Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T12:55:23.709Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Twenty questions about cultural cognitive gadgets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 September 2019

Andrew Whiten Open the ORCID record for Andrew Whiten [Opens in a new window]
Andrew Whiten*
Affiliation:
Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9JP, United Kingdom. [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Heyes sets out an intriguing theory but it raises more questions than compelling answers concerning culturally shaped cognition. I set out what I see as the most pressing questions, ranging over the book's early chapters concerning the structure of the theory, to two of Heyes’ four exemplar cognitive domains, selective social learning and imitation.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 42 , 2019 , e186
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bono, A. E. J., Whiten, A., van Schaik, C., Krutzen, M., Eichenberger, F., Schnider, A. & van de Waal, E. (2018) Payoff- and sex-biased social learning interact in a wild primate population. Current Biology 28(17):2800–05.Google Scholar
Call, J. (2001) Body imitation in an enculturated orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus). Cybernetics and Systems 32(1–2):97–119.Google Scholar
Clay, Z. & Tennie, C. (2018) Is overimitation a uniquely human phenomenon? Insights from human children as compared to bonobos. Child Development 89(5):1535–44. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12857.Google Scholar
Custance, D. M., Whiten, A. & Bard, K. A. (1995) Can young chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) imitate arbitrary actions? Hayes and Hayes (1952) revisited. Behaviour 132(11): 837–59.Google Scholar
Gruber, T., Muller, M. N., Strimling, P., Wrangham, R. & Zuberbuhler, K. (2009) Wild chimpanzees rely on cultural knowledge to solve an experimental honey acquisition task. Current Biology 19(21):1806–10.Google Scholar
Henrich, J. (2015) The secret of our success: How culture is driving human evolution, domesticating our species and making us smarter. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Heyes, C. (2018) Cognitive gadgets: The cultural evolution of thinking. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Heyes, C. & Saggerson, A. (2002) Testing for imitative and non-imitative social learning in the budgerigar using a two-object/two-action test. Animal Behaviour 64(6):851–59.Google Scholar
Hinde, R. A. (1970) Animal behaviour: A synthesis of ethology and comparative psychology. McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Hoehl, S., Keupp, S., Schleihauf, H., McGuigan, N., Buttelmann, D. & Whiten, A. (2019) ‘Over-imitation’: A review and appraisal of a decade of research. Developmental Review 51:90–108.Google Scholar
Kendal, R., Boogert, N. J., Rendell, L., Laland, K. N., Webster, M. & Jones, L. (2018) Social learning strategies: Bridge-building between fields. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 22(7):651–55.Google Scholar
Laland, K. N. (2017) Darwin's unfinished symphony: How culture made the human mind. Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lorenz, K. (1966) Evolution and modification of behavior. Methuen.Google Scholar
Mesoudi, A., Whiten, A. & Laland, K. N. (2004) Is human cultural evolution Darwinian? Evidence reviewed from the perspective of The Origin of Species. Evolution 58(1):1–11.Google Scholar
Pittendrigh, C. S. (1958) Adaptation, natural selection, and behavior. In: Behavior and evolution, ed. Roe, A. & Simpson, G. G., pp. 390–416. Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Price, E. E., Wood, L. A. & Whiten, A. (2017) Adaptive cultural transmission biases in children and nonhuman primates. Infant Behavior and Development 48 (Part A):45–53. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2016.11.003.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M. (1999) The cultural origins of human cognition. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M., Kruger, A. C. & Ratner, H. H. (1993a) Cultural learning. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16(3):495–511.Google Scholar
Wannenburgh, A., Johnson, P. & Bannister, A. (1979) The Bushmen. Methuen.Google Scholar
Whitehead, H. & Rendell, L. (2015) The cultural lives of whales and dolphins. Chicago University Press.Google Scholar
Whiten, A. (2005) The imitative correspondence problem: Solved or sidestepped? In: Perspectives on imitation: From neuroscience to social science, vol. 1: Mechanisms of imitation and imitation in animals, ed. Hurley, S. & Chater, N., pp. 220–222. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Whiten, A. (2017a) A second inheritance system: The extension of biology through culture. Royal Society Interface Focus 7:20160142.Google Scholar
Whiten, A. (2017b) Culture extends the scope of evolutionary biology in the great apes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 114(30):7790–97.Google Scholar
Whiten, A. (2019a) Conformity and over-imitation: An integrative review of variant forms of hyper-reliance on social learning. Advances in the Study of Behavior 51:31–75.Google Scholar
Whiten, A. (2019b) Cultural evolution in animals. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110218-025040.Google Scholar
Whiten, A. & Erdal, D. (2012) The human socio-cognitive niche and its evolutionary origins. Pan. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 367(1599): 2119–129.Google Scholar
Whiten, A., Hinde, R. A., Stringer, C. B. & Laland, K. N. (2011) Culture evolves. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366(1567):938–948.Google Scholar
Zentall, T. R., Sutton, J. E. & Sherburne, L, M. (1996) True imitative learning in pigeons. Psychological Science 7(6):343–46.Google Scholar
Whiten, A. & van de Waal, E. (2018) The pervasive role of social learning in primate lifetime development. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 72:UNSP 80.Google Scholar