Social Intelligence From Brain to Culture

by Emery, Nathan; Clayton, Nicola; Frith, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780199216543
• ISBN10: 0199216541
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Why are humans so clever? The 'Social intelligence' hypothesis explores the idea that this cleverness has evolved through the increasing complexity of social groups. Our ability to understand and control nature is a by-product of our ability to understand the mental states of others and to usethis knowledge to co-operate or deceive. These abilities have not emerged out of the blue. They can be found in many social animals that co-operate and compete with one another, birds as well as mammals. This book brings together contributions from an impressive list of authorities in the field, appropriately concluding with a chapter by Nick Humphrey (one of the pioneers in this field). This volume examines social intelligence in many different animal species and explores its development,evolution and the brain systems upon which it depends. Better understanding and further development of social intelligence is critical for the future of the human race and the world that we inhabit. Our problems will not be solved by mere cleverness, but by increased social co-operation.

Table of Contents

List of Contributors	p. vii
Introduction	p. ix
Comparative Perspectives
Cognitive adaptations of social bonding in birds	p. 1
Social cognition by food-caching corvids: The western scrub-jay as a natural psychologist	p. 33
Social intelligence in the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta)	p. 63
The adaptive value of sociality in mammalian groups	p. 89
Social brains, simple minds: does social complexity really require cognitive complexity?	p. 123
Culture in great apes: using intricate complexity in feeding skills to trace the evolutionary origin of human technical prowess	p. 147
Dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals	p. 161
The evolution of animal 'cultures' and social intelligence	p. 189
Developmental & Neural Perspectives
Getting back to the rough ground: deception and 'social living'	p. 219
Cooperation and human cognition: the Vygotskian intelligence hypothesis	p. 245
Understanding primate brain evolution	p. 261
Before and below 'theory of mind: embodied simulation and the neural correlates of social cognition	p. 279
The social brain?	p. 297
Broader Perspectives
Socially intelligent robots: dimensions of human-robot interaction	p. 313
Did farming arise from a misapplication of social intelligence?	p. 353
Social intelligence, human intelligence and niche construction	p. 375
On the lack of evidence that non-human animals possess anything remotely resembling a 'theory of mind'	p. 393
The society of selves	p. 415
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