All Outputs (2)

When is bigger better? The effects of group size on the evolution of helping behaviours: Effects of group size on evolution of helping (2016)
Journal Article
Powers, S. T., & Lehmann, L. (2017). When is bigger better? The effects of group size on the evolution of helping behaviours: Effects of group size on evolution of helping. Biological Reviews, 92(2), 902-920. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12260

Understanding the evolution of sociality in humans and other species requires understanding how selection on social behaviour varies with group size. However, the effects of group size are frequently obscured in the theoretical literature, which ofte... Read More about When is bigger better? The effects of group size on the evolution of helping behaviours: Effects of group size on evolution of helping.

How institutions shaped the last major evolutionary transition to large-scale human societies (2016)
Journal Article
Powers, S. T., van Schaik, C. P., & Lehmann, L. (2016). How institutions shaped the last major evolutionary transition to large-scale human societies. Philosophical Transactions B: Biological Sciences, 371(1687), 20150098. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.201

What drove the transition from small-scale human societies centred on kinship and personal exchange, to large-scale societies comprising cooperation and division of labour among untold numbers of unrelated individuals? We propose that the unique huma... Read More about How institutions shaped the last major evolutionary transition to large-scale human societies.