Evolution of Empathizing and Systemizing: Empathizing as an aspect of
social intelligence, systemizing as an evolutionarily later consequence
of economic specialization
Abstract
We argue that a theory of the evolution of Empathizing (E) and
Systemizing (S) needs first to clarify that these are personality
traits, as distinct from cognitive abilities. The theory should explain
both the observed reciprocity of, and the sexual difference between, E
and S in a context of the historical emergence of these traits and their
balance in relation to local selection pressures. We suggest that the
baseline state is that (since humans are social animals) ancestral human
hunter gatherers are assumed to be relatively High Empathizers, lower in
Systemizing: thus more interested in people than in things. Changes
related to the development of agriculture and technology meant that it
became economically useful for some men to become more interested in
‘things’ than in people, as a motivation for them to learn and practice
skills that were vital to personal and (secondarily) social survival,
reproduction and expansion. This selection pressure applied most
strongly to men since in the sexual division of labour it was typically
men’s role to perform such tasks. We further hypothesize that High
Systemizing men were rewarded for their socially vital work by increased
resources and high status. Because marriages were arranged in
traditional societies mainly by parental choice (and the role of
parental choice was probably increased by agriculture), it is presumed
that the most valued women, that is young and healthy women thereby
having high reproductive potential, were differentially allocated to be
wives of economically successful High Systemizers. Such unions of
economically successful High Systemizing men with the most
reproductively valuable women would be expected to lead to
greater-than-average reproductive success, thereby amplifying the
population representation of genes that cause high systematizing in the
population. This hypothesis makes several testable predictions.