| Records |
Author  |
Bering, J.M. |
| Title |
A critical review of the “enculturation hypothesis”: the effects of human rearing on great ape social cognition |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
7 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
201-212 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Cognition; *Culture; Hominidae/*psychology; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; Imprinting (Psychology); *Intention; Macaca; Psychological Theory; Social Behavior; *Social Environment; Species Specificity |
| Abstract |
Numerous investigators have argued that early ontogenetic immersion in sociocultural environments facilitates cognitive developmental change in human-reared great apes more characteristic of Homo sapiens than of their own species. Such revamping of core, species-typical psychological systems might be manifest, according to this argument, in the emergence of mental representational competencies, a set of social cognitive skills theoretically consigned to humans alone. Human-reared great apes' capacity to engage in “true imitation,” in which both the means and ends of demonstrated actions are reproduced with fairly high rates of fidelity, and laboratory great apes' failure to do so, has frequently been interpreted as reflecting an emergent understanding of intentionality in the former. Although this epigenetic model of the effects of enculturation on social cognitive systems may be well-founded and theoretically justified in the biological literature, alternative models stressing behavioral as opposed to representational change have been largely overlooked. Here I review some of the controversy surrounding enculturation in great apes, and present an alternative nonmentalistic version of the enculturation hypothesis that can also account for enhanced imitative performance on object-oriented problem-solving tasks in human-reared animals. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA. jbering@uark.edu |
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| Language |
English |
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| ISSN |
1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15004739 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2543 |
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| Author |
Bjorklund, D.F.; Yunger, J.L.; Bering, J.M.; Ragan, P. |
| Title |
The generalization of deferred imitation in enculturated chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
5 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
49-58 |
| Keywords |
Age Factors; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; Pan troglodytes/physiology/*psychology; Parenting; Species Specificity |
| Abstract |
Deferred imitation of object-related actions and generalization of imitation to similar but not identical tasks was assessed in three human-reared (enculturated) chimpanzees, ranging in age from 5 to 9 years. Each ape displayed high levels of deferred imitation and only slightly lower levels of generalization of imitation. The youngest two chimpanzees were more apt to generalize the model's actions when they had displayed portions of the target behaviors at baseline, consistent with the idea that learning is more likely to occur when working within the “zone of proximal development.” We argue that generalization of imitation is the best evidence to date of imitative learning in chimpanzees. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991, USA. dbjorklund@fau.edu |
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English |
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| ISSN |
1435-9448 |
ISBN |
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| Notes |
PMID:11957402 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2610 |
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