The social intelligence hypothesis

Intelligence and cognitive abilities in general are deeply studied elements throughout throughout the history of psychology, being something that has fascinated the human being since the antiquity. Solving problems, knowing how to adapt to the environment and generating strategies and acting efficiently allow both humans and other species to survive and face environmental demands.

Intelligence has traditionally been considered inherited, largely derived from genetics and partly from our development throughout pregnancy and childhood. But it is not until relatively few years ago that intelligence began to be talked about as something that appeared thanks to socialization. This is what the hypothesis of social intelligence or social brain proposes.

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This is the hypothesis of social intelligence

The social intelligence hypothesis, developed and defended by Humphrey, proposes that intelligence and cognitive development is promoted by having to manage social relationships

increasingly complex. This hypothesis arose from the observation that the author made of the behavior of primates in captivity in his day day, reaching the conclusion that their social dynamics explained and promoted part of their development cognitive. We are not talking about the concept of social intelligence itself, but about the emergence of intelligence as something social.

This hypothesis part of evolutionary psychology, and insinuates that in fact the development of the cognitive capacities of the human species is due at least in part to the need to interact and communicate, by requiring coordination to hunt and defend against predators, or prepare tools with them goals. Also the establishment of hierarchies and relationships of power and submission, behavior or role expected of each member or the learning of techniques and strategies became more and more complex.

This theory leads us to reflect on how the human being has evolved and developed over the generations a much greater intelligence. more based on communication and social interaction, developing increasingly complex and much more demanding societies (we went from small family tribes to villages, cities, kingdoms, empires, or civilizations) that require increasing flexibility and cognitive ability to manage them. Some level of abstraction is required, which little by little was strengthened and developed as those who possessed or learned them had greater reproductive success.

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the social brain

The social intelligence hypothesis has found some supporting evidence in biology. The most obvious example is that of Robin Dunbar, who he collected, developed and deepened Humphrey's hypothesis.

Throughout his research, this author reflected the existence of a correlation between the size of the social group belonging to and the quotient of encephalization, having a greater brain volume (and possibly density and connectivity) those animals with greater quantity and quality of relations. Said volume increase is visible in the neocortex. However, the number of relationships we can manage at once is limited: that is why, it is proposed in his theory, that as social demand gradually increases, our species has been developing a higher level of neural connections and abstraction capacities.

This has allowed us to survive. And it is that the human being lacks great elements that allow us to survive by ourselves: we are not especially fast, nor our Our senses are excessively superior to those of other animals, nor do we have horns, claws or teeth that allow us a defense or ability to fight. hunt. Nor do we have a strength or size comparable to that of potential predators. Evolutionarily, then, we have depended on our numbers and ability to manage socially to survive, and later on our cognitive capacity (developed to a large extent by our relational capacity).

Some evidence in the animal world

The evidence in favor of this hypothesis is different, to a large extent coming from the observation of the animal behavior and conducting comparative studies and behavioral experiments with different animal species.

Recently the study and comparative analysis of the behavior of some animals has come to light: specifically with the Australian magpies. Different magpies were made to face a series of behavioral tests in which basically they must solve certain puzzles (observing the ability to solve problems) to get meal. The experiments have been carried out with magpies of different ages and belonging to different flocks, each of the four puzzles being prepared in the tests dedicated to evaluating a specific ability (response-reward association learning and spatial memory between them) and stating that the The performance of the animal was better the larger the flock to which they belonged, as well as among magpies that had bred in such flocks since their inception. birth.

Thus, it is proposed that living in large groups is linked to and promotes greater cognitive performance, which in turn facilitates survival. In conclusion, those birds that live in large flocks tend to have a higher performance in different tests proposed by researchers. These same conclusions have been reflected in studies carried out with crows, dolphins and different species of primates.

In addition to the evidence found in animals, it is useful to think about our own development: the front part of the brain is one of the largest and one of those that takes the longest to develop, and is deeply linked to the control of behavior and the management of social behavior (especially the prefrontal region). We must also highlight that the discovery of mirror neurons by Rizzolatti as an element that allows us to understand and put ourselves in the place of others is linked to this fact: living in society, our behavior and relationship management makes the evolution of structures linked to capturing what our peers feel or feel more adaptive. refer. And this makes us, as a social species that we are, more adaptive.