Primate Cognition / Edition 1

by Michael Tomasello, Josep Call

Overview

Soon after Charles Darwin formulated his theory of evolution, primate cognition became a major area of research. In this book, Michael Tomasello and Josep Call assess the current state of our knowledge about the cognitive skills of non-human primates. They integrate empirical findings on the topic from the beginning of the century to the present, placing this research in theoretical perspective. They begin with an examination of the way primates adapt to their physical world, mostly for the purpose of foraging. The second part of the book looks at primate social knowledge and focuses on the adaptations of primates to their social world for purposes of competition and cooperation. In the third section, the authors construct a general theory of primate cognition, distinguishing the cognition in primates from that of other mammals (human in particular). Their broad-ranging theory provides a guide for future research. Primate Cognition is an enlightening exploration of the cognitive capacities of our nearest primate relatives and a useful resource for a wide range of researchers and students in psychology, behavioral biology, primatology, and anthropology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195106244
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/18/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	528
Product dimensions:	9.26(w) x 6.12(h) x 2.40(d)

About the Author

both at Emory University

Table of Contents

1. Introduction1.1. Historical Background1.2. The Ecological Approach to Cognition1.3. Primates and Their Lives1.4. Plan of the BookPART I: Knowledge of the Physical World2. Space and Objects2.1. Cognitive Mapping2.2. Searching for Hidden Objects2.3. Tracking Invisible Displacements2.4. Other Forms of Spatial Understanding2.5. What Primates Know About Space and Objects3. Tools and Causality3.1. Object Manipulation3.2. Tool Use3.3. Causal Understanding3.4. What Primates Know About Tools and Causality4. Features and Categories4.1. Discrimination Learning4.2. Natural Categories4.3. Relational Categories4.4. Classification4.5. What Primates Know About Features and Categories5. Quantities5.1. Estimating Numerousness5.2. Ordinality and Transitivity5.3. Counting, Summation, and Proportions5.4. Conservation of Quantities5.5. What Primates Know About Quantities6. Theories of Primate Physical Cognition6.1. Summary of Primate Physical Cognition6.2. Theories of Proximate Mechanism6.3. Theories of Ultimate Causation6.4. Directions for Future Research6.5. ConclusionPART II: Knowledge of the Social World7. Social Knowledge and Interaction7.1. The Social Field7.2. Coalitions and Alliances7.3. Reciprocity and Interchange7.4. Cooperative Problem-Solving7.5. What Primates Know About Others in Social Interaction8. Social Strategies and Communication8.1. Social Strategies: Deception8.2. Intentional Communication: Gestures8.3. Intentional Communication: Vocalizations8.4. Communication with Humans8.5. What Primates Know About Others in Communication9. Social Learning and Culture9.1. Behavioral Traditions in the Wild9.2. Social Learning of Instrumental Activities9.3. Social Learning of Communicative Signals and Gestures9.4. Teaching9.5. What Primates Know About Others in Social Learning10. Theory of Mind10.1. Understanding Behavior and Perception10.2. Understanding Intentions and Attention10.3. Understanding Knowledge and Beliefs10.4. Understanding Self10.5. What Primates Know About Others' Mental States11. Theories of Primate Social Cognition11.1. Summary of Primate Social Cognition11.2. Theories of Proximate Mechanism11.3. Theories of Ultimate Causation11.4. Directions for Future Research11.5. ConclusionPART III: A Theory of Primate Cognition12. Nonhuman Primate Cognition12.1. Uniquely Primate Cognition12.2. Issues of Proximate Mechanism12.3. Issues of Ultimate Causation12.4. The Structure of Primate Cognition13. Human Cognition13.1. Human Cognitive Development13.2. Ontogenetic Processes13.3. Phylogenetic Processes13.4. The Structure of Human Cognition14. Conclusion14.1. Theory14.2. Research14.3. The Preservation of PrimatesAppendixReferencesAuthor IndexSpecies IndexSubject Index

Editorial Reviews

""Fin de siécle primatology is an exuberant, contentious, and ambitious discipline. . . . Those who took classes in primatology as few as 5 to 10 years ago would not recognize many of the current issues, a short list of examples being sexual selection, phylogenetic weighting in comparative analyses, gut-brain tradeoffs in the evolution of energy and tissue allocation, and reciprocity and retribution. Primate Cognition is a superb example of this new, reinvigorated primatology. . . . Tomasello and Call accomplish a meticulous merging of primate behavior, recent insights from cognitive and developmental psychology on the multidimensionality of cognitive abilities, and a good understanding of primate evolution to critically analyze what is and is not yet known about cognition in nonhuman primates."—American Journal of Human Biology

"[The authors] divide the volume into fourteen chapters organized into three parts: Knowledge of the Physical World, Knowledge of the Social World, and A Theory of Primate Cognition, which summarizes their conclusions and briefly reviews human cognitive development. The book includes an introduction to the Order Primates (as well as an appendix on their taxonomy) and a brief history of studies of primate cognition."—The Quarterly Review of Biology

"This book is a careful and critical review of the existing literature on the cognitive capacities of primates and other mammals and, at the same time, is a launching platform for a very important theory on what is unique for primates with respect to other mammals and what is unique for human beings with respect to nonhuman primates. . . . What makes this book appealing to any kind of reader and extremely useful as an educational tool is the way in which the material is organized, critically described, and summarized in useful tables and summaries. . . . In addition, the book has 50 pages of references, an authors' index, a species index, and a subject index, as well as a multitude of figures and photographs . . . I strongly recommend this marvellous book to ethologists, animal psychologists, developmental psychologists, cognitive scientists, and anyone just interested in primates."—The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

From the Publisher