“Survival of the fittest” is a term frequently thrown around when people talk about human evolution that was coined by Herbert Spencer decades ago. Just recently, a new evolutionary theory termed “survival of the friendliest” was explored by Brian Hare, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University, in this podcast with host Kensy Cooperrider.
Hare said he noted that one trait noted among all domesticated animals is that they share a reduced level of aggression as well as an increased level of friendliness compared to their wild relatives. In particular, Hare noted that bonobos are able to “self-domesticate” and are shown to be more reproductively successful than their chimpanzee counterparts.
Since “self-domestication” is a possibility, Hare thought that it might be possible in Homo sapiens too whereby late human evolution was dominated by selection for in-group prosociality over aggression. This is because interpersonal skills and supportive communities have always been critical in survival. In fact, living alone has been associated with an average of 32% increased likelihood of mortality (Lunstad, Smith, Baker, Harris, and Stephenson 2015, 233). Hare posits the successful “self-domestication” leads to a by-product of increased cognitive, particularly cooperative communicative, abilities. This could be a reason why Homo sapiens edge out over the other human species. Nonetheless, this “extreme friendliness” comes with its downside as we are wired to dehumanize people that are not part of our group. This is similar to what we were talking about in class: that evolution isn’t just about “positive selection”.
When we were talking about “survival of the fittest” in this class, we mentioned that the less-catchy term “survival of the fit” might be more accurate given that evolution is more about “not losing” rather than “winning.” Assuming that it is true that Homo sapiens do select for in-group prosociality, I wonder if the new F-word of evolution should be “friendly” instead of “friendliest.” I thus already know the book that I will be reading over the break: Survival of the Friendliest: understanding our origins and rediscovering our common humanity, whereby Hare and his wife delve deeper into this theory.
Bibliography
Cooperrider, Kensy. Humans, dogs, and other domesticated animals.
Many Minds. Podcast audio. 2020.
https://manyminds.libsyn.com/humans-dogs-and-other-
domesticated-animals
Hare, Brian, and Vanessa Woods. Survival of the Friendliest:
Understanding our origins and rediscovering our common humanity.
Random House, 2020.
Holt-Lunstad, Julianne, Timothy B. Smith, Mark Baker, Tyler Harris,
and David Stephenson. “Loneliness and social isolation as risk
factors for mortality: a meta-analytic review.” Perspectives on
psychological science 10, no. 2 (2015): 227-237.
The Museum of Modern Pasts 