The dynamics of men's cooperation and social status in a small-scale society

Abstract

We propose that networks of cooperation and allocation of social status co-emerge in human groups. We substantiate this hypothesis with one of the first longitudinal studies of cooperation in a preindustrial society, spanning 8 years. Using longitudinal social network analysis of cooperation among men, we find large effects of kinship, reciprocity and transitivity in the nomination of cooperation partners over time. Independent of these effects, we show that (i) higher-status individuals gain more cooperation partners, and (ii) individuals gain status by cooperating with individuals of higher status than themselves. We posit that human hierarchies are more egalitarian relative to other primates species, owing in part to greater interdependence between cooperation and status hierarchy.

Taking charge and stepping in: Individuals who punish are rewarded with prestige and dominance

“…Theory suggests that prestige is founded on a market-like exchange relationship (Henrich & Gil-White, 2001;Price & Van Vugt, 2014), buttressed by evidence that whenever an individual pays a cost to provide a public good, group members receiving the good confer prestige to the producer. In a similar vein, in a longitudinal study von Rueden, Redhead, O'Gorman, Kaplan, and Gurven (2019) found that men with highly prestigious reputations enjoyed an increased probability of receiving help from others, and were more likely chosen as future cooperation partners, highlighting how those who contribute to public goods reap social and material rewards. According to this logic, given that third-party punishment can signal an individual's cooperative intent, such forms of prosocial punishment may also similarly promote prestige.…”

“…By conferring aid and benefiting other group members through these prosocial means, individuals can increase and sustain both group-level cooperation, and their individual levels of prestige (Henrich et al, 2015;von Rueden et al, 2019).…”

“…Meanwhile, dominance may be more muted in groups that are better able to form levelling coalitions against would-be dominants (Gavrilets et al, 2008;Boehm et al, 1993). Such context-dependencies have likely paved the path for a greater reliance on prestige as an avenue for social status in humans (von Rueden et al, 2019), and a greater fragility of dominance-based approaches to status (Cheng, 2020). 2 Several factors may cause variation in the frequency and effectiveness of anti-social forms of punishment between groups.…”

Psychological foundations of human status allocation

“…H ierarchical structure is a universal and pervasive aspect of human groups (1)(2)(3). Rank within a hierarchy-an individual's status within a group-defines access to fitness-relevant resources such as food, territory, mates, cooperative partners, influence, respect, and attention (4)(5)(6). Group members play an active role in determining who gains and loses relatively unchallenged access to valuable contested resources (7).…”

Social learning about rewards – how information from others helps to adapt to changing environment

“…Social structure resulting from kinship, friendship, and hierarchy among individuals is a hallmark of human society. Being a part of this structure is key for survival and reproduction 1,2 . Similar structures, albeit less complex, are also observed in other social species, including rodents 3 .…”