social learning and culture (comparative psychology)

Question 1

what is culture?

Answer 1

a set of beliefs, customs, arts and norms of a particular society at a given point in time

behaviour that is social;;y learned and transmitted across generations

Question 2

how do people learn culture?

Answer 2

through social learning and cooperation as well as social traditions

Question 3

cultures in chimpanzees …

Answer 3

differences in the behavioural repertoires described suggest there is significant cultural variation amongst different groups of chimpanzees

could be due to ecological determinants, is it culture or is it just because of different ecological differences, how can some use a stone hammer if they don’t need them to open food

Question 4

different culture /behavioural repertoires of chimpanzees

Answer 4

grooming hand-clasp

grass in the ear

Question 5

potato washing in japanese macaques, was it learned and transmitted?

Answer 5

technique was discovered by a young female and slowly transmitted to other group members of the same age/class

thought to potentially have been facilitated by humans

Question 6

what is social learning

Answer 6

learning about other agents/inanimate world that is influenced by observation / interaction

Question 7

familiar vs novel behaviour

Answer 7

response facilitation: priming an action already in an individual repertoire by observing another individual (here nothing is being learnt, only acted out)

observational conditioning: associating a previously neutral stimulus with an unconditioned response by observing another individuals response to that stimulus

Question 8

observational fear conditioning

Answer 8

acquisition of a fear response towards a particular stimulus by observing a conspecific in an aversive circumstance, rather than through direct experience with the source

(easier to learn if it is a biologically relevant stimuli, with some genetic predisposition)

Question 9

observing someone …

Answer 9

you split up what they are doing into goals, actions and results

Question 10

what occurs when you are copying a behaviour?

Answer 10

To copy you must:

1) split into imitation, object – movement and re-enact
(imitate how they have done it)

or Emulate the end-state (copy only the outcome)

Question 11

what is affordance learning?

Answer 11

learning about operating characteristics of objects or the environment

Question 12

social learning strategies of whom to copy

Answer 12

majority-driven (copying the mass)

prestige-driven (copying those considered knowledgable)

rank-driven (copying the dominant/subordiant (naive individuals)

Question 13

what is cumulative culture?

Answer 13

improving on improvements, improving on previous inventions

a single individual can not discover it, needs previous knowledge from others (can’t create a paper clip without knowledge of metals, paper)