How evolution shapes social behavior in sociobiology

Sociobiology is a field of biology that aims to explain social behavior in terms of evolution. It argues that selection pressure led to the genetic evolution of advantageous social behavior.

3 articles, 1 book · about 19 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   sociobiology · Wikipedia · 13 min read

   Sociobiology uses Nikolaas Tinbergen's four questions to search for explanations of animal behavior. Two, often called "ultimate explanations," concern the adaptive function, or how a behavior helps in the environment where it evolved, and the historical evolutionary process that resulted in this functionality. At a 1976 American Anthropological Association convention, cultural anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon scheduled sessions on sociobiology that other scholars tried to cancel with what he later described as "Impassioned accusations of racism, fascism and Nazism". Newly dominant male lions often kill cubs in the pride that they did not sire. Sociobiology uses this example to show how behavior can be partly explained as an outcome of natural selection.

2. Read
   

   Why Do Animals Share? - JSTOR Daily · JSTOR Daily · 3 min read

   When a returning vampire bat shares a regurgitated blood meal with a hungry bat, both may live to bite another day. Individuals behave altruistically when they benefit another individual of their species at some cost to themselves, a behavior that is hard to understand from an evolutionary point of view.

3. Read
   

   Mice in a "Big Brother" Setup Develop Social Structures - Neuroscience News · Neuroscience News · 3 min read

   In sociobiology, close observations of mice revealed how one individual became "king" of the group, attaining dominance over the others, both male and female. The team identified individual and social behaviors, including seeking specific companions, avoiding certain individuals and attacking others.

4. Book
   

   Sociobiology: The New Synthesis · Bookshop.org

   Sociobiology: The New Synthesis by Edward O. Wilson argues in its final chapter that natural selection has made humans more flexible in social organization than any other species.

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