School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS81TQ, UK.
Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2023 Jun;38(6):545-553. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.01.014. Epub 2023 Feb 15.
Variation between individuals is a key component of selection and hence evolutionary change. Social interactions are important drivers of variation, potentially making behaviour more similar (i.e., conform) or divergent (i.e., differentiate) between individuals. While documented across a wide range of animals, behaviours and contexts, conformity and differentiation are typically considered separately. Here, we argue that rather than independent concepts, they can be integrated onto a single scale that considers how social interactions drive changes in interindividual variance within groups: conformity reduces variance within groups while differentiation increases it. We discuss the advantages of placing conformity and differentiation at different ends of a single scale, allowing for a deeper understanding of the relationship between social interactions and interindividual variation.
个体间的变异是选择和进化变化的关键组成部分。社会相互作用是变异的重要驱动因素，可能使个体之间的行为更加相似（即趋同）或不同（即分化）。虽然在广泛的动物行为和情境中都有记录，但趋同和分化通常是分开考虑的。在这里，我们认为，它们不是独立的概念，而是可以整合到一个单一的尺度上，这个尺度考虑了社会相互作用如何在群体内驱动个体间方差的变化：趋同会降低群体内的方差，而分化会增加方差。我们讨论了将趋同和分化放在单一尺度的不同端的优势，这可以更深入地理解社会相互作用和个体间变异之间的关系。
