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Extending and refining the fearful ape hypothesis.

Tobias Grossmann1

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USAgrossmann@virginia.edu.

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Summary

Heightened fearfulness in early human development was adaptive for cooperative caregiving within great ape groups. This evolutionary perspective refines the fearful ape hypothesis (FAH) by emphasizing context and care.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary psychology
  • Developmental science
  • Anthropology

Background:

  • The fearful ape hypothesis (FAH) proposes that increased fearfulness was adaptive in early human evolution.
  • This adaptation is linked to the unique cooperative caregiving present in human great ape social structures.
  • Fear expression and perception in early development may have enhanced care-based responses.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To extend and refine the fearful ape hypothesis (FAH).
  • To incorporate suggestions from commentaries and empirical evidence for a more nuanced framework.
  • To encourage cross-species and cross-cultural longitudinal research on fear's evolutionary and developmental roles.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical extension of the fearful ape hypothesis (FAH).
  • Integration of existing empirical work and commentaries.
  • Conceptual framework development for affective science.

Main Results:

  • A more comprehensive and nuanced version of the FAH is presented.
  • The framework highlights the adaptive role of fear in early human ontogeny within cooperative caregiving contexts.
  • Fear expression and perception are identified as key mechanisms enhancing social bonding and cooperation.

Conclusions:

  • The refined FAH provides a robust evolutionary-developmental perspective on fear.
  • Fear plays a crucial role in the development of sociality and cooperation in human evolution.
  • This work advocates for an evolutionary-developmental approach to the broader field of affective science.