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. 2009 Oct 20;106(42):17671-4.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.0903232106. Epub 2009 Oct 12.

Culture rather than genes provides greater scope for the evolution of large-scale human prosociality

Adrian V Bell  1 , Peter J Richerson, Richard McElreath
Affiliations

Culture rather than genes provides greater scope for the evolution of large-scale human prosociality

Adrian V Bell et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Whether competition among large groups played an important role in human social evolution is dependent on how variation, whether cultural or genetic, is maintained between groups. Comparisons between genetic and cultural differentiation between neighboring groups show how natural selection on large groups is more plausible on cultural rather than genetic variation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Comparison of genetic and cultural differentiation. Above: Histogram of 150 cultural FST (gray fill) and 59 genetic FST (black border) for neighboring countries calculated from the World Values Survey and in (24), respectively. Bottom: Plot of the cultural against genetic FST for 59 pairs of neighboring countries.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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