# Social Primates and the Evolution of social cognition **Opening (not a real abstract):** 7.1 Evolution and social cognition Evolutionary biology, since Darwin, is based upon the principle of “descent with modification”: a blind selective process retain certain forms of file while discard others; the selection is based on the fitness of the inherited trait. Thus natural selection requires only i) variation in a population, ii) heritability of variable trait, and iii) selection of these variations. Darwin draw inspiration from demographer Thomas Malthus, philosopher (and founder of economics) Adam Smith and geologist Charles Lyell. Matlhus showed that populations grow faster than their resources; Smith showed that population-level processes are not necessarily planned, but may emerge from individual interactions; and Lyelle showed that simple change, over long periods, can lead to important changes. The actual states of geological formations can **Authors:** [[Creative Commons License]]