Adaptive trade-offs in the use of social and personal information.

Abstract

In this chapter we review the redictions arising from theoretical models and outline the current empirical support for several social learning strategies, focusing largely on our own experimental studies and other recent work (Laland 2004; Kendal et al. 2005; Galef 2006). We draw attention to adaptive trade-offs in the use of social and personal information. Laland (2004) distinguished between two classes of social learning strategy, “when” strategies, which dictate the circumstances under which individuals copy others, and “who” strategies which specify from whom individuals learn. We address each in turn.