Are there alternative adaptive strategies to human pro-sociality? The role of collaborative morality in the emergence of personality variation and autistic traits

Abstract

Selection pressures to better understand others' thoughts and feelings are seen as a primary driving force in human cognitive evolution. Yet might the evolution of social cognition be more complex than we assume, with more than one strategy towards social understanding and developing a positive pro-social reputation? Here we argue that social buffering of vulnerabilities through the emergence of collaborative morality will have opened new niches for adaptive cognitive strategies and widened personality variation. Such strategies include those that that do not depend on astute social perception or abilities to think recursively about others' thoughts and feelings. We particularly consider how a perceptual style based on logic and detail, bringing certain enhanced technical and social abilities which compensate for deficits in complex social understanding could be advantageous at low levels in certain ecological and cultural contexts. 'Traits of autism' may have promoted innovation in archaeological material culture during the late Palaeolithic in the context of the mutual interdependence of different social strategies, which in turn contributed to the rise of innovation and large scale social networks. ARTICLE HISTORY

Should Autism Spectrum Conditions Be Characterised in a More Positive Way in Our Modern World?

“…It is proposed that technological skills and understanding might have given advantages to hunter gatherer groups, as they do for modern day advances in computer science. Knowledge or memory of important information to do with food resources and their availability or weather changes bring significant advantages to groups, especially at times of hardship or limited resource availability [60].…”

Neurodiversity, Giftedness, and Aesthetic Perceptual Judgment of Music in Children with Autism

“…From the archeological perspective, however, a recent review mentioned the enhanced perceptual abilities of the individuals with this disorder and argues the possibility that these might contribute the survival of the individuals in a Paleolithic context (Spikins et al, 2016). From a cognitive science perspective, on the other hand, here the author presents experimental evidence indicating the gifted cognitive capability of such individuals and suggests the historical presence of a group of professional individuals who had relied upon the capability to survive, being incorporated into human societies.…”

Epidermal Keratinocyte Sensing and Processing of Environmental Information Together with the Brain’s Simulation and Prediction Abilities Helped to Enable <i>Homo sapiens’</i> Evolutionary Success

“…Pertinently, the trait of autism (without intellectual impairment) is known to be associated with valuable technical and social skills (Spikins et al, 2016). Hence, autism might not be due to a lack of sociability, but rather to a lack of a rules-based theory of mind, and thus autism might be favorable for innovation Green et al (2010) sequenced the Homo neanderthalensis genome and identified ancestral genes that are "fixed" in present-day humans, together with others that changed over time in Homo sapiens, presumably due to positive selection (Green et al, 2010).…”

“…Thus, autism might be required for an ability to be both a "generalist" and "specialist". Furthermore, because autism may render people less willing to be followers,Spikins et al (2016) points out that people with autism often attain notable positions in society, particularly in the fields of medicine, engineering, mathematics, physics and information technology. Thus, a key point in human intellectual evolution might be tolerance of a variety of individual characteristics, including autism.…”