The evolution of group-mindedness: comparative research on top-down and bottom-up group cooperation in bonobos and chimpanzees

Humans engage in a wide variety of group-based cooperation and competition, the cognitive underpinnings of which form group-mindedness. The evolutionary basis of these tendencies has attracted significant research from theorists and human-oriented scholars, where evidence suggests a different set of strategies and solutions may be required for explicitly group-based challenges than simply an accumulation of dyadic and triadic solutions embedded in a group setting. We term these top-down and bottom-up group cooperation, respectively. Here, we review previous evolutionary accounts for human group-mindedness, empirical data on bonobos and chimpanzees (focusing on behaviour, cognition, and physiology), and propose a set of future research directions that can help to further our understanding of the evolution of group-mindedness

Automated summary

This article reviews previous explanations for the evolution of human group-mindedness and proposes future research directions. Drawing on empirical data and studies on animals, it introduces the concepts of top-down and bottom-up group cooperation.