PII: S1364-6613(99)01399-6

• Main Authors: J Perner, B Lang
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: toothed whales
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1049.5139; http://www.bcp.psych.ualberta.ca/%7Emike/Pearl_Street/PSYCO354/pdfstuff/Readings/Adolphs1.pdf

Soci al cognition refers to the processes that subserve behavior in response to conspecifics (other individuals of the same species), and, in particular, to those higher cognitive processes subserving the extremely diverse and flexible social behaviors that are seen in primates. Its evolution arose out of a complex and dynamic interplay between two opposing factors: on the one hand, groups can provide better security from predators, better mate choice, and more reliable food; on the other hand, mates and food are available also to competitors from within the group. An evolutionary approach to social cognition therefore predicts mechanisms for cooperativity, altruism, and other aspects of prosocial behavior, as well as mechanisms for coercion, deception and manipulation of conspecifics. The former are exemplified in the smallest groups, in the bond between mother and infant; the latter in the largest groups by the creation of complex dominance hierarchies. It is clear that primates are exceedingly adept at negotiating the social environment. This ability is most striking in the most social primate, Homo sapiens, suggesting the hypothesis that our exceptional cognitive skills may be traced back to evolution in an environment in which there was a premium on social skills. In support of this idea, there is a correlation between mean group size among various primate species and their neocortex volume (specifically, the ratio of neocortex volume to the rest of the brain 1 ). Such a correlation has been found also for several other mammals that all feature a complex social structure (e.g. bats, carnivores and toothed whales) -the larger the social groups, the larger the brains (relative to body size). Although it has been proposed that brain size correlates with a number of other factors, including dietary foraging strategy, tool use and longevity 2,3 , it might be that large brain size is at least a partial consequence of the fact that primates have a complex ecological niche with respect to social structure ...