The Social Brain: Mind, Language, and Society in Evolutionary Perspective
Abstract
▪ Abstract The social brain (or Machiavellian Intelligence) hypothesis was proposed to explain primates' unusually large brains: It argues that the cognitive demands of living in complexly bonded social groups selected for increases in executive brain (principally neocortex). The evidence for this and alternative hypotheses is reviewed. Although there remain difficulties of interpretation, the bulk of the evidence comes down in favor of the social brain hypothesis. The extent to which the cognitive demands of bonding large intensely social groups involve aspects of social cognition, such as theory of mind, is explored. These findings are then related to the evolution of social group size, language, and culture within the hominid lineage.
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Social interaction drives the evolution of higher cognitive abilities in animals.
“In the last decades, broad comparative analyses indicated that social interaction drives the evolution of higher cognitive abilities in animals1, 2, supporting the “social brain hypotesis”3.”
From Distinct selective forces and Neanderthal introgression shaped genetic diversity at genes involved in neurodevelopmental disorders (2017) · cites this paper as [1]
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Social Complexity Can Drive Vocal Complexity
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The Social Brain and the Shape of the Palaeolithic
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Synesthesia, Cross-Modality, and Language Evolution
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- Authors
- Dunbar, R. I. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Dunbar, R.I.M.
- ORCID
- Dunbar, R.I.M.
- Venue
- Annual Review of Anthropology
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2003-10
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 163-181
- ISSN
- 0084-6570 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-4290
- OpenAlex
- W2130307024
- Cited by
- 1,068
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 27 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 78 · 2021: 97 · 2020: 62 · 2019: 68 · 2018: 40 · 2017: 59 · 2016: 64 · 2015: 61 · 2014: 51 · 2013: 40 · 2012: 58
- FWCI
- 2.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Annual Review of Anthropology (publishedVersion)
- Oxford University Research Archive (ORA) (University of Oxford) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- social brain hypothesis, Machiavellian intelligence, primate brain evolution, neocortex, social cognition, theory of mind, social group size, language evolution, cultural evolution, hominid evolution, social bonding
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