HUMAN INTELLIGENCE 273humans went further than the isolated group in their collaboration.
Hunting and gathering bands collaborated in larger co ali tions, some-
times sporadically, and at other times more permanently. Such arrange-
ments are observed among hunter- gatherer tribes today (and in their
successors in modern socie ties). Th ese additional co ali tions pres ent still
further levels for interaction— reciprocal feedforward and feedback loops,
group dynamics, and behavioral innovation. In other words, they provide
the scope, through a further level of refl ective abstraction, for even deeper
intelligence about the changing world and how to manage it.
Again, these dynamics would not be pos si ble without the co- evolution
of interdependencies across levels: between social, cognitive, and aff ective
interactions on the one hand and physiological and epige ne tic pro cesses
on the other. As already mentioned, the burgeoning research areas of so-
cial neuroscience and social epige ne tics are revealing ways in which so-
cial/cultural experiences ripple through, and recruit, those pro cesses.
For example, diff er ent cognitive states can have diff er ent physiological,
epige ne tic, and immune- system consequences, depending on social con-
text. Importantly, a distinction has been made between a eudaimonic
sense of well- being, based on social meaning and involvement, and hedonic
well- being, based on individual plea sure or pain. Th ese diff er ent states are
associated with diff er ent epige ne tic pro cesses, as seen in the recruitment of
diff er ent transcription factors (and therefore genes) and even immune sys-
tem responses.^18 All this is part of the human intelligence system.
In that way human evolution became human history. Collaboration
among brains and the emergent social cognition provided the conceptual
breakout from individual limits. It resulted in the rapid pro gress seen
in human history from original hunter- gatherers to the modern, global,
technologiocal society— all on the basis of the same biological system
with the same genes.
Let us now look at some of the psychological implications, including
those for human potential and individual diff erences. I hope to show
that the “cost” (if we can call it that) of such a dazzling system is that it is
quite impossible to separate the potential (or lack of it) of any individual
from that of the culture and the circumstances in which it operates.
Human intelligence only individuates through these dynamical cultural
pro cesses.
This content downloaded from 139.184.14.159 on Tue, 17 Oct 2017 13:57:55 UTC