Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Theory and Methods
- Part II Phenotypic and Genotypic Variation
- Part III Reproduction
- Part IV Growth and Development
- 22 Evolution of Human Growth
- 23 Variation in Human Growth Patterns due to Environmental Factors
- 24 Evolutionary Biology of Hormonal Responses to Social Challenges in the Human Child
- 25 Human Biology, Energetics, and the Human Brain
- 26 Embodied Capital and Extra-somatic Wealth in Human Evolution and Human History
- Part V Health and Disease
- Index
- References
26 - Embodied Capital and Extra-somatic Wealth in Human Evolution and Human History
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
Edited by
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Part I Theory and Methods
- Part II Phenotypic and Genotypic Variation
- Part III Reproduction
- Part IV Growth and Development
- 22 Evolution of Human Growth
- 23 Variation in Human Growth Patterns due to Environmental Factors
- 24 Evolutionary Biology of Hormonal Responses to Social Challenges in the Human Child
- 25 Human Biology, Energetics, and the Human Brain
- 26 Embodied Capital and Extra-somatic Wealth in Human Evolution and Human History
- Part V Health and Disease
- Index
- References
Summary
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents a theory of brain and life span evolution and applies it to both primates in general, and to the hominid line, in particular. To address the simultaneous effects of natural selection on the brain and on the life span, it extends the standard life history theory in biology which organizes research into the evolutionary forces shaping age-schedules of fertility and mortality. This extension, the embodied capital theory, integrates existing models with an economic analysis of capital investments and the value of life.
The chapter begins with a brief introduction to embodied capital theory, and then applies it to understanding major trends in primate evolution and the specific characteristics of humans. The evolution of brain size, intelligence, and life histories in the primate order are addressed first. The evolution of the human life course is then considered, with a specific focus on the relationship between cognitive development, economic productivity, and longevity. It will be argued that the evolution of the human brain entailed a series of coevolutionary responses in human development and aging.
The second section on embodied capital and extra-somatic wealth discusses humans in a comparative context, beginning with the hunting and gathering lifestyle because of its relevance to the vast majority of human evolutionary history. However, in the past 10 000 years human history traced a series of behavioral adaptations based on ecology and individual condition.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Human Evolutionary Biology , pp. 439 - 456Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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