Perspectives: Hamilton's Legacy: Mechanisms of Kin Recognition in Humans

Abstract

The behavior literature is replete with examples of individuals exhibiting costly acts that benefit someone else. These examples troubled Darwin so much so that he thought they would be fatal to his theory of natural selection. A century later, W. D. Hamilton refined that theory by showing, quantitatively, that such acts could be favored if the individuals involved were relatives. His theory of inclusive fitness is generally considered one of the greatest theoretical advances in evolution since Darwin's time. Less appreciated from Hamilton's 1964 paper is the hypothesis that mechanisms favoring accurate kin recognition will also be selected. Here, I review those recognition mechanisms and survey the literature on human kin recognition. Although not often considered, humans both produce cues to kinship that vary with genetic relatedness and have perceptual abilities to detect these cues in others and assess that relatedness. The potential functions of these abilities are discussed. Importantly, gaps in our understanding of the development and use of recognition mechanisms are noted.

Prosocial and self‐interested intra‐twin pair behavior in monozygotic and dizygotic twins in the early to middle childhood transition

“…Many studies have found that facial similarity can affect the nature of social dynamics among strangers or family members (DeBruine, 2002;DeBruine, Jones, Little, & Perrett, 2008;Mateo, 2015). Nevertheless, children may not be sensitive to cues reflecting the different degree of kinship between themselves and their MZ or DZ twin, based on physical similarity.…”

Happy to Help? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of performing acts of kindness on the well-being of the actor

“…Examples of such 'kin altruism' are widespread in nature (Gardner & West, 2014), most obviously in cases of parental care (Royle, Smiseth, & Kölliker, 2012). Humans too possess adaptations for detecting and delivering benefits to kin (Lieberman, Tooby, & Cosmides, 2007;Mateo, 2015), especially to offspring (Geary & Flinn, 2001). Kin altruism can explain kindness in the form of love, care, sympathy and compassion.…”

Common vampire bat contact calls attract past food-sharing partners

“…Given the results presented here, a parsimonious explanation is that vampire bats learn the calls of maternal kin based on early life experiences (prior association) and could not recognize or favour unfamiliar kin (phenotype matching). However, there is growing recognition that social vertebrates may have multiple forms of kin discrimination, including both prior association and phenotype matching (Breed, 2014;Cornwallis, West, & Griffin, 2009;Green et al, 2015;Mateo, 2010;Mateo & Hauber, 2015;Mcdonald & Wright, 2011;Pfefferle, Kazem, Brockhausen, Ruiz-Lambides, & Widdig, 2014). Different kin recognition mechanisms may be used in different contexts (e.g.…”

“…Different kin recognition mechanisms may be used in different contexts (e.g. inbreeding avoidance vs. nepotism) and might interact with past experience in various ways to influence social decisions (Breed, 2014;Daniel & Rodd, 2015;Delton, Krasnow, Cosmides, & Tooby;Mateo, 2010;Mateo & Hauber, 2015;Mcdonald & Wright, 2011;Penn & Frommen, 2010;Zöttl, Heg, Chervet, & Taborsky, 2013). Like most mammals, bats appear to use olfaction for social recognition at close range (Bloss, Acree, Bloss, Hood, & Kunz, 2002;De Fanis & Jones, 1995;Englert & Greene, 2009;Gustin & McCracken, 1987;Safi & Kerth, 2003), but a system of kin recognition based on acoustic phenotype matching (Kessler, Scheumann, Nash, & Zimmermann, 2012;Levréro et al, 2015; would allow for recognition of unfamiliar or paternal relatives at a distance, which would be necessary for co-roosting preferentially with unfamiliar kin over unfamiliar non-kin.…”