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Full Description
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 use this 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.
Contents
Introduction: Social intelligence: from brain to culture ; 1. Cognitive adaptations of social bonding in birds ; 2. Social cognition by food-caching corvids: the western scrub-jay as a natural psychologist ; 3. Social intelligence in the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) ; 4. The adaptive value of soicality in mammalian agroups ; 5. Social brains, simple minds: does social complexity really require cognitive complexity? ; 6. Culture in great apes: using intricate complexity in feeding skills to trace the evolutionary origin of human technical prowess ; 7. Dolphin social intelligence: complex alliance relationships in bottlenose dolphins and a consideration of selective environments for extreme brain size evolution in mammals ; 8. The evolution of animal 'cultures' and social intelligence ; 9. Getting back to the rough ground: deception and 'social living' ; 10. Cooperation and human cognition: the Vygotskian intelligence hypothesis ; 11. Understanding primate brain evolution ; 12. Before and below 'theory of mind': embodied simulation and the neural correlates of social cognition ; 13. The social brain? ; 14. Socially intelligent robots: dimensions of human-robot interaction ; 15. Did farming arise from a misappliction of social intelligence? ; 16. Social intelligence, human intelligence and niche construction ; 17. On the lack of evidence that non-human animals possess anything remotely resembling a 'theory of mind' ; 18. The society of selves
