The evolution of teaching

Thornton, Alex; Raihani, Nichola

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.12.014

Cited by 236 publications

(266 citation statements)

References 82 publications

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“…Among primates, only humans actively instruct their young [21]. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that young children are evolutionarily prepared to receive such instruction, as explicated, for example, in the theory of natural pedagogy [22 ].…”

Section: Instructed Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ontogeny of cultural learning

Tomasello

2016

Current Opinion in Psychology

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All primates engage in one or another form of social learning. Humans engage in cultural learning. From very early in ontogeny human infants and young children do not just learn useful things from others, they conform to others in order to affiliate with them and to identify with the cultural group. The cultural group normatively expects such conformity, and adults actively instruct children so as to ensure it. Young children learn from this instruction how the world is viewed and how it works in their culture. These special forms of cultural learning enable powerful and species-unique processes of cumulative cultural evolution.Address

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Section: Instructed Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ontogeny of cultural learning

Tomasello

2016

Current Opinion in Psychology

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“…This may be particularly probable in the context of offspring care where adults may benefit from promoting the acquisition of knowledge or skills by offspring in situations where high costs or lack of opportunities limit offspring's capacity to learn without assistance ( Thornton & Raihani 2008). In cooperative societies, where individuals incur costs in teaching young that are not their own, teaching can be considered to be a form of helping behaviour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although behaviour suggestive of teaching has been reported in a number of species (reviewed in Thornton & Raihani 2008), only three studies, on tandem running ants, Temnothorax albipennis ( Franks & Richardson 2006), pied babblers, Turdoides bicolor (Raihani & Ridley 2008) and meerkats, Suricata suricatta ( Thornton & McAuliffe 2006), have provided strong evidence for all the three criteria. In meerkats, the subjects of this study, older individuals, including both parents and helpers, teach pups prey-handling skills by providing them with otherwise unavailable opportunities to practice handling difficult prey ( Thornton & McAuliffe 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They proposed a definition outlining three criteria for teaching: (i) an experienced individual, A, modifies its behaviour in the presence of a naive observer, B; (ii) A incurs a cost, or derives no immediate benefit; and (iii) as a result of A's behaviour, B acquires knowledge or skills more rapidly than it would otherwise have done, or that it would not have learned at all. From this perspective, teaching is best seen as a form of cooperative behaviour in which individuals incur short-term costs in order to facilitate learning in others ( Thornton & Raihani 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Teaching, like any other form of cooperative behaviour, will only be favoured by selection if the long-term fitness benefits of investing in teaching outweigh the short-term costs of assisting others ( West et al 2007;Thornton & Raihani 2008). This may be particularly probable in the context of offspring care where adults may benefit from promoting the acquisition of knowledge or skills by offspring in situations where high costs or lack of opportunities limit offspring's capacity to learn without assistance ( Thornton & Raihani 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variation in contributions to teaching by meerkats

Thornton

2008

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Recent evidence from cooperative insect, bird and mammal societies has challenged the assumption that teaching is restricted to humans. However, little is known about the factors affecting the degree to which individuals in such societies contribute to teaching. Here, I examine variation in contributions to teaching in meerkats, where older group members teach pups to handle difficult prey. I show that investment in teaching varies with characteristics of pups, helpers, groups and ecological conditions. Although prior experience in caring for pups did not significantly influence teaching behaviour, younger helpers, which were still investing in growth, contributed less to teaching than older individuals. This suggests that, in common with other cooperative activities, contributions to teaching vary with the costs experienced by individual group members. However, in contrast to other forms of helping in meerkats, I detected no effects of nutritional state on teaching, suggesting that it carries relatively low costs. In species where individuals can potentially gain direct or indirect fitness benefits from facilitating learning in others, low costs divided among multiple group members may help tip the balance towards selection for teaching.

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Social learning of diet and foraging skills by wild immature Bornean orangutans: implications for culture

Jaeggi

Dunkel

Noordwijk

et al. 2009

American J Primatol

152

131

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Studies of social learning in the wild are important to complement findings from experiments in captivity. In this field study, immature Bornean orangutans rarely foraged independently but consistently followed their mothers' choices. Their diets were essentially identical to their mothers' even though not all mothers had the same diet. This suggests vertical transmission of diet by enhancement. Also, immatures selectively observed their mothers during extractive foraging, which increased goal-directed practice but not general manipulation of similar objects, suggesting observational forms of learning of complex skills. Teaching was not observed. These results are consistent with the reported presence of food traditions and skill cultures in wild orangutans. We suggest that food traditions can develop wherever association commonly allows for social learning. However, the capacity for observational learning, and thus more complex culture, is more likely to evolve among extractive foragers with prolonged association between adults and immatures.

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The evolution of teaching

Cited by 236 publications

References 82 publications

The ontogeny of cultural learning

The ontogeny of cultural learning

Variation in contributions to teaching by meerkats

Social learning of diet and foraging skills by wild immature Bornean orangutans: implications for culture

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