Is there teaching in nonhuman animals?. Caro, T. M. & Hauser, M. D. Q Rev Biol, 67(2):151–174, 1992. doi abstract bibtex We derive a simple operational definition of teaching that distinguishes it from other forms of social learning where there is no active participation of instructors, and then discuss the constituent parts of the definition in detail. From a functional perspective, it is argued that the instructor's sensitivity to the pupil's changing skills or knowledge, and the instructor's ability to attribute mental states to others, are not necessary conditions of teaching in nonhuman animals, as assumed by previous work, because guided instruction without these prerequisites could still be favored by natural selection. A number of cases of social interaction in several orders of mammals and birds that have been interpreted as evidence of teaching are then reviewed. These cases fall into two categories: situations where offspring are provided with opportunities to practice skills ("opportunity teaching"), and instances where the behavior of young is either encouraged or punished by adults ("coaching"). Although certain taxonomic orders appear to use one form of teaching more often than the other, this may have more to do with the quality of the current data set than with inherent species-specific constraints. We suggest several directions for future research on teaching in nonhuman animals that will lead to a more thorough understanding of this poorly documented phenomenon. We argue throughout that adherence to conventional, narrow definitions of teaching, generally derived from observations of human adult-infant interactions, has caused many related but simpler phenomena in other species to go unstudied or unrecorded, and severely limits further exploration of this topic.
@Article{Caro1992,
author = {T. M. Caro and M. D. Hauser},
journal = {Q Rev Biol},
title = {Is there teaching in nonhuman animals?},
year = {1992},
number = {2},
pages = {151--174},
volume = {67},
abstract = {We derive a simple operational definition of teaching that distinguishes
it from other forms of social learning where there is no active participation
of instructors, and then discuss the constituent parts of the definition
in detail. From a functional perspective, it is argued that the instructor's
sensitivity to the pupil's changing skills or knowledge, and the
instructor's ability to attribute mental states to others, are not
necessary conditions of teaching in nonhuman animals, as assumed
by previous work, because guided instruction without these prerequisites
could still be favored by natural selection. A number of cases of
social interaction in several orders of mammals and birds that have
been interpreted as evidence of teaching are then reviewed. These
cases fall into two categories: situations where offspring are provided
with opportunities to practice skills ("opportunity teaching"), and
instances where the behavior of young is either encouraged or punished
by adults ("coaching"). Although certain taxonomic orders appear
to use one form of teaching more often than the other, this may have
more to do with the quality of the current data set than with inherent
species-specific constraints. We suggest several directions for future
research on teaching in nonhuman animals that will lead to a more
thorough understanding of this poorly documented phenomenon. We argue
throughout that adherence to conventional, narrow definitions of
teaching, generally derived from observations of human adult-infant
interactions, has caused many related but simpler phenomena in other
species to go unstudied or unrecorded, and severely limits further
exploration of this topic.},
doi = {10.1086/417553},
institution = {Fisheries Biology, University of California, Davis 95616.},
keywords = {Animal Population Groups, psychology; Animals; Behavior, Animal; Birds; Female; Male; Mammals, psychology; Primates, psychology; Teaching},
language = {eng},
medline-pst = {ppublish},
pmid = {1635977},
timestamp = {2011.08.03},
}
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From a functional perspective, it is argued that the instructor's sensitivity to the pupil's changing skills or knowledge, and the instructor's ability to attribute mental states to others, are not necessary conditions of teaching in nonhuman animals, as assumed by previous work, because guided instruction without these prerequisites could still be favored by natural selection. A number of cases of social interaction in several orders of mammals and birds that have been interpreted as evidence of teaching are then reviewed. These cases fall into two categories: situations where offspring are provided with opportunities to practice skills (\"opportunity teaching\"), and instances where the behavior of young is either encouraged or punished by adults (\"coaching\"). Although certain taxonomic orders appear to use one form of teaching more often than the other, this may have more to do with the quality of the current data set than with inherent species-specific constraints. 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