One of my favorite research articles of all time—“Competent Jerks, Lovable Fools, and the Formation of Social Networks,” published by Tziania Casciaro and Miguel Sousa Lobo—came to mind last week as I listened to a Radio Times interview with Brian Hare a professor at Duke and a co-author of The Genius of Dogs.
Those of you familiar with the lovable-fools research may recall that when it comes to selecting partners for work projects, Casciaro and Sousa Lobo found likability trumps ability. People may claim competence matters, but they are willing to forgo good ideas in order to avoid spending time with those they consider unpleasant. As a result, smart yet disagreeable people are underutilized, while pleasant, less competent people get more than their fair share of rewards. So what does this have to do with dogs? This is where the connection gets exciting!
Because I am a relatively new and reluctant dog owner, the world of canine history is still new to me, and I learned a lot during the Radio Times interview. Most importantly, I learned that the evolution of wolves into dogs was food related. Apparently, certain wolves decided they preferred feasting on human garbage to prowling the woods for prey. Much easier, right? Because humans didn’t like scary, fang-baring predators, the smart wolves learned to be cordial and charming in order to curry favor with people. In return for their social behavior, the clever wolves were rewarded with food scraps that made it easier for them to survive. Over time, certain wolf families evolved into dogs. Time travel centuries forward, and dogs are all over the place and wolves are having a hard time keeping their numbers up. As Brian Hare notes, when it comes the animal kingdom, it’s all about “survival of the friendliest.”
If there is an evolutionary link between congeniality and success in the dog world, why don’t certain really smart people take social interactions more seriously in the person world?
[Creative Commons-licensed photo by Flickr user Tonamel.]