Big-Headed Guy Says Absolute Encephalon Size Matters

From Edge.org:

The thing that stuck out was that self-control is precisely a production of absolute encephalon size. It had to a greater extent than to make amongst your feeding ecology: How complex was your diet? How many things make you lot rely on to survive? That was a large surprise, because the sentiment that diet is shaping knowledge has faded inwards many circles equally the leading hypothesis for thinking well-nigh how psychology evolves. So, how make nosotros deed forrad on testing ideas well-nigh the development of psychology? ... It's interesting to intend well-nigh how this all came about. It all started inwards a bar.

BRIAN HARE is an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University inwards North Carolina and founder of the Duke Canine Cognition Center. He is the co-author (with Vanessa Woods) of The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are Smarter Than You Think. Brian Hare's Edge Bio Page

ABSOLUTE BRAIN SIZE MATTERS
The questions that I’m thinking well-nigh involve how humans are dissimilar from other animals. I’m besides interested inwards how that happened, how nosotros became therefore dissimilar inwards damage of our psychology. The expanse inwards psychology that is fertile for a lot of increase is thinking well-nigh how our psychology evolved. How did nosotros become from having psychology to a greater extent than similar other apes to existence similar nosotros are now, too what was the procedure past times which that happened? How did either natural alternative or random forces of development create what nosotros are today? That’s a hard work that I'm excited to intend about.

What are nosotros doing to seek to await at that? Well, nosotros compare dissimilar animals. Historically, we’ve been lucky if nosotros could make a comparing of 2 animals. Say I compare dogs too wolves to each other too seek to empathise how they’re dissimilar from 1 another, if I tin empathise how they’re different, therefore perchance I tin brand some guesses well-nigh how those differences evolved.

My promise for the time to come is that comparative psychology tin deed past times precisely comparing pairs of species too await at lots of dissimilar species, using the tree of life to brand predictions too examination ideas well-nigh how psychology mightiness evolve inwards dissimilar species therefore that nosotros tin come upward up amongst ideas well-nigh how our ain species may accept happened. The sentiment that nosotros accept culture, that nosotros accept language, that nosotros tin intend well-nigh the thoughts of others, that nosotros accept the powerfulness to deceive or attention well-nigh others too accept empathy—one of the large hypotheses for how humans ended upward amongst these odd abilities is that development favored to a greater extent than complex social skills.

To examination that, though, you lot accept to await at lots of dissimilar species, too you lot accept to accept information on how those dissimilar species solve social problems to live able to delineate how those social skills may accept evolved. That’s been difficult, but it's besides exciting to intend well-nigh how to acquire around that problem. One of the things we’ve tried to make is pioneer these large-scale collaborations, similar the genomicists accept done. We published a newspaper 2 or 3 years agone that involved fifty-six co-authors. We got people from all over the basis to contribute information on a multifariousness of primate species, too fifty-fifty non-primates, similar birds too elephants. We had almost xl species. Everybody had done some cognitive tests amongst their species they had available to them and, remarkably, it was the rootage fourth dimension that people who written report animate existence psychology had e'er worked together inwards this way. We led the accuse to make that because nosotros know that if nosotros desire to empathise the development of human social psychology, if nosotros desire to examination why nosotros are the agency nosotros are too the hypotheses that nosotros intend are necessary to brand us human, we’re going to accept to await at a large make of species too empathise how they have been shaped past times evolution.

We measured inhibitory control, which is basically your powerfulness to non make something that mightiness live counterproductive. We had 2 measures of this on these xl species. We sentiment that past times testing the large hypothesis—that there’s been alternative on social psychology inwards animals—we mightiness live able to acquire well-nigh the human case. When nosotros looked at these xl species, that’s non what nosotros saw. We sentiment it would live that animals amongst to a greater extent than complex social systems take away the powerfulness to command their conduct to not do something that mightiness live counterproductive. You tin imagine that if you’re competing amongst 1 another, you lot don’t desire to become far a create make amongst the incorrect guy, right? Self-control would seem to live incredibly of import inwards social endeavors. That’s non the blueprint nosotros saw when nosotros did the measurements....MUCH MORE