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The cultural capacity of human and nonhuman primates: Social learning, innovation, and cumulative culture

Vale, G.L.; Carr, K.; Dean, L.G.; Kendal, R.L.

Authors

G.L. Vale

K. Carr

L.G. Dean



Contributors

J. Kass
Editor

Abstract

Whether the foundations of nonhuman and human traditions are fundamentally similar, or whether they are different, has been the subject of heated debate even referred to as the animal “culture wars.” In this chapter we aim to explore the question of homology and analogy, between nonhuman and human culture, by examining what we mean by the term culture and whether, and to what extent, a number of core cultural components—innovation, social learning processes, transmission biases—are shared across the primate order. We end with the topic of cumulative culture—the ability to generate complex cultural traits by building upon existing behavior patterns, generation after generation—and explore whether nonhuman primates, such as humans, exhibit such cultural progress.

Citation

Vale, G., Carr, K., Dean, L., & Kendal, R. (2017). The cultural capacity of human and nonhuman primates: Social learning, innovation, and cumulative culture. In J. Kass (Ed.), Evolution of nervous systems (second edition) (475-508). (2nd ed.). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-804042-3.00095-6

Online Publication Date Nov 30, 2016
Publication Date Jan 1, 2017
Deposit Date Apr 21, 2017
Publisher Academic Press
Pages 475-508
Series Number 3
Edition 2nd ed.
Book Title Evolution of nervous systems (second edition).
ISBN 9780128040966
DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-804042-3.00095-6
Keywords Culture, cumulative culture, cultural evolution, gene-culture co-evolution, innovation, ratcheting, social learning, social learning strategies, tradition, transmission biases.


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