# Human Self-Domestication **Domain:** Human evolution **Doc Type:** Developed Hypothesis Node **Maturity:** Developed **Collection:** [[collections/Gamification|Gamification Collection]] ## Definition **Human self-domestication** is the hypothesis that human evolution involved selection against high reactive aggression, producing behavioral and possibly anatomical patterns comparable in some respects to domestication in other mammals. Candidate mechanisms include mate choice, social selection, cooperative breeding, and punishment of domineering aggressors. ## Significance The hypothesis explains how humans can become more tolerant within groups while retaining organized, proactive violence. “Domestication” is comparative shorthand: no external breeder managed humanity, and the proposed traits and mechanisms remain debated. ## Relationships - **Proposed by:** [[wiki/Richard Wrangham|Richard Wrangham]] develops an execution hypothesis in his [2019 Harvard interview](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/01/author-examines-the-strange-relationship-between-good-and-evil/); it is a contested account of self-domestication, not a settled evolutionary origin. - **Related behavioral route:** [[wiki/Human Animality|Human Animality]] connects the proposed reduction in reactive aggression with persistent planned violence. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > "I read once that human brains began shrinking about 10 thousand years ago and are now as much as 15% smaller than they were then." > **— Brian Eno**, *2015, Edge annual question “What Do You Think About Machines That Think?”* [[reminders/Evolution/Human Brains Have Shrunk Since Civilization Began by Brian Eno|Human Brains Have Shrunk Since Civilization Began by Brian Eno]] > “The origin of Homo sapiens, in other words, can be traced to self-domestication — and therefore to the sophistication of language that made capital punishment possible for the first time in any mammal more than 300,000 years ago.” > **— Richard Wrangham**, *Harvard Gazette interview, January 28, 2019* [[reminders/Human Animality/Human Origins May Trace to Self-Domestication by Richard Wrangham|Human Origins May Trace to Self-Domestication by Richard Wrangham]] ## Sources - Richard Wrangham, [Human domestication and human agency](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7250791/) - Thomas et al., [Hypotheses for reduced reactive aggression](https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01914) ## Routes [[wiki/Richard Wrangham|Richard Wrangham]] · [[wiki/Execution Hypothesis|Execution Hypothesis]] · [[wiki/Coalitionary Aggression|Coalitionary Aggression]]