The role of social sciences in research on human evolution and history

Takahashi Nobuyuki, Kiyonari Toko, Mifune Nobuhiro, Matsumoto Yoshie

doi:10.24602/sjpr.65.2_135

<p>Multidisciplinary research on human evolution and history has attracted increasing attention in the last two decades. This manuscript discusses the role of social sciences in understanding human history. The core of social sciences is the idea that social phenomena are irreducible to individual minds. Three main reasons exist. First, behaviors are often caused by external factors and internal factors such as preferences and motivations. Second, macrolevel social phenomena are often the unintended consequences of individuals’ behaviors at the microlevel. Third, individual minds and social phenomena are often interdependent. Three theoretical approaches that focus on the dynamic interaction between individual minds and environments that humans ought to adapt are then introduced. They are the gene–culture coevolution approach, the triadic niche construction approach, and the social niche construction approach. After discussing the characteristics of these approaches, the manuscript ends with speculation of the matching between theoretical approaches and the aspects of human history and proposes the need for applying multiple approaches.</p>

The role of social sciences in research on human evolution and history

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