The Biology of Traditions: Models and Evidence

The Biology of Traditions: Models and Evidence

by Susan Perry (Editor), Dorothy M. Fragaszy (Editor)

Synopsis

Socially maintained behavioural traditions in non-human species hold great interest for biologists, anthropologists and psychologists. This book treats traditions in non-human species as biological phenomena that are amenable to the comparative methods of inquiry used in contemporary biology. Chapters in the first section define behavioural traditions, and indicate how they can arise in non-human species, how widespread they may be, how they may be recognized and how we can study them. The second part summarizes cutting-edge research programmes seeking to identify traditions in diverse taxa in contributions from leading researchers in this area. The book ends with a comparison and evaluation of the alternative theoretical formulations and their applications presented in the book, and lays out recommendations for future research building on the most promising evidence and lines of thinking. The Biology of Traditions will be essential reading for students and researchers in the fields of anthropology, biology and psychology.

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 476
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 03 Jul 2003

ISBN 10: 0521815975
ISBN 13: 9780521815970
Book Overview: Biology of Traditions explores socially maintained traditions in a broad range of non-human animals.

Media Reviews
Review of the hardback: '... essential reading ...' Animal Behaviour
Review of the hardback: '... a valuable addition to the library of any primatologist with an interest in social learning.' Primate Eye
Review of the hardback: 'I think this volume is worth reading in order to be familiar with various studies of tradition and social learning, especially those of capuchin monkeys. Readers of this book will find a very wide range of interests regarding tradition or culture in animals that could even bridge various existing research domains.' Primates
Review of the hardback: '... a rich and comprehensive volume, grounded in traditional ethology, that offers a timely complement to a library of volumes on social learning in animals. Fragaszy and Perry have assembled interesting and provocative contributions from some of the leading researchers in the field of social learning ... we heartily recommend this book ... much of the material in this book, and especially the first and last chapters, would be of value to any researcher working in the field.' Blackwell Verlag
Fragaszy and Perry have generated a book that is likely to reward any scientist--and certainly any behavioral scientist --interested in the nature of evidence and in relationships between appearance and reality. BioScience
I found this book a fascinating and stimulating read. These are exciting times in the study of marine mammal behaviour, and I sincerely hope this volume will stimulate more research on this fascinating topic in our own field. Aquatic Mammals, Luke Rendell
... A rich and comprehensive volume, grounded in traditional ethology, that offers a timely complement to a library of volumes on social learning in animals. Fragaszy and Perry have assembled some interesting and provocative contributions from some of the leading researchers in the field of social learning. Ethology
Author Bio
Dorothy M. Fragaszy is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Georgia and Chair of the Biopsychology program. Susan Perry is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Head of the research group for Cultural Phylogeny at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.