The Evolutionary Roots of Human Sociality

Humans are social animals, but so are many other animals. Yet compared to other non-human primates, humans appear to be more cooperative with each other, have greater control of their communicative signals, and appear to spend more time interacting with each other. So what is special about human social life? This lecture introduces some of the building blocks of social cognition that make social living possible without constant fighting. It presents these abilities through a developmental and evolutionary perspective and explains how scientists are trying to tackle the mystery of the primate mind through behavioral studies.