@article {308509, title = {Human behavior. Sex equality can explain the unique social structure of hunter-gatherer bands.}, journal = {Science}, volume = {348}, year = {2015}, note = {

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/348/6236/796.abstract

}, month = {2015 May 15}, pages = {796-8}, abstract = {

The social organization of mobile hunter-gatherers has several derived features, including low within-camp relatedness and fluid meta-groups. Although these features have been proposed to have provided the selective context for the evolution of human hypercooperation and cumulative culture, how such a distinctive social system may have emerged remains unclear. We present an agent-based model suggesting that, even if all individuals in a community seek to live with as many kin as possible, within-camp relatedness is reduced if men and women have equal influence in selecting camp members. Our model closely approximates observed patterns of co-residence among Agta and Mbendjele BaYaka hunter-gatherers. Our results suggest that pair-bonding and increased sex egalitarianism in human evolutionary history may have had a transformative effect on human social organization.

}, keywords = {Animals, Cooperative Behavior, Cultural Evolution, Female, Humans, Male, Models, Psychological, Sex, Social Networking}, issn = {1095-9203}, doi = {10.1126/science.aaa5139}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25977551}, author = {Dyble, M and Salali, G D and Chaudhary, N and Page, A and Smith, D and Thompson, J and Vinicius, L and Mace, R and Migliano, A B} }