SOSC 2000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Robert Sapolsky, Sociobiology, Animal Culture
Document Summary
Culture in animals: exclusion based on biological, natural inferiority - justifying differential treatment and hierarchy, sociobiology attempts to assign natural causes to phenomena of social origin. Naturalizes domination: present day species have evolved independently of each other for 15, assume primate studies will reveal basic biological mechanisms of to 500 million years. Behaviours are considered instinctual if they are: robert sapolsky on animal culture, relatively complex, unlearned, invariant among species members, manifest full-blown the first time maturity reached & stimuli present, present even in species member reared without contact. Instinct: reflexes: simple responses to perceived danger, needs: sleep, food variously fulfilled.