2. Cultural Transmission

Question 1

what are the characteristics of cultural transmission

Answer 1

Information passed from individual to individual and from one generation to the next; shows rapid learning within population and produces important changes in a few generations

Question 2

what are the mechanisms of cultural transmission

Answer 2

social learning, imitation, teaching, and social facilitation

Question 3

what are some examples of cultural transmission in primates

Answer 3

Food washing; Stone handling; Hammering of nuts

Question 4

steps in observational learning

Answer 4

Knowledgeable demonstrator; Naive observer; Test observer in isolation

Question 5

what step are in coaction

Answer 5

Demonstrator/observer responses

Question 6

what is social learning

Answer 6

imitation/observational learning (pertains to acquisition of behavior)

Question 7

what is social enhancement

Answer 7

co-action/social facilitation (pertains to influence of response already in the animals repertoire)

Question 8

what is cultural transmission

Answer 8

Culture (pertains to the increase in homogeneity of behavior beyond the direct social interaction)

Question 9

what is Local/stimulus enhancement

Answer 9

directing observer’s attention (latent learning, habituation)

Question 10

what is Social facilitation

Answer 10

mere presences increase arousal, drive and dominant response Zajonc’s Drive theory

Question 11

what is Contagious behavior

Answer 11

behavior serves as a ‘releaser” of instinctive response

Question 12

what is Observational conditioning

Answer 12

the unconditioned response serves as a US to an observer (i.e., classical conditioned observational learning)

Question 13

what is imitation

Answer 13

duplication of observer’s exact response

Question 14

what is teaching

Answer 14

intentional transfer of information (benefit) to observer at a (cost) to the demonstrator

Question 15

what are the effects of observation learning

Answer 15

Teaches new behaviors; Increases or decreases the frequency with which previously learned behaviors are carried out; Can encourage previously forbidden behaviors; Can increase or decrease similar behaviors

Question 16

what are the four conditions of social learning

Answer 16

attention to the model; retention to detail; motor reproduction; motivation and opportunity

Question 17

what is attention to the model

Answer 17

A person must first pay attention to a person engaging in a certain behavior (the model)

Question 18

what is retention to detail

Answer 18

Once attending to the observed behavior, the observer must be able to effectively remember what the model has done

Question 19

what is motor reproduction

Answer 19

The observer must be able to replicate the behavior being observed

Question 20

what is motivation and opportunity

Answer 20

The observer must be motivated to carry out the action they have observed and remembered, and must have the opportunity to do so

Question 21

What are the 3 requirements for “true” imitation

Answer 21

New behavior learned from another; behavior must involve spatial/topographic manipulation; achievement of a goal

Question 22

What is correspondence problem

Answer 22

How does one animal learn to produce behavioral responses by observing the movements of another

Question 23

What is perspective taking

Answer 23

Imitation requires exact movements observers perspective not the same as demonstrators

Question 24

What is bi-directional lever

Answer 24

Mirror image of a response is not true imitation; exact imitation requires response that is identical to demonstrators

Question 25

What kind of test do you use to test for empirical evidence of true imitation

Answer 25

Two-action test

Question 26

What is a two-action test

Answer 26

Technique to demonstrate imitation abilities by exposing naive animals to demonstrators who use different actions to achieve a single goal

Question 27

What is copying

Answer 27

Repetition of demonstrators behavior

Question 28

How is copying different than imitation

Answer 28

Not limited to novel behavior or topographical response; involves rewards both extrinsic and intrinsic

Question 29

What is an example of mate choice copying

Answer 29

Female guppies selected male guppies that were previously observed courting vs. noncourting males

Question 30

What are the 4 criteria for social learning

Answer 30

Contagion; social facilitation; social enhancement; imitation

Question 31

What is the definition and control of contagion

Answer 31

Response to releasing stimulus; arbitrary response

Question 32

What is the definition and control of social facilitation

Answer 32

Social motivation effects; isolation

Question 33

What is the definition and control for social enhancement

Answer 33

Attention directed to task relevant stimuli; duplication cage method

Question 34

What is the definition and control for imitation

Answer 34

Observer copies specific response; two action method

Question 35

What type of comparative observational learning did Whitten observe

Answer 35

Investigated observational learning of tool use in chimpanzees and human children

Question 36

What is emulation

Answer 36

The learning of the results of an action rather than the details of the behavior involved

Question 37

What discoveries did Whitten make about chimpanzees and children with tool use

Answer 37

Chimpanzees were emulators and children were imitators

Question 38

What is tradition

Answer 38

Behavioral preference once acquired becomes common within a group of animals