Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Sue Taylor Parker
- Preface and acknowledgments
- I Historical, developmental, and comparative overviews
- II Pretense and imagination in children
- III Pretense and imagination in primates
- 13 Pretending in monkeys
- 14 Pretending primates: play and simulation in the evolution of primate societies
- 15 Representational capacities for pretense with scale models and photographs in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
- 16 Pretending in free-ranging rehabilitant orangutans
- 17 Seeing with the mind's eye: eye-covering play in orangutans and Japanese macaques
- 18 Possible precursors of pretend play in nonpretend actions of captive gorillas (Gorilla gorilla)
- 19 Pretending culture: social and cognitive features of pretense in apes and humans
- 20 Empathy in a bonobo
- 21 Pretend play in a signing gorilla
- IV Prospects
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
13 - Pretending in monkeys
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword by Sue Taylor Parker
- Preface and acknowledgments
- I Historical, developmental, and comparative overviews
- II Pretense and imagination in children
- III Pretense and imagination in primates
- 13 Pretending in monkeys
- 14 Pretending primates: play and simulation in the evolution of primate societies
- 15 Representational capacities for pretense with scale models and photographs in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
- 16 Pretending in free-ranging rehabilitant orangutans
- 17 Seeing with the mind's eye: eye-covering play in orangutans and Japanese macaques
- 18 Possible precursors of pretend play in nonpretend actions of captive gorillas (Gorilla gorilla)
- 19 Pretending culture: social and cognitive features of pretense in apes and humans
- 20 Empathy in a bonobo
- 21 Pretend play in a signing gorilla
- IV Prospects
- References
- Author Index
- Subject Index
Summary
Monkeys live in a complex social nexus and rich foraging habitat, and their social and intellectual skills develop in these arenas. Their tooluse and problem solving abilities put them on a different level from most mammalian clades (Beck, 1980; Antinucci & Visalberghi, 1986; Tomasello & Call, 1997; Parker & McKinney, 1999). Young monkeys must learn how to obtain sustenance, as well as how, when, and with whom they should groom, communicate, and play. They must learn to understand facial and vocal communication, recognize and manage their social bonds of kinship and friendship (even if the social ranks are asymmetric), and manoeuver in the field of their dominance relationships (which are asymmetric except for the highest and lowest ranking) (van Hooff, 1967; Stein, 1981; Fedigan, 1982; Gouzoules, Gouzoules & Marler, 1984; Smuts, 1985; Strum, 1987; Whiten & Byrne, 1988; Cheney & Seyfarth, 1990; King, 1994; Zeller, 1994, 1996).
Given the complexity of their world, the psychological complexity of monkeys is to be expected. When I watch free-ranging monkeys using directional gaze to signal an interest in food or approaching danger, or blocking others' views of a yawn (which could be perceived as a threat), I get the strongest impression that they comprehend the effects of their own actions and act intentionally. Take the following observation:
Three adult female Barbary macaques simultaneously threaten 3-year-old female 01. 01 moves to another young female (the daughter of one of her attackers) who stands in a present-posture-tail–stance towards the scene. Upon reaching her, 01 teeth-chatters, hip-touches, and begins grooming her, and the episode is over.
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- Pretending and Imagination in Animals and Children , pp. 183 - 195Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2002
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