Primate mating systems and the evolution of language

Name: Primate mating systems and the evolution of language
Start: 2025-03-18T18:30:00+00:00
End: 2025-03-18T20:15:00+00:00
Location: UCL Anthropology

Schedule

Tue Mar 18 2025 at 06:30 pm to 08:15 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

UCL Anthropology | London, EN

Cheap signals, such as language, can only emerge from an alliance where trust has already been built. The coalition that enabled the evolution of language in modern humans was built to deal with the problem of some males trying to get the benefits of mating without the costs of provisioning.
In this talk Kit Opie draws on research on mating systems across primates to investigate the details of the problem that early modern human females faced and suggest that a coalition was their only way to solve it. The coalition that females built had a ratchet effect of supporting the males who cooperated, while undermining the males who cheated.
Kit Opie is Senior Lecturer in Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Bristol.His research interests are in the evolution of social systems in humans and other primates. He will be speaking LIVE in the Daryll Forde, 2nd Floor of UCL Anthropology Dept, 14 Taviton St, London WC1H 0BW. Come in good time by 6:30pm before doors close please. You can also join on ZOOM ID 384 186 2174 passcode Wawilak