PSYC 355 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Oceanic Basin, High Fidelity, Kinji Imanishi
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22 Mar 2017
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LECTURE 9 (Week 10): Social Learning 2
1. Animal Cultures? The Early Years & Late 90s, Eal 00s
2. Socially-transmitted traditions
3. Ratchet Effects & Cumulative Culture
ANIMAL CULTURES
THE EARLY YEARS: JAPANESE PRIMATOLOGY
- Native monkey species: Japanese Macaque (Snow Monkey)
A. TECHNIQUES & THEORIES UNIQUE TO JAPANESE PRIMATOLOGY
- Techniques: Provisioning (put out food to attract animals), Naming (naming animals instead of
numbering them)
o Provisioning is messing up their environment and its not an observational study
anymore
- Theoies: Less dualis etee hua ad aial
B. KINJI IMANISHI
- If idiiduals lea fo oe aothe, the goups ehaiou ight stat to eoe different
from other groups, creating a characteristic culture. (not a direct quote!)
o The copying of innovation by others = root of culture
C. KOSHIMA ISLAND- SWEET POTATO WASHING
- Provisioned the monkeys with potatoes on beaches,
- Monkey (Imo) took the potato and washed it in the water
- Over time, other members of the group started to wash the potatoes
- Years later, it was the majority of the group on the island who washed their sweet potatoes
- Spread of the behavior was low because she was of low status
LATE ‘90S, EARLY ‘00S
A. WHITEN ET AL. (1999): CULTURES IN CHIMPANZEES
- Methods:
o Field researchers combined data from 7 different group of chimpanzees that were
spread all over Africa
o This was a major endeavour, as the combined amount of time invested in this research
totaled over 150 years of direct observation
1. List of behaviours that might be cultural variants
o Try and find behaviour that differs across groups
o Tool use
2. Characterized 65 candidate behaviours and characterize each behaviour by commonality:
o Customary: every individual
o Habitual: most individuals
o Present: rare
o Absent
3. Citeia fo ultual:
o Social learners; juveniles observe adults
o Ecology is not plausible explanation okes that dot fish for termites because no
termites present)
o Genetic transmission is not plausible (differences in nearby communities)
▪ Behaviours are not innate behaviours
▪ Want gene flow between groups
B. KRUTZEN ET AL. (2005): CULTURAL TRANSMISSION OF TOOL USE IN BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS
- Not sure if genes or cultural learning
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