Machiavellian Intelligence & Embedded Attention Flashcards
What is Machiavellian intelligence?
Primates adapted for social manipulation
What is connoted with Machiavellian intelligence?
Deviousness, plotting, exploitation, etc.
What is deception?
Exploits others ability to read your behavior in ways that promote misinterpretation
Give an example of hard wired deception.
Eyespots on butterflies
What about deception suggests cognitive skill?
When it is flexibly used
What interactions have led to MI model of primate cognitive evolution?
Social tool use and deception
How are evolution and MI related?
May select for counter deception, selects for better deception, etc.
I.e. Evolutionary arms race or ratchet that selects for more complex cognition
What are some examples of tactile deception in primates?
- move out of sight of dominant that might interfere before mating, eating, etc.
- look/move away from object of interest “feign” indifference poss to distract/move competitor away
- during aggression, sub gives (false) predator alarm call that shifts everyone’s priorities/actions
What sort of primates is tactile research compiled most on?
Old World Primates
What is funny/unique about cases of social tool use? (what do they involve?)
insincere acts by user, exploiting tool to influence target
Why is it useful to use tactile deception to mask eyes?
across phyla, predict direction of movement, leading edge of animals
What did the “friendly trainer” and “mean trainer” experiment test for?
competitive manipulation of attention
What was the procedure of the “friendly trainer” and “mean trainer” experiment test?
- subject watches as experimenter hides a treat in one of many opaque, out of reach containers
- experimenter leaves, trainer who does not know location of treat enters
- “friendly” trainer will share treat when found, “unfriendly trainer” will eat it in front of animal
What were the results of the “friendly trainer” and “mean trainer” experiment test?
- Many chimps and some cebus will orient and reach to baited container in presence of friendly trainer
- also soon suppress response to container in presence of unfriendly trainer
- few also come to overtly “misdirect” unfriendly toward unbaited container
What questions were raised about how much deceivers know about what they are doing after the “friendly trainer” and “mean trainer” experiment test?
Does deceiver have a Theory of Mind about what its actions are causing others to believe?
What is Theory of Mind (ToM)?
capacity to attribute mental states to oneself and others
What experiment by Premack and Woodruff (1978) was performed on Sarah to test ToM?
tested if sarah could interpret tape of trainer with a problem and pick a photo of the solution
What were the results of the Premack and Woodruff (1978) study on Sarah and ToM?
Interpret: Subject must understand trainer’s goal
(But may have just picked own desired outcome) => didn’t like trainer, pick the wrong one