Human Social Evolution: Self-Domestication or Self-Control?

Abstract

The self-domestication hypothesis suggests that, like mammalian domesticates, humans have gone through a process of selection against aggression-a process that in the case of humans was self-induced. Here, we extend previous proposals and suggest that what underlies human social evolution is selection for socially mediated emotional control and plasticity. In the first part of the paper we highlight general features of human social evolution, which, we argue, is more similar to that of other social mammals than to that of mammalian domesticates and is therefore incompatible with the notion of human self-domestication. In the second part, we discuss the unique aspects of human evolution and propose that emotional control and social motivation in humans evolved during two major, partially overlapping stages. The first stage, which followed the emergence of mimetic communication, the beginnings of musical engagement, and mimesis-related cognition, required socially mediated emotional plasticity and was accompanied by new social emotions. The second stage followed the emergence of language, when individuals began to instruct the imagination of their interlocutors, and to rely even more extensively on emotional plasticity and culturally learned emotional control. This account further illustrates the significant differences between humans and domesticates, thus challenging the notion of human self-domestication.

Music as a coevolved system for social bonding

“…Importantly, many researchers have noted that, while there are clear differences in the structure and processing of music and language, there is extensive overlap ranging from structural content (e.g., "musilinguistic continua" between speech and song including intermediate forms like poetry and chant) to neurobiological substrates (e.g., similar neural substrates for processing of pitch, rhythm, and syntax ;Brown 2000bBrown , 2017Fitch 2006;Patel 2008;Peretz & Coltheart 2003;Peretz et al 2018;Savage et al 2012). Indeed, many have proposed that the evolution of musicality may have paved the way for the evolution of language (Darwin 1871;Brown 2000bBrown , 2017Fitch 2010;Mithen 2005;Shilton et al 2020). We accept that our present level of understanding is insufficient to demonstrate conclusively that music coevolved uniquely with social bonding independent from language or other social behaviors.…”

Music as a coevolved system for social bonding

“…Importantly, many researchers have noted that, while there are clear differences in the structure and processing of music and language, there is extensive overlap ranging from structural content (e.g., "musilinguistic continua" between speech and song including intermediate forms like poetry and chant) to neurobiological substrates (e.g., similar neural substrates for processing of pitch, rhythm, and syntax; Brown 2000bBrown , 2017Fitch 2006;Patel 2008;Peretz & Coltheart 2003;Peretz et al 2018;Savage et al 2012). Indeed, many have proposed that the evolution of musicality may have paved the way for the evolution of language (Darwin 1871;Brown 2000bBrown , 2017Fitch 2010;Mithen 2005;Shilton et al 2020). We accept that our present level of understanding is insufficient to demonstrate conclusively that music coevolved uniquely with social bonding independent from language or other social behaviors.…”

Molecules, Mechanisms, and Disorders of Self-Domestication: Keys for Understanding Emotional and Social Communication from an Evolutionary Perspective

“…Another speculation is that only a part of the human social evolution could be related to self-domestication (the one that we share with other mammals), whereas other unique aspects of mimetic and language communication in humans, which required socially-mediated emotional plasticity accompanied by new social emotions driven by culturally-learned emotional control, thus challenging the notion of human self-domestication in favor of self-control [ 231 ].…”