Human behavioral ecology: current research and future prospects

Abstract

Human behavioral ecology (HBE) is the study of human behavior from an adaptive perspective. It focuses in particular on how human behavior varies with ecological context. Although HBE is a thriving research area, there has not been a major review published in a journal for over a decade, and much has changed in that time. Here, we describe the main features of HBE as a paradigm, and review HBE research published since the millennium. We find that the volume of HBE research is growing rapidly, and its composition is changing in terms of topics, study populations, methodology, and disciplinary affiliations of authors. We identify the major strengths of HBE research as its vitality, clear predictions, empirical fruitfulness, broad scope, conceptual coherence, ecological validity, increasing methodological rigor and topical innovation. Its weaknesses include a relative isolation from the rest of behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology, and a somewhat limited current topic base. As HBE continues to grow, there is a major opportunity for it to serve as a bridge between the natural and social sciences, and help unify disparate disciplinary approaches to human behavior. HBE also faces a number of open questions, such as how understanding of proximate mechanisms is to be integrated with behavioral ecology's traditional focus on optimal behavioral strategies, and the causes and extent of maladaptive behavior in humans.

Behavioural variation in 172 small-scale societies indicates that social learning is the main mode of human adaptation

“…These non-cultural mechanisms, such as causal reasoning, inventiveness, trial-and-error learning, rational choice decision-making, reaction norms or the cognitive modules that shape behaviour in response to ecological input, have been emphasized by the cognitive niche hypothesis [16], human behavioural ecology models [12,[17][18][19][20] and the evoked culture theory [7,14]. Instead, we found social learning operating over multiple generations to be the main mode by which humans acquire their behaviour.…”

The Reproductive Ecology of Industrial Societies, Part I

“…Indeed, many early studies that aimed to explain low fertility were theoretical accounts examining whether this could be adaptive in the long-run (e.g., Boone and Kessler 1999; Hill and Reeve 2005; Mace 1998; Rogers 1990), rather than empirical studies of people’s actual behavior. Having said this, there has been a noticeable upturn in the number of empirical studies conducted in industrial populations over the past decade or so (Nettle et al 2013). This may be ascribed to several developments: ( a ) major increases in computing power, which has made sophisticated statistical modelling of the kind needed for such analyses more tractable and within the reach of almost all researchers; ( b ) the increased availability of longitudinal databases that contain sufficient data to allow for evolutionarily based analyses: many now contain a sufficient sample of individuals who have completed reproduction, and some are even multigenerational; ( c ) the expansion of human behavioral ecologists into disciplines beyond anthropology, which formed their original home, and where the study of cultural diversity naturally included a greater focus on small-scale societies; and ( d ) increased awareness that such large datasets from industrial populations provide an excellent means for testing evolutionary ideas.…”

Frequency-dependent female genital cutting behaviour confers evolutionary fitness benefits

“…In this study we build on a growing body of work and integrate ideas from cultural evolution and behavioural ecology to identify how and why reproductive outcomes (fitness) of FGC may vary according to the local cultural context [16][17][18][19] .…”

“…Behavioural ecology considers the ultimate mechanisms 32,33,34 of behaviour and predicts that individuals will behave in a way that maximises reproductive success given their specific circumstances despite any negative effects this may have on their immediate wellbeing 16,35 .…”