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Social cognition of monkeys and apes
Author(s) -
Tomasello Michael,
Call Josep
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.1330370610
Subject(s) - gesture , psychology , cognition , social learning , social cognition , cultural learning , social relation , primate , cognitive psychology , social knowledge , developmental psychology , communication , cognitive science , social psychology , linguistics , sociology , pedagogy , philosophy , social science , neuroscience
This paper reviews what is known about the social cognition of monkeys and great apes. The literature reviewed is divided into three main content areas: (1) social interaction, including knowledge of individuals, knowledge of social relationships, alliance formation, and cooperation; (2) communication, including alarm calls, calls for recruiting allies, gestures, and the “language” skills of human‐raised apes; and (3) social learning, including the “cultural transmission” of food‐preparation behaviors, the social learning of tool use, and the social learning of vocal and gestural communication. Contrary to the hypotheses of a number of recent investigators, we find no compelling differences in the social cognition of monkeys and great apes. It is possible that differences in the social behavior of these two classes of primate are due to processes of nonsocial cognition, and it is possible that the social behavior of apes is more strongly influenced by human interaction and training.© 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.