Social Structure Similarities Between Humans and Baboons - Essay Example

Baboons and Humans Alike Introduction Humanity has spent years in research trying to find out the origin of our existence. There is research that suggests that humanity has emerged from certain primates like apes. While it is true that apes biology resembles human more that baboons do, it seem that the sociological interaction and construction of baboon communities is more similar to that of humans' communities. This paper does not seek to prove that human sociology has come from baboons. Instead this paper merely seeks to discuss the social similarities and differences between humans and baboons in social hierarchies, relationships, and how each society handles external and internal stress. Literature Review Most of the sources in this paper are derived from the works of Robert Sapolsky, a professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Dorothy L. Cheney, a professor of Biology and Robert M. Sayfarth, a professor of Psychology. The work of Sapolsky focuses on issues on stress while the work of Cheney and Sayfarth focuses on the evolution of social mind of baboons. Discussion I. On Social Hierarchy Baboons maintain a large group for their survival and reproduction. Each group consists of up to 100 individuals. This is considerably larger than most chimpanzee communities. (Cheney and Seyfarth) In this culture baboons need to work together as one collective unit to create more of their species and to keep their community running. Each member has a obligation to the community, whether that be bearing children, taking care of children, providing food for the clan, or offering protection for the clan. The philosophy behind any community is that not one individual is capable of complete self-sufficiency; support is needed for survival. And within each community is a web of social hierarchy established by power, size, built, aggressiveness and alliances. (Anitei) This dominancy rank affects their stress physiology, feeding behavior, and growth. (Baboon Social Life) And this hierarchy affects male and female differently. For females, the effects of rank are subtle but pervasive. High ranking females can displace lower ranking females from food and water sources, can push them away and take their place in grooming episodes, and generally enjoy much more freedom to go where they want to go and do what they want to do within the group. (Baboon Social Life) For males, there are some periods where high-ranking males enjoy a very great advantage in obtaining a mate. However there are other periods where lower-ranking males obtain more mating opportunities by forming coalitions with other males that succeed in dislodging high-ranking males from their mates. (Baboon Social Life) Baboons are similar to humans in their survival and reproduction rates, granted humans may vary from continent to continent but in general humans co-exist in large communities, cities, residential areas, college campuses, etc. Humans as a species depend on each other for survival whether it is a emotional, physical, or mental support system or in a series of import and export systems to gather goods. Like baboons, our communities are devised up of social hierarchy, for example in India there is a still a caste system and in America, social hierarchy is established based on the economic vale of each family or individual. Furthermore on a global level we as countries are divided by power (nuclear, military, navy, etc) and we have our alliances such as in the united Nations. The dominancy ranks of the local, national, and global level all affect the stress, feeding behavior, and growth of an individual, a family, or a country. For example if a nation does not have the proper economic means to support its people then the people will have varied feeding abilities, their stress will increase, and if starvation ensues than the growth of the community will decrease. The difference between ranking among males and females in the human world and in the baboon world, is that in the human world there are rules that govern how an individuals in power can act, we have a process of checks and balances where the entire communities concerns are heard, thus a democracy instead of a baboon's communities seemingly dictatorship society. No one has absolute freedom and no one has absolute power in our society. II. On relationships According to the research of Cheney and Seyfarth: "Each animal maintains a complex network of social relationships with relatives and nonrelatives-relationships that are simultaneously cooperative and competitive. Navigating through this network would seem to require sophisticated social knowledge and skills. Moreover, the challenges that baboons confront are not just social but also ecological. Food must be found and defended, predators evaded and sometimes attacked. Studies of baboons in the wild, therefore, allow us to examine how an individual's behavior affects her survival and reproduction. They also allow us to study social cognition in the absence of human training, in the social and ecological contexts in which it evolved." Social relationships are important to baboons because it may mean survival and reproduction. For humans, the objective of relationships is not necessarily for reproduction; reproduction is a benefit, a perk if a human chooses to. Social, family, and romantic relationships offer humans an emotional, physical, and mental support found nowhere else. Unlike baboons, humans also govern their relationships with rules, laws, and obligation. A relationship in human society is also key to economic situations. In the family, the parents are the provider, traditional the male. Economic benefits are meant exclusively for the offspring of a married couple and for the spouses in a heterosexual relationship. In some situations, interracial relationships, social or romantic are not accepted and there are times when religion interferes with the types of relationships an individual can have. Furthermore polygamy and incest are against the law. However, baboons and humans are similar in that they both face social and ecological/economic challenges and each network requires some sophistication in understanding the separate networks. Both are competitive in relationships, especially in romantic relationships and both face the same obstacle of reproduction, there is a certain time it should be completed and each female or male has an image of who this task should be completed with. III. On stress and stress factors Baboons are similar to humans with respect to stress factors. Low hierarchy baboons suffer of the most elevated levels of physical and psychological stress which is manifested by high blood pressure, suppression of immune system, and high levels of the stress hormones. (Anitei) On the other hand, the most sociable baboons are the healthiest and the ones with the lowest stress levels. (Anitei) Since their birth, baboons build up social and affective links, which are strong and long-lasting. (Anitei) It has been found that unhealthy baboons and unhealthy humans are quite similar. They have elevated levels of stress hormones and their immune responses and reproductive system are compromised. (Goudarzi) In Goudarzi's interview with Sapolski, he said that baboons are such good models because like humans, they don't have real stressors. Further, he stated that "If you live in a baboon troop in the Serengeti, you only have to work three hours a day for your calories, and predators don't mess with you much. What that means is you've got nine hours of free time every day to devote to generating psychological stress toward other animals in your troop." He explained further, "They're just like us: They're not getting done in by predators and famines; they're getting done in by each other." (Goudarzi) Simply put, Robert Sapolsky believes they are so similar to humans because they have almost no natural predators and hence the majority of their stress derives from their social functioning. (Anitei). In humans, the causes of stress of high in number and highly individualized, and how stress affects an individual is dependant on our personality, outlook on life, our problem solving abilities, and our support system. The biggest life events that can cause stress are a spouses death, divorce, incarceration, injury, illness, marriage, retirement, children leaving home, etc. Aside from external circumstances, there can be internal; circumstances such as attitude, unrealistic expectations, unexpressed anger, low self-esteem, or being too critical. Furthermore in humans, stress can cause physical symptoms such as heartburn, obesity, chronic pain migraines, ulcers, etc. Aside from physical problems, in humans, stress can case emotional damages and also leave an individual vulnerable to everyday pressures and could eventually lead to mental health problems. However, what is interesting is that baboons have a large amount of down time to create stress for each other. Whereas humans, who are overbooked, overworked, and over stimulated somehow find time to create external and internal stress for each other and themselves but do not take the time to find an adequate solution. IV. On attitudes and way of thinking It has been said that men are aggressive by nature. (Freud) It is the same with baboons. They have a powerful tendency towards aggression and competition. (Anitei) Further, they show signs of envy and wickedness. (Anitei) And like humans, baboon, develop his own unique personality based on its own genetics, personal history and infancy. (Anitei) With respect to way of thinking, humans can both be rational and irrational, depending on certain circumstances. Baboons are no different. According to Anitei's work, she says that "These primates have the tendency to take different decisions depending on whether they think emotionally or rationally. The humans differ only in the fact that they can extend all beyond the immediate situation and environment." She says further "Baboons have a way of thinking, and a particular behavior; they commit much more errors if decisions are made on instincts, they find it hard to control them selves and postpone the reward," whereas humans, in opposition to baboon, are governed by internal logic, rational, morality, rules, and self-control that govern our actions. Works cited Anitei, Stefani. "In the end, we are monkeys, too". Softpedia. 4 March 2008. "Baboon Social Life". Amboseli Baboon Research Project.4 March 2008. Cheney, Dorothy L. and Robert M. Sayfarth. Baboon Metaphysics, The Evolution of the Social Mind. University of Chicago Press, 2007. Goudarzi, Sara. "Why Humans (and Babooons) Stress So Much". 19 Feb 2007. Live Science. 4 March 2008. http://www.livescience.com/health/070219_stress_human.html Robert Sapolski. (2005). Biology and Human Behavior: The Neurological Origins of Individuality, 2nd Edition. The Teaching Company. "Sigmund Freud". Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 4 March 2008. 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