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From Selfish Genes to Social Brains

The Chicago Social Brain Network was established to examine how science might inform us about our fundamental human nature, including the apparently irrepressible quest for connection with a higher understanding and organization. Science can describe what religion does in rigorous ways that benefit religion, and religion can serve a meaning-making function that science itself disclaims. This is not to say that science can address the existence of God. Our Network instead focuses on the consequences of believing in such a mind and of seeing into that mind.

In the next chapter, John Cacioppo, a social neuroscientist, draws on work on evolutionary theory, sociobiology, and evolutionary psychology to examine the implications of the selfish gene hypothesis for Homo sapiens. He shows how the notion of the selfish gene has been joined with political theory, consumerism, and economics to produce a dominant modern image of humans summarized by the phrase "what is best for me is best for the society." Without rejecting the selfish gene view, Cacioppo shows how it evolves in humans into what he calls the "social brain"– a large cerebral cortex and an interconnected limbic lobule that together are sensitive to the complexities of physical and social environments. Central to this complexity is the long period of dependency of the human infant and the interdependencies of adult humans for survival especially in hostile environments (e.g., warfare). For the selfish gene to contribute its DNA to the ongoing gene pool, the individual must not only reproduce but also cooperate with others to assure that his or her offspring also grow to maturity and reproduce. This leads to natural selection choosing those genes and capacities that contribute to cooperation, reciprocity, attachments, and generosity. Over the millennia of human evolution, this process has created the social brain and made humans a unique social animal.

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