Ritual Behavior and the Origin of Modern Cognition

Model for Origins of Modern Cognition

1. Mount Toba2. Anatomically Modern Humans

begin to trade3. New Trading Rituals4. Trading and Working Memory5. Ritual Heritability

Social Complexity and Cognitive Evolution

-Social group size in primates is correlated with size of neocortex-Recent arguments suggest that social selection pressures were the primary reason for the evolution of human intelligence(Brain size increases, Homo expands globally, Megafauna and competitive predators are killed off- Homo is ecologically dominant)

-modernity is marked by symbolic thinking

-working memory is the key

Modern Cognition, Working Memory, and Social Selection

Shared IntentionalityDefinition: a uniquely human ability to share emotional, cognitive, and attentional states and coordinating actions relevant to those states

The Toba Eruption-at least 6 years of volcanic winter-Temperatures lowered globally-Very few survivors

Archeological Evidence of the Social Solution

-!Kung San- modern day hunter-gatherers : trading-Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) trading 100,000 ybp-Tool Trading 70,000 ybp: represents a transformation in trade--Upper Paleolithic AMH 35,000 ybp

Why focus on Ritual?1. Ritual is seen across the animal kingdom2. Social rituals in primates are often used to build trust and

reinforce social relationships3. Many of our cognitive abilities require ritual

Rappaport’s definition of ritual- the performance of more or less invariant sequences of formal acts and utterances not entirely encoded by the performers

Elements include…1.Performance2.Formalization3.Invariance4.Rule Governance

Ritual Behavior and Modern Cognition

Ritual and EvolutionThere are 2 reasons why ritual is important for evolution1.Ritual focuses attention on a particular behavioral or sensory signal at the exclusion of competing signals2.Ritual inhibits pre-potent defensive responses long enough to allow social emotions and social bonding mechanisms time to operate

Late Pleistocene -Ritual became important for inter-group and intra-group social bonding-Ritual also became very demanding, physically and mentally (stresses)

3 Types of Emergent Rituals1. Rituals of trust building and

reconciliation2. Rituals of initiation3. Shamanistic rituals of community

and individual healing

Rituals of Trust Building-more frequent interactions between groups led to a greater need for trustExample: Yanamamo of the Amazon

Rituals of Initiation-70% of traditional societies studied have adolescent rites of passage-the danger of initiation varies, mainly according to the ecological threatsExample: Aborigines in Australia

Initiations after Toba Eruption-stress from the eruption probably led to the beginning or the intensification of initiation ceremoniesEvidence: Upper Paleolithic cave-sites (30,000 ybp) hand adolescent hand and foot printsExample: Native American “Vision Quest”-Rituals and the DLPFC

Snake Rock

Shamanistic Healing Rituals Shaman- a spiritual emissary who communicates with the supernatural in order to cure the sick, alter the weather and increase overall wellbeing of the tribe-Oldest form of religion, at least in Upper Paleolithic-Further evidence suggesting 35,000 ybp-cave art & 70,000 ybp- snake rock

-involve sensory deprivation, rhythmic drumming, psychoactive substances, dancing and chanting-modern cognition

Shamanistic Rituals

Other Filters for AMH-rituals spurred by environmental pressures of the Toba Eruption were not the only filters for AMH populationsOthers include…-Vocal and gestural communication-Social awareness--Emotional empathy

Ritual in OtogenyPerformance- the action done to gain the attention of others-begins in infancy as babies imitate their caregivers who hold their attention and engage them in early social interactions often called the infant-mother “dance”-the “dance” involves invariant sequencing and rule governance

Sequence of Exchanges1. Initiation2. Mutual Orientation3. Greeting4. Play Dialogue-protoconversations

Ritual and Social Cognitive Development

-learning to interpret emotionsExample: peek-a-boo games

-Social referencing

Infants learn to…1. Regulate their emotions2. Use their social partner as an

information source for evaluating experience

3. Use the ritual framework to interpret events and emotions

Raising Children after Toba-Adept Mothers = greater reproductive success-Children grew up and became adept Fathers and Mothers-Baldwinian Process- environmentally induced somatic modifications become heritableExample: Belyaev’s fox experiments-that which initially emerged as a somatic change became heritable