) and bottom-up processes (e.g., sensations). The balance between these...
Our conscious experience is determined by a combination of top-down processes (e.g., prior beliefs) and bottom-up processes (e.g., sensations). The balance between these two processes depends on estimates of their reliability (precision), so that the estimate considered more reliable is given more weight. We can modify these estimates at the metacognitive level, changing the relative weights of priors and sensations. This enables us, for example, to direct our attention to weak stimuli. But there is a cost to this malleability. For example, excessive weighting of top-down processes, as in schizophrenia, can lead to perceiving things that are not there and believing things that are not true. It is only at the top of the brain's cognitive hierarchy that metacognitive control becomes conscious. At this level, our beliefs concern complex, abstract entities with which we have limited direct experience. Estimates of the precision of such beliefs are more uncertain and more malleable. However, at this level, we do not need to rely on our own limited experience. We can rely instead on the experiences of others. Explicit metacognition plays a unique role, enabling us to share our experiences. We acquire our beliefs about the world from our immediate social group and from our wider culture. And the same sources provide us with better estimates of the precision of these beliefs. Our confidence in our high-level beliefs is heavily influenced by culture at the expense of direct experience.
Topics: Humans; Metacognition; Consciousness; Reproducibility of Results; Schizophrenia; Culture
PubMed: 36880665
DOI: 10.1177/17470218231164502 -
Theory in Biosciences = Theorie in Den... Sep 2023Adaptive mimicry in animals is a well-known phenomenon. Here, we propose that a similarly adaptive strategy in humans is using kin terms for people who are not closely...
Adaptive mimicry in animals is a well-known phenomenon. Here, we propose that a similarly adaptive strategy in humans is using kin terms for people who are not closely genetically related. Irrespective of the initiator attributing a kin term to a non-kin, we call this kin term mimicry (KTM). The emergence of human sociality and language allowed not only easy kin recognition, but also led to strong positive emotions related to such kin names as "mother," "father," "brother," "sister," "aunt" or "uncle." Although the phenomenon of using kin terms of genetically unrelated people is well known in the social sciences, here we discuss it in the light of evolution. We notice this is an evolutionary adaptive cooperation strategy, which allows us to predict in which ecological or social circumstances it will be more prevalent. We postulate specific testable factors that affect the prevalence of kin mimicry. We also discuss who is more likely to be an initiator of calling non-kin a fictive kin, and who benefits from such behavior. The KTM hypothesis postulates that an individual or social group initiating or bestowing kin terms usually receives more benefits (economic and/or psychological support) from such mimicry.
Topics: Male; Animals; Humans; Social Behavior; Family
PubMed: 37277580
DOI: 10.1007/s12064-023-00393-1 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Mar 2024Social norms research is booming. In recent years, several experts have recommended using social norms (unwritten rules that prescribe what people ought or ought not to...
Social norms research is booming. In recent years, several experts have recommended using social norms (unwritten rules that prescribe what people ought or ought not to do) to confront the societal, environmental and health challenges our societies face. If we are to do so, a better understanding is required of how social norms themselves emerge, evolve and respond to these challenges. Social norms have long been used as explanations of behaviour or are seen as stable social constructs. Yet norms evolve dynamically with the changing group processes (e.g. political polarization, kinship structures) and societal challenges (e.g. pandemics, climate change) for which they are presented as solutions. The Theme Issue 'Social norm change: drivers and consequences' contains 14 contributions that present state-of-the-art approaches to understand what generates social norm change and how this impacts our societies. Contributions give insight into (i) the identification of norms, norm change and their effect on behaviour; (ii) drivers and consequences of spontaneous norm change; and (iii) how norm change can be engineered to promote desired behavioural change. This article is part of the theme issue 'Social norm change: drivers and consequences'.
Topics: Humans; Social Norms; Social Behavior; Group Processes
PubMed: 38244603
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0023 -
Current Zoology Dec 2023The present review is a compilation of the published data on the ecology and social behavior of the social vole. Field studies provide evidence that these voles live in... (Review)
Review
The present review is a compilation of the published data on the ecology and social behavior of the social vole. Field studies provide evidence that these voles live in family groups consisting of 1 adult male, 1 or 2 breeding females, and their offspring (1 or 2 litters). The social vole is capable of year-round reproduction, but in arid regions, the voles demonstrate seasonality in breeding. The mating system of this species may be defined as behavioral monogamy. A typical feature of the space use system is territoriality characterized by a locus-dependent dominance in relationships between neighboring breeding pairs as well as family groups. The family group social organization may be defined as consistent relationships without a dominant hierarchy. Social voles are cooperative in defending their territories, constructing burrows, digging underground tunnels, maintaining nests, and raising young. Cooperation appears to enhance the survival of family groups of this species under the extreme climatic conditions of Central Asia.
PubMed: 37876640
DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac081 -
Royal Society Open Science Sep 2023Music is an interactive technology associated with religious and communal activities and was suggested to have evolved as a participatory activity supporting social...
Music is an interactive technology associated with religious and communal activities and was suggested to have evolved as a participatory activity supporting social bonding. In post-industrial societies, however, music's communal role was eclipsed by its relatively passive consumption by audiences disconnected from performers. It was suggested that as societies became larger and more differentiated, music became less participatory and more focused on solo singing. Here, we consider the prevalence of group singing and its relationship to social organization through the analysis of two global song corpora: 5776 coded audio recordings from 1024 societies, and 4709 coded ethnographic texts from 60 societies. In both corpora, we find that group singing is more common than solo singing, and that it is more likely in some social contexts (e.g. religious rituals, dance) than in others (e.g. healing, infant care). In contrast, relationships between group singing and social structure (community size or social differentiation) were not consistent within or between corpora. While we cannot exclude the possibility of sampling bias leading to systematic under-sampling of solo singing, our results from two large global corpora of different data types provide support for the interactive nature of music and its complex relationship with sociality.
PubMed: 37680502
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230562 -
Biological Psychiatry Apr 2024Social status in humans, generally reflected by socioeconomic status, has been associated, when constrained, with heightened vulnerability to pathologies including...
BACKGROUND
Social status in humans, generally reflected by socioeconomic status, has been associated, when constrained, with heightened vulnerability to pathologies including psychiatric diseases. Social hierarchy in mice translates into individual and interdependent behavioral strategies of animals within a group. The rules leading to the emergence of a social organization are elusive, and detangling the contribution of social status from other factors, whether environmental or genetic, to normal and pathological behaviors remains challenging.
METHODS
We investigated the mechanisms shaping the emergence of a social hierarchy in isogenic C57BL/6 mice raised in groups of 4 using conditional mutant mouse models and chemogenetic manipulation of dopamine midbrain neuronal activity. We further studied the evolution of behavioral traits and the vulnerability to psychopathological-like phenotypes according to the social status of the animals.
RESULTS
Higher sociability predetermined higher social hierarchy in the colony. Upon hierarchy establishment, higher-ranked mice showed increased anxiety and better cognitive abilities in a working memory task. Strikingly, the higher-ranked mice displayed a reduced activity of dopaminergic neurons within the ventral tegmental area, paired with a decreased behavioral response to cocaine and a decreased vulnerability to depressive-like behaviors following repeated social defeats. The pharmacogenetic inhibition of this neuronal population and the genetic inactivation of glucocorticoid receptor signaling in dopamine-sensing brain areas that resulted in decreased dopaminergic activity promoted accession to higher social ranks.
CONCLUSIONS
Dopamine activity and its modulation by the stress response shapes social organization in mice, potentially linking interindividual and social status differences in vulnerability to psychopathologies.
Topics: Humans; Mice; Animals; Dopaminergic Neurons; Dopamine; Hierarchy, Social; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Ventral Tegmental Area; Mental Disorders
PubMed: 37804900
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.08.029