The Social Brain: Mind, Language, and Society in Evolutionary Perspective

Pretense and representation: The origins of "theory of mind."

Leslie, A. M. (1987) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.94.4.412 · Cited by 3,379

Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates

Dunbar, R. I. M. (1992) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/0047-2484(92)90081-j · Cited by 2,542

Coevolution of neocortical size, group size and language in humans

Dunbar, R. (1993) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x00032325 · Cited by 2,370

The expensive-tissue hypothesis: The brain and the digestive system in human and primate evolution

Aiello, L. C., & Wheeler, P. (1995) · Current Anthropology · doi:10.1086/204350 · Cited by 2,291

A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder

Lai, C. S. L., Fisher, S. E., Hurst, J. A., Vargha‐Khadem, F., & Monaco, A. P. (2001) · Nature · doi:10.1038/35097076 · Cited by 2,053

Molecular evolution of FOXP2, a gene involved in speech and language

Enard, W., Przeworski, M., Fisher, S. E., Lai, C. S. L., Wiebe, V., Kitano, T., Monaco, A. P., & Pääbo, S. (2002) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature01025 · Cited by 1,603

Primate Social Systems

Dunbar, R. (1988) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-6694-2 · Cited by 1,260

Linked Regularities in the Development and Evolution of Mammalian Brains

Finlay, B. L., & Darlington, R. B. (1995) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.7777856 · Cited by 1,217

Social intelligence, innovation, and enhanced brain size in primates

Reader, S. M., & Laland, K. N. (2002) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.062041299 · Cited by 1,126

Chimpanzees know what conspecifics do and do not see

Hare, B. A., Call, J., Agnetta, B., & Tomasello, M. (2000) · Animal Behaviour · doi:10.1006/anbe.1999.1377 · Cited by 1,082

The Problem of Animal Pain

Campbell, V. (2024) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781009270717 · Cited by 13

Collective work motivation in knowledge based organizations

Tongo, C. I. (2015) · Team Performance Management · doi:10.1108/tpm-06-2015-0030 · Cited by 13

WORD AND CATEGORY LEARNING IN A CONTINUOUS SEMANTIC DOMAIN: COMPARING CROSS-SITUATIONAL AND INTERACTIVE LEARNING

Belpaeme, T., & Morse, A. F. (2012) · Advances in Complex Systems · doi:10.1142/s0219525912500312 · Cited by 13

Motion, identity and the bias toward agency

Fields, C. (2014) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00597 · Cited by 14

What do Natural Categorization Studies Tell us about the Concepts of Apes and Bears?

Vonk, J. M., & Galvan, M. (2014) · Animal Behavior and Cognition · doi:10.12966/abc.08.07.2014 · Cited by 13

A Singular Universe of Many Singularities: Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context

Chaisson, E. J. (2012) · The frontiers collection · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-32560-1_20 · Cited by 15

Oxygen and the Spark of Human Brain Evolution: Complex Interactions of Metabolism and Cortical Expansion across Development and Evolution

Luppi, A. I., Rosas, F. E., Noonan, M. P., Mediano, P. A. M., Kringelbach, M. L., Carhart-Harris, R. L., Stamatakis, E. A., Vernon, A. C., & Turkheimer, F. (2022) · The Neuroscientist · doi:10.1177/10738584221138032 · Cited by 15

Envy and egalitarianism in Aboriginal Australia: An integrative approach

Burbank, V. K. (2014) · The Australian Journal of Anthropology · doi:10.1111/taja.12068 · Cited by 13

The evolution of the molecular response to stress and its relevance to trauma and stressor-related disorders

Watson, I., Brüne, M., & Bradley, A. J. (2016) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.05.010 · Cited by 14

2. Solidarity: Unpacking the Social Brain

Laitinen, A., & Pessi, A. B. (2014) · Lexington Books · doi:10.5771/9780739177280-30 · Cited by 13

The Race Between Cognitive and Artificial Intelligence

Arora, A. S., & Arora, A. (2019) · International Journal of Intelligent Information Technologies · doi:10.4018/ijiit.2020010101 · Cited by 13

The adaptive problem of absent third-party punishment

Ingram, G., Piazza, J. R., & Bering, J. M. (2009) · CogPrints (University of Southampton) · Cited by 13

Where Apes and Songbirds are Left Behind: A Comparative Assessment of the Requisites for Speech

Colbert‐White, E. N., Corballis, M. C., & Fragaszy, D. M. (2014) · Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews · doi:10.3819/ccbr.2014.90004 · Cited by 13

Intentionalism versus The New Conventionalism

Harris, D. W. (2016) · University of Zagreb University Computing Centre (SRCE) · Cited by 13

Visual re-identification of individual objects: a core problem for organisms and AI

Fields, C. (2015) · Cognitive Processing · doi:10.1007/s10339-015-0736-3 · Cited by 12

Differential susceptibility to plasticity: a 'missing link' between gene-culture co-evolution and neuropsychiatric spectrum disorders?

Wurzman, R. P., & Giordano, J. J. (2012) · BMC Medicine · doi:10.1186/1741-7015-10-37 · Cited by 12

Obstacles to social safeness in women with chronic pain: The role of fears of compassion

Carvalho, S. A., Pinto‐Gouveia, J., Gillanders, D. T., & Castilho, P. (2019) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-019-00489-2 · Cited by 13

Mindshaping

Zawidzki, T. W. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198735410.013.39 · Cited by 14

Towards a Theoretical Framework for Examining Societal-Level Institutional Change

Drew, A., & Kriz, A. (2012) · Advances in international management · doi:10.1108/s1571-5027(2012)0000025011 · Cited by 12

Detachment, Genomics and the Nature of Being Human

Moss, L. (2009) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-90-481-2611-8_8 · Cited by 12

Gossip, Conversation and Group Size: Language as a Bonding Mechanism

Conein, B. (2011) · Irish Journal of Sociology · doi:10.7227/ijs.19.1.6 · Cited by 12

Toward Adversarial Online Learning and the Science of Deceptive Machines

Abramson, M. (2015) · National Conference on Artificial Intelligence · Cited by 12

The Enormous Flock of Homophily Researchers: Assessing and Promoting a Research Agenda

McPherson, M., Smith‐Lovin, L., & Rawlings, C. M. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108878296.033 · Cited by 12

Knapping in the Dark

Cole, J. (2019) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190854614.003.0018 · Cited by 12

Surveying data on connected personal networks

Kowald, M., & Axhausen, K. W. (2014) · Travel Behaviour and Society · doi:10.1016/j.tbs.2013.11.001 · Cited by 12

Further Thoughts on the Genetic Argument for Handaxes

McNabb, J. (2019) · Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews · doi:10.1002/evan.21809 · Cited by 12

Change in the Form of Evolution: Transition from Primate to Hominid Forms of Social Organization

Read, D. (2005) · Journal of Mathematical Sociology · doi:10.1080/00222500590920842 · Cited by 12

Language, culture, and mind: trends and standards in the latest pendulum swing. DanielEverett, Language: the cultural tool. London: Profile, 2012.

Enfield, N. J. (2013) · Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · doi:10.1111/1467-9655.12008 · Cited by 12

Understanding and Improving the Social Context of Well-Being

Helliwell, J. F. (2012) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w18486 · Cited by 12

Social Versus Nonsocial Reasoning

Baetens, K., Vandekerckhove, M. M. P., & Overwalle, F. V. (2015) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-397025-1.00184-6 · Cited by 11

Assessing eye orbits as predictors of N eandertal group size

Traynor, S., Gurtov, A. N., Senjem, J. H., & Hawks, J. D. (2015) · American Journal of Physical Anthropology · doi:10.1002/ajpa.22747 · Cited by 11

From “Oh, OK” to “Ah, yes” to “Aha!”: Hyper-systemizing and the rewards of insight

Fields, C. (2011) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.02.010 · Cited by 12

Theory-of-mind in adolescents and young adults with Alström syndrome

Frölander, H. E., Möller, C., Marshall, J. D., Sundqvist, A., Rönnåsen, B., Falkensson, L., & Lyxell, B. (2014) · International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology · doi:10.1016/j.ijporl.2013.12.038 · Cited by 11

Pleistocene hominin dispersals, naïve faunas and social networks

Dennell, R. (2017) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781316686942.004 · Cited by 11

On Social Media

Hampton, K. N., & Chen, W. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108878296.056 · Cited by 11

Georg Simmel’s Contribution to Social Network Research

Hollstein, B. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108878296.003 · Cited by 13

The Emotional Lockdown: How Social Distancing and Mask Wearing Influence Mood and Emotion Recognition in Adolescents and Adults

Kulke, L., Langer, T., & Valuch, C. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.878002 · Cited by 11

Role of personal relative deprivation in promoting working memory capacity for neutral social information: Facial expressions and body motions

Zhang, L., Qiao, L., Xu, M., Che, X., Diao, L., Yuan, S., Du, X., & Yang, D. (2019) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2019.06.007 · Cited by 11

“You're lying to Jesus!”: Humor and play in a discussion about homelessness

Ritchie, L. D. (2011) · Humor - International Journal of Humor Research · doi:10.1515/humr.2011.027 · Cited by 11

Networks of interaction and functional interdependence in societies across the Intermediate Area

Martín, A. J., & Herrera, M. M. (2014) · Journal of Anthropological Archaeology · doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2014.08.001 · Cited by 11

Towards thirty years of ethological research on the Japanese Macaque (Macaca fuscata) colony of the Rome Zoo: a review

Majolo, B., Schino, G., & Troisi, A. (2005) · Lincoln Repository (University of Lincoln) · Cited by 11

Are we evolved to live with mobiles? An evolutionary view of mobile communication

Lai, C., & Katz, J. E. (2012) · Periodica Polytechnica Social and Management Sciences · doi:10.3311/pp.so.2012-1.05 · Cited by 11

Incorporating Development Into Evolutionary Psychology

Bjorklund, D. F. (2016) · Evolutionary Psychology · doi:10.1177/1474704916670166 · Cited by 12

What Do They Know? The Antecedents of Information Accuracy Differentials in Interorganizational Networks

Knoben, J., Oerlemans, L. A. G., Krijkamp, A. R., & Provan, K. G. (2018) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.2017.1180 · Cited by 11

Present-but-online: How mobile devices may harm purposeful co-presence in organizations (and what can be done about it)

Christensen, P. H., & Foss, N. J. (2020) · European Management Journal · doi:10.1016/j.emj.2020.07.006 · Cited by 11

The challenges of documenting coevolution and niche construction: The example of domestic spaces

Stiner, M. C. (2020) · Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews · doi:10.1002/evan.21878 · Cited by 11

Technological Change in the Early Middle Pleistocene: The Onset of the Middle Stone Age at Kathu Pan 1, Northern Cape, South Africa

Wilkins, J. (2013) · TSpace (University of Toronto) · Cited by 11

Spatial structure and the temporality of assemblage formation: A comparative study of seven open air Middle Paleolithic sites in France

Clark, A. (2015) · UA Campus Repository (The University of Arizona) · Cited by 11

Cooperation and competition have same benefits but different costs

Francesco, L. D., Mazza, A., Sorrenti, M., Murino, V., Battegazzorre, E., Strada, F., Bottino, A., & Monte, O. D. (2024) · iScience · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.110292 · Cited by 10

Empathy aligns brains in synchrony

Schwartz, L., Lévy, J., Shapira, Y., Salomonski, C., Hayut, O., Zagoory‐Sharon, O., & Feldman, R. (2025) · iScience · doi:10.1016/j.isci.2025.112642 · Cited by 12

On Mobilization

Small, M. L. (2021) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108878296.042 · Cited by 10

Human Evolution and the Neotenous Infant

Bjorklund, D. F. (2022) · Evolutionary psychology · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-76000-7_2 · Cited by 11

Assigning a social status from face adornments: an fMRI study

Salagnon, M., d’Errico, F., Rigaud, S., & Mellet, E. (2024) · Brain Structure and Function · doi:10.1007/s00429-024-02786-4 · Cited by 10

The Communication of Wisdom

Nussbaum, J. F. (2012) · Journal of Language and Social Psychology · doi:10.1177/0261927x12463009 · Cited by 10

Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines

Achard, J.-L., & Vitali, R. (2012) · HAL · Cited by 10

Dealing with the Complexity of Causes of Societal Innovativeness: Social Enabling and Disabling Mechanisms and the Case of China

Redding, G., & Drew, A. (2016) · Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics · doi:10.1177/0260107916643254 · Cited by 11

Building interfirm leadership: A relational identity perspective

Hao, B., Feng, Y., & Ye, J. (2017) · European Management Journal · doi:10.1016/j.emj.2017.03.010 · Cited by 10

Men Play, Women Break the Town: Gender and Intergenerational Asymmetry in Sexual and Reproductive Worldview Among the Ga of Ghana

Atobrah, D., & Awedoba, A. K. (2017) · Sexuality & Culture · doi:10.1007/s12119-017-9426-x · Cited by 10

Afterword: Tough Questions; Hard Problems; Incremental Progress

Sterelny, K. (2019) · Topics in Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/tops.12427 · Cited by 10

Religious song as a facilitator of prosocial behavior

Batara, J. B. L. (2015) · International Journal of Research Studies in Psychology · doi:10.5861/ijrsp.2015.1208 · Cited by 12

Enrichment of genetic markers of recent human evolution in educational and cognitive traits

Srinivasan, S., Bettella, F., Frei, O., Hill, W. D., Wang, Y., Witoelar, A., Schork, A. J., Thompson, W. K., Davies, G., Desikan, R. S., et al. (2018) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-30387-9 · Cited by 10

Evolution of the Primate Brain

Falk, D. (2014) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-39979-4_37 · Cited by 10

Reappraisal of hominin group size in the Lower Paleolithic: An introduction to the special issue

Goren‐Inbar, N., & Belfer‐Cohen, A. (2020) · Journal of Human Evolution · doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102821 · Cited by 10

Should Robots Have Rights or Rites?

Kim, T. W., & Strudler, A. (2023) · Communications of the ACM · doi:10.1145/3571721 · Cited by 9

Early color symbolism

Watts, I. (2015) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781107337930.016 · Cited by 10

Darwin's Psychology

Bradley, B. S. (2020) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780198708216.001.0001 · Cited by 9

Evolutionary origins of music. Classical and recent hypotheses

Kalinowski, K., Kozłowska, A., Malesza, M., & Danel, D. P. (2021) · Anthropological Review · doi:10.2478/anre-2021-0011 · Cited by 9

The Interprocessual-Self Theory in Support of Human Neuroscience Studies

Luís, E. O., Akrivou, K., Bermejo‐Martins, E., Scalzo, G. R., & Semper, J. V. O. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.686928 · Cited by 9

Uncomfortable staring? Gaze to other people in social situations is inhibited in both infants and adults

Kulke, L., Ertugrul, S., Reyentanz, E., & Thomas, V. (2023) · Developmental Science · doi:10.1111/desc.13468 · Cited by 10

Physical Constraints on the Evolution of Cooperation

Dijker, A. J. M. (2011) · Evolutionary Biology · doi:10.1007/s11692-011-9119-6 · Cited by 10

Social Cognitive Development from an Evolutionary Perspective

Machluf, K., & Bjorklund, D. F. (2015) · Evolutionary psychology · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-12697-5_3 · Cited by 9

Maternal Elaborative Language in Shared Emotion Talk with ODD Children: Relationship to Child Emotion Competencies

Pate, A., Salmon, K., Fortune, C., & O’Kearney, R. (2019) · Child Psychiatry & Human Development · doi:10.1007/s10578-019-00927-z · Cited by 9

Reflections and New Perspectives on Face Cognition as a Specific Socio-Cognitive Ability

Meyer, K., Sommer, W., & Hildebrandt, A. (2021) · Journal of Intelligence · doi:10.3390/jintelligence9020030 · Cited by 9

Security and the social mind: attachment and therapeutic communities

Adshead, G. M. J. (2015) · Therapeutic Communities The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities · doi:10.1108/tc-02-2015-0009 · Cited by 9

Considering Social and Emotional Artificial Intelligence

McKeown, G. J. (2010) · Cited by 9

Embodied Cognition and the Archaeology of Mind: A Radical Reassessment

Garofoli, D. (2019) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-11117-5_19 · Cited by 9

Physics, Determinism, and the Brain

Ellis, G. (2021) · Synthese Library/Synthese library · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-71899-2_8 · Cited by 9

“Indigenous Knowledge” and the Understanding of Cultural Cognition: The Contribution of Studies of Environmental Knowledge Systems

Ellen, R. F. (2011) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781444394931.ch16 · Cited by 9

Social Brain Hypothesis

Oesch, N. (2018) · The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology · doi:10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1631 · Cited by 9

Meaning-making behavior in a small-brained hominin, Homo naledi, from the late Pleistocene: contexts and evolutionary implicationsPreprint

Fuentes, A., Kissel, M., Spikins, P., Molopyane, K., Hawks, J. D., & Berger, L. R. (2023) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.89125 · Cited by 13

Did increasing brain size place early humans at risk of extinction?

Stibel, J. M. (2025) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2025.106336 · Cited by 9

Memory as a cognitive requirement for reciprocal cooperation

Kroneisen, M., & Bell, R. (2021) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.008 · Cited by 8

Effects of emotional content on social inhibition of gaze in live social and non-social situations

Pasqualette, L. B. B. B., & Kulke, L. (2023) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-023-41154-w · Cited by 8

Village Layout and Social Experience: A Comparative Study from the Northeast Woodlands

Creese, J. L. (2014) · Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology · doi:10.1179/2327427113y.0000000003 · Cited by 8

Can archaeology tell us about the evolution of cognition and language?

Bar‐Yosef, O. (2016) · Journal of Neurolinguistics · doi:10.1016/j.jneuroling.2016.11.009 · Cited by 9

Scio Ergo Sum: Knowledge of the Self in a Nonhuman Primate

Sinha, A. (2017) · Journal of the Indian Institute of Science · doi:10.1007/s41745-017-0043-3 · Cited by 8

Picturing Primates and Looking at Monkeys: Why 21st Century Primatology Needs Wittgenstein

Barrett, L. (2018) · Philosophical Investigations · doi:10.1111/phin.12189 · Cited by 8

The “Social Brain,” Reciprocity, and Social Network Segregation along Ethnic Boundaries

Windzio, M. (2020) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-020-09382-5 · Cited by 8

Symbols and Material Signs in the Debate on Human Origins

Iliopoulos, A., & Malafouris, L. (2021) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198813781.013.14 · Cited by 8

Computational methods in social neuroscience: recent advances, new tools and future directions

Parkinson, C. M. (2021) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsab073 · Cited by 8

Cooperation as a causal factor in human evolution: a scientific clarification and analysis of German high school biology textbooks

Hanisch, S., & Eirdosh, D. (2022) · Journal of Biological Education · doi:10.1080/00219266.2021.2020875 · Cited by 8

Neural processes of inhibitory control in American Indian peoples are associated with reduced mental health problems

White, E. J., Demuth, M. J., Nacke, M., Kirlić, N., Kuplicki, R., Spechler, P. A., McDermott, T. J., DeVille, D. C., Stewart, J. L., Lowe, J. R., et al. (2022) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsac045 · Cited by 8

How does psychotherapy work? The self and its disorders

Adshead, G. M. J., & Fonagy, P. (2012) · Advances in Psychiatric Treatment · doi:10.1192/apt.bp.111.009274 · Cited by 9

Why aren't the social sciences Darwinian?

Mesoudi, A., Veldhuis, D., & Foley, R. (2010) · Journal of Evolutionary Psychology · doi:10.1556/jep.8.2010.2.1 · Cited by 8

Social density processes regulate the functioning and performance of foraging human teams

King, A. J., Myatt, J. P., Fürtbauer, I., Oesch, N., Dunbar, R., Sumner, S., Usherwood, J. R., Hailes, S. M. V., & Brown, M. R. (2015) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep18260 · Cited by 8

What behaviour in economic games tells us about the evolution of non-human species' economic decision-making behaviour

Brosnan, S. F. (2021) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0670 · Cited by 8

Metaphor and materiality in earliest prehistory

Gamble, C., & Coward, F. (2010) · ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) · Cited by 8

Special Issue: Innovation and the Evolution of Human Behavior Beyond the Tools: Social Innovation and Hominin Evolution

Coward, F., & Grove, M. L. (2011) · PaleoAnthropology · Cited by 8

Do you believe in atheists? Trust and anti-atheist prejudice

Gervais, W. M. (2008) · doi:10.14288/1.0066560 · Cited by 8

Cooperation, Coalition, and Alliances

Hemelrijk, C. K., Steinhauser, J., Henke, W., & Tattersal, I. (2012) · SpringerReference · doi:10.1007/springerreference_135078 · Cited by 8

Social Brain Hypothesis

Oesch, N. (2018) · The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology · doi:10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea1631 · Cited by 9

The social brain hypothesis and its implications for social evolution

Dunbar, R. I. M. (2009) · Annals of Human Biology · doi:10.1080/03014460902960289 · Cited by 795

The Social Brain Hypothesis and Human Evolution

Dunbar, R. (2016) · Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology · doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.44 · Cited by 61

The social nature of primate cognition

Barrett, L., & Henzi, S. P. (2005) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3200 · Cited by 154

Social Brain: Evolution

Dunbar, R. (2009) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-008045046-9.00957-8 · Cited by 3