The Experts below are selected from a list of 286737 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Jussi Lehtonen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The Price equation and the unity of Social Evolution theory
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B Biological sciences, 2020Co-Authors: Jussi LehtonenAbstract:The Price equation has been entangled with Social Evolution theory from the start. It has been used to derive the most general versions of kin selection theory, and Price himself produced a multilevel equation that provides an alternative formulation of Social Evolution theory, dividing selection into components between and within groups. In this sense, the Price equation forms a basis for both kin and group selection, so often pitted against each other in the literature. Contextual analysis and the neighbour approach are prominent alternatives for analysing group selection. I discuss these four approaches to Social Evolution theory and their connections to the Price equation, focusing on their similarities and common mathematical structure. Despite different notations and modelling traditions, all four approaches are ultimately linked by a common set of mathematical components, revealing their underlying unity in a transparent way. The Price equation can similarly be used in the derivation of streamlined, weak selection Social Evolution modelling methods. These weak selection models are practical and powerful methods for constructing models in Evolutionary and behavioural ecology; they can clarify the causal structure of models, and can be easily converted between the four Social Evolution approaches just like their regression counterparts. This article is part of the theme issue 'Fifty years of the Price equation'.
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The Price equation and the unity of Social Evolution theory
2019Co-Authors: Jussi LehtonenAbstract:The Price equation has been entangled with Social Evolution theory from the start. It has been used to derive the most general versions of kin selection theory, and Price himself produced a multilevel equation which provides an alternative formulation of Social Evolution theory, dividing selection into components between and within groups. In this sense, the Price equation forms a basis for both kin and group selection, so often pitted against each other in the literature. Contextual analysis and the neighbour approach are prominent alternatives for analysing group selection. I discuss these four approaches to Social Evolution theory and their connections to the Price equation, focusing on their similarities and common mathematical structure. Despite different notations and modelling traditions, all four approaches are ultimately linked by a common set of mathematical components, revealing their underlying unity in a transparent way. The Price equation can similarly be used in the derivation of streamlined, weak selection Social Evolution modelling methods. These weak selection models are practical and powerful methods for constructing models in Evolutionary and behavioural ecology, they can clarify the causal structure of models, and can be easily converted between the four Social Evolution approaches just like their regression counterparts.
Robert L Carneiro - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the transition from quantity to quality a neglected causal mechanism in accounting for Social Evolution
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2000Co-Authors: Robert L CarneiroAbstract:Students of Social Evolution are concerned not only with the general course it has followed, but also with the mechanisms that have brought it about. One such mechanism comes into play when the quantitative increase in some entity, usually population, reaching a certain threshold, gives rise to a qualitative change in the structure of a society. This mechanism, first recognized by Hegel, was seized on by Marx and Engels. However, neither they nor their current followers among anthropologists have made much use of it in attempting to explain Social Evolution. But as this paper attempts to show, in those few instances when the mechanism has been invoked, it has heightened our understanding of the process of Social Evolution. And, it is argued, if the mechanism were more widely applied, further understanding of the course of Evolution could be expected to result.
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inaugural article by a recently elected academy member the transition from quantity to quality a neglected causal mechanism in accounting for Social Evolution
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2000Co-Authors: Robert L CarneiroAbstract:Students of Social Evolution are concerned not only with the general course it has followed, but also with the mechanisms that have brought it about. One such mechanism comes into play when the quantitative increase in some entity, usually population, reaching a certain threshold, gives rise to a qualitative change in the structure of a society. This mechanism, first recognized by Hegel, was seized on by Marx and Engels. However, neither they nor their current followers among anthropologists have made much use of it in attempting to explain Social Evolution. But as this paper attempts to show, in those few instances when the mechanism has been invoked, it has heightened our understanding of the process of Social Evolution. And, it is argued, if the mechanism were more widely applied, further understanding of the course of Evolution could be expected to result.
Charles L. Nunn - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Females drive primate Social Evolution.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 2004Co-Authors: Patrik Lindenfors, Laila Fröberg, Charles L. NunnAbstract:Within and across species of primates, the number of males in primate groups is correlated with the number of females. This correlation may arise owing to ecological forces operating on females, with subsequent competition among males for access to groups of females. The temporal relationship between changes in male and female group membership remains unexplored in primates and other mammalian groups. We used a phylogenetic comparative method for detecting Evolutionary lag to test whether Evolutionary change in the number of males lags behind change in the number of females. We found that change in male membership in primate groups is positively correlated with divergence time in pairwise comparisons. This result is consistent with male numbers adjusting to female group size and highlights the importance of focusing on females when studying primate Social Evolution.
Patrik Lindenfors - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology - Primate Social Evolution
The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, 2018Co-Authors: Patrik LindenforsAbstract:Primates display a remarkable diversity of types of Social organization—a diversity that, according to the socioecological model of Social Evolution, is ultimately determined by ecological factors ...
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Females drive primate Social Evolution.
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 2004Co-Authors: Patrik Lindenfors, Laila Fröberg, Charles L. NunnAbstract:Within and across species of primates, the number of males in primate groups is correlated with the number of females. This correlation may arise owing to ecological forces operating on females, with subsequent competition among males for access to groups of females. The temporal relationship between changes in male and female group membership remains unexplored in primates and other mammalian groups. We used a phylogenetic comparative method for detecting Evolutionary lag to test whether Evolutionary change in the number of males lags behind change in the number of females. We found that change in male membership in primate groups is positively correlated with divergence time in pairwise comparisons. This result is consistent with male numbers adjusting to female group size and highlights the importance of focusing on females when studying primate Social Evolution.
Holger Strulik - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A mass phenomenon: The Social Evolution of obesity
Journal of health economics, 2013Co-Authors: Holger StrulikAbstract:This paper proposes a theory for the Social Evolution of obesity. It considers a society in which individuals experience utility from consumption of food and non-food, the state of their health, and the evaluation of their appearance by others. The theory explains under which conditions poor persons are more prone to be overweight although eating is expensive and it shows how obesity occurs as a Social phenomenon such that body mass continues to rise long after the initial cause (e.g. a lower price of food) is gone. The paper investigates the determinants of a steady state at which the median person is overweight and how an originally lean society arrives at such a steady state. Extensions of the theory towards dietary choice and the possibility to exercise in order to lose weight demonstrate robustness of the basic mechanism and provide further interesting results.
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A Mass Phenomenon: The Social Evolution of Obesity
2012Co-Authors: Holger StrulikAbstract:This paper proposes a theory for the Social Evolution of obesity. It considers a society, in which individuals experience utility from consumption of food and non-food, the state of their health, and the evaluation of their appearance by others. The theory explains why, ceteris paribus, poor persons are more prone to be severely overweight although eating is expensive and how obesity occurs as a Social phenomenon such that body mass continues to rise long after the initial cause (e.g. a lower price of food) is gone. The paper investigates the determinants of a steady-state at which the median citizen is overweight and how an originally lean society arrives at such a steady-state. Extensions of the theory towards dietary choice and the possibility to exercise in order to loose weight demonstrate robustness of the basic mechanism and provide further interesting results.
