Cognition Flashcards
What is Machiavellian intelligence?
The idea that cognition in primates evolved from intense social competition, whereby social competitors developed increasingly sophisticated strategies to achieve higher social/reproductive goals.
What is the colloquial name for Machiavellian intelligence?
‘The social brain hypothesis’
Assuming Machiavellian intelligence, what is the assumption about material culture?
It was built upon expertise acquired in the social field. Basically technological intelligence is a development of social learning.
What is the 3 stage process for intelligence?
Learning, knowledge, intelligence
Knowledge can be acquired individually. How? Give 2 mechanisms.
- By conditioning (trial and error)
2. Via experiments
How can knowledge be acquired socially? Give 3 mechanisms.
- Stimulus enhancement
- Emulation
- Imitation
What is stimulus enhancement?
Exposure to a problem-solving situation, e.g. watching a more experienced individual
What is emulation?
Achieving the same end result via a different method
What is imitation?
Copying the method and achieving the same end result
What does imitation require?
Understanding the intention behind the method
What does teaching require?
Understanding what someone does not know and showing them
What is the neocortex?
The most recently evolved part of the brain, concerned with sight and hearing in mammals.
IMPLICATED IN SOCIALITY
It was initially believed that intelligence evolved to solve ecological problems.
a) Give an example of an ecological problem
b) What evidence was found AGAINST this hypothesis?
a) Extractive foraging to eat invertebrates
b) No significant difference in ratio of neocortex to rest of brain in extractive vs non-extractive foragers
How does the neocortex support the theory of Machiavellian intelligence?
The neocortex:rest of brain ratio is larger in social animals
What was used as a proxy for sociality in neocortex experiments?
Mean group size
Bigger group = more social
What is a behaviourist outlook of intelligence?
The behaviour is the end goal
What is a mentalist outlook of intelligence?
The reactions of others to the behaviour is the end goal
Is complex intelligence behaviourist or mentalist?
Mentalist
Do simple tasks require behaviourist or mentalist intelligence?
Behaviourist
What is theory of mind (ToM)?
The ability to ascribe mental states to others
the understanding that others have their own mind independent of yours
What is zero order ToM?
Conditioning, simply reacting to a stimulus e.g. a baby monkey crying because it is hungry
What is first order ToM?
The ability to understand another person’s thoughts.
What is second order ToM?
The ability to infer what one person thinks about another person’s thoughts.
How many orders of ToM are there?
A lot (up to like 7, gets v. complex)
What is the self-model?
Essentially ‘who you believe you are’ in your mind defined by your first-person experiences. Creates a set of beliefs and attitudes.
What does ‘phenomenally transparent’ mean when applied to the self-model?
Transparency is a sense of property of all phenomenal (conscious) states.
So what is the transparent self-model?
You are a consistent person, a ‘self’, because you have uniquely experienced consciousness, and your experiences of this cannot be represented outside your mind
Who proposed the transparent self-model?
Thomas Metzinger
Can you know others without understanding yourself?
No
How do great apes vs. monkeys fare in the mirror self-recognition test?
Most great apes can identify themselves, v. few monkeys can
Group living is beneficial, but then your companions also become your competitors. True or false?
True.
There is no selection pressure acting on group sociality. True or false?
False: there is a pressure to manipulate and deceive conspecifics for your own gain
What does ‘the technological transfer of social intelligence’ actually mean?
The development of social tools, e.g. manipulating someone else into doing something for you
Give an example of social tool usage.
Getting someone else to fight for you, i.e. being the brains behind the brawn
Furthering your own gain within a social group could be interpreted as what?
Cheating/lying
In what ways do we cope with cheaters?
- Small initial investment and rapid demand of payback
- Mental bookkeeping
- Moralistic aggression
- Counter-deception
- Preference for ‘honest’ signals
- Self-deception
In coping with cheaters, what does ‘small initial investment and rapid demand of payback’ mean?
‘You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’
Essentially bargaining at first to test honesty, reciprocity ensures trust
In coping with cheaters, what does ‘mental bookkeeping’ mean?
Remembering when others have wronged you and not trusting them again
In coping with cheaters, what does ‘moralistic aggression’ mean?
Getting angry with/punishing those who have wronged you
In coping with cheaters, what does ‘counter deception’ mean?
You deceive them in response to their deception of you
In coping with cheaters, what does ‘preference for honest signals’ mean?
Indicator traits that cannot be faked are preferred, e.g. fitness-dependent traits
In coping with cheaters, what does ‘self-deception’ mean?
You know you are a cheater and you need to hide traitorous signals and pretend you are honest, because people like honesty
Tactical deception correlates to neocortical ratio. What does this imply?
Basically those able to play mind games in social interaction are v. intelligent
Intelligence has environmental origins. True or false?
False, intelligence has social origins.
Mind-reading allows for empathy. What’s that?
The ability to understand/know what someone else is feeling.
‘Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes’
Empathy can be a bad thing. True or false?
True: it can allow you to understand how to hurt someone
Mind-reading allows for sympathy. What’s that?
Sharing the feelings of another, i.e. if they are sad, you are sad. If they are relieved, you are relieved etc.
