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In the context of the evolution of human intelligence, Richard Byrne
pointed out (Byrne 1997) that the Social Intelligence Hypothesis might account
for the evolution of primate intelligence, but offers little explanation for the
evolution of specific ape and human kinds of intelligence (e.g. involving men-
tal representations): clear evidence for a systematic monkey-ape difference in
neocortex ratio is lacking. Great apes do not form systematically larger groups
than monkeys do, which draws attention to physical rather than social fac-
tors (e.g. tool use, processing plant food etc.) that drove the evolution of men-
tal representations in apes and humans. Why have in particular human apes
evolved sophisticated representational and mental skills, are there any candi-
date factors that could have accelerated the evolution of human intelligence?
Again, it seems most reasonable to start looking for factors in the social field of
humans, given the fundamental social nature of human minds and how minds
and human behavior develop, e.g. (Brothers 1990; Aronson 1994). Narrative
psychology and studies on the development of autobiographic memory, e.g.
(Nelson 1993; Conway 1996), and a
self
point towards an important factor,
namely that
stories
are the most efficient and natural human way to commu-
nicate, in particular to communicate about others (Bruner 1987, 1990, 1991).
According to Read and Miller (1995: 139), “Stories are so functional because
social interaction is central to human beings, and stories are fundamentally
about social interaction. . .stories are central to the human cognitive system
because they capture the essence of social interaction, the structure of human
action”. Following this line of argument, the
Narrative Intelligence Hypothesis
,
(Dautenhahn 1999c) proposes that the evolutionary origin of communicating
in stories was correlated with increasing social dynamics among our human
ancestors, in particular the necessity to communicate about
third-party rela-
tionships
(which in humans seems to reach the highest degree of sophistication
among all apes, cf. gossip and manipulation, (Sinderman 1982)). As will be ex-
plained in more detail below, according to this hypothesis, human narrative in-
telligence might have evolved because the structure of narrative is particularly
suited to communicate about the social world.
An evolutionary trend seens to exist from physical contact (non-human
primates) to language (hominids) to communicating in stories (modern,
highly 'enculturated' humans living in complex societies) correlated with an
increase in complexity and sophistication of social interaction and mindread-
ing. This trend demonstrates the evolution of increasingly efficient mecha-
nisms for
time-sharing
the processes of social bonding. While physical groom-
ing is generally a dyadic activity, language can be used in a variety of ways
extending the dyadic use in dialogues to e.g. one-to many communication as
