cognitive ethology

Question 1

Knowledge acquistion mechanisms? social & antisocial ones?

Answer 1

SOCIAL
teaching

imitation

emulation

local/social stimulation

ANTISOCIAL
trial and error

insight

Question 2

define cognitive ethology

Answer 2

study of internal states and processes producing behaviour

Question 3

criteria behind intelligence

Answer 3

experiential learning
learning speed
reason
planning
solving problems

thinking abstractly

comprehending complex ideas

Question 4

morgans canon & occams razor

Answer 4

principle of parsimony; simple explanations behind animal behahviour but in biology this is dangerous

Question 5

orders or intentionality

Answer 5

Dennet 1983:
0 order= internal and external stimuli behaviour (conditioning; no belief/desires); a 2 year old

1 order= actor knows the effect of behaviour on others (self awareness; 3-4 year old)

2 order= actor knows that others have own knowledge/beliefs (rudimentary TOM; 5 year old)

3 order= manipulate others and deception (multilevel TOM; adults)

Question 6

why is intentionality important

Answer 6

to understand how others function= better predict behaviour

this allows for an increase in:
social adaptation

manipulation/deception

cooperation and coordination

Question 7

proxy of intelligence?

Answer 7

neocortex ratio (dunbar)

Question 8

Plover bird case study describe

Answer 8

bird pretends to be injured as fox approaches to lead him away from nest (distraction display; interspecies deception)

Question 9

what orders of intentionality are (possibly) functioning in the plover case study

Answer 9

0 order; bird reaction is ‘conditioned impulse’

1 order: bird KNOWS impact of behaviour

2 order: bird knows that the fox THINKS bird injusry = injured/vulnerable

Question 10

plove bird case: what type of deception?

Answer 10

if TACTICAL: acts from normal repertoire used to cause another to misintrepret the actions (byrne 1999)
–> but birds dont use display in other contexts; not innnate

if STRATEGIC: broken win display is NOT used in other context

Question 11

how might predator co-evolution function in the plover bird case

Answer 11

fox learns to ignore the behaviour and search where the bird first appeared

Question 12

what are counter strategies tod eception

Answer 12

Small initial investment, rapid demand of payback
Mental book-keeping & the problem of currencies
Moralistic aggression
Counter-deception
Preference for honest (costly) signals
Self-deception to suppress traitorous signals