The Evolution of Self-Control

Abstract

The capacity to inhibit prepotent actions (inhibitory self-control) plays an important role in many aspects of the behaviour of birds and mammals. Although a number of studies have used it as an index of foraging skills, inhibition is also crucial for maintaining the temporal and spatial coherence of bonded social groups. Using three different sets of comparative data, we show that, across primate species, the capacity for self-control correlates better with the demands of social contexts than with the demands of foraging contexts, whereas a more generalised capacity for causal reasoning correlates better with foraging contexts. In addition, we confirm the Passingham-Wise Conjecture that the capacity for self-control is unique to anthropoid primates. These results suggest that the capacity for self-control most likely evolved because it was crucial for the evolution of bonded social groups. Significance StatementThe capacity for self-control has commonly been viewed as an index of foraging skills. In fact, it plays a much more important role in the social domain by enabling groups of animals to maintain social cohesion as they travel through time and space. In this respect, it is particularly important for species that live in stable bonded social groups (congregations). We show that, in this respect, it is uniquely characteristic of the anthropoid primates, in contrast to other kinds of reasoning tasks such as causal reasoning on which primates often perform no better than other birds and mammals.