For hundreds of thousands of years humans were in small groups and needed to cooperate and work together for their survival. Humans are pack animals like wolves, etc. They depend on each other for working together, and surviving and a wide variety of environments from the arctic cold to the hot jungles. They needed to collaborate to build shelters, to hunt and gather, to support offspring to grow and flourish and to learn, etc. etc. That interaction needs a way to integrate actions. Being able to read each other and interact and integrate was critical to surviving.
People needed to be able to work together to protect themselves from lions, tigers, bears, wolves, on other powerful animals.
They needed to work together to bring down large animals like mammoths, for food. Or coordinate to bring down smaller animals like dear, etc.