Dr. Kristen Hawkes - Human life history evolution & sensitivity to social safety that shadows our lives

A hunting/paternal provisioning hypothesis has long been central to ideas about what happened in human evolution, but challenges have been accumulating. Review of challenges points to an alternative grandmother hypothesis that initially aimed to explain why postmenopausal longevity increased and maturation slowed, yet birth intervals shortened in us compared to our closest living relatives, great apes. Now more features that distinguish us from them are linked to the evolution of human life history, including our pair bonding habits, our big brains and distinctive sensitivity to social safety which begins with the precocious agency for engagement in otherwise helpless human babies. Resulting lifelong appetites for mutual understanding and responsiveness to social context enrich our lives. They also sharpen “us versus them” divisions with high costs that make today’s headlines. Other costs include amplified health disparities for stigmatized and marginalized minorities that lack reliable social safety. In MPCB Room 118.