Abstract
Some have claimed that wild chimpanzees possess multiple socially learned traditions that might constitute cultural patterns. Others, however, have suggested that even fundamental alternative explanations, such as proximate genetic mechanisms, have not been addressed satisfactorily. Multiple analyses using phylogenetic (cladistic) methods, however, have been shown not to support the genetic proposition. Rather, such analyses are more consistent with the growing body of evidence from studies of both wild and captive animals suggesting that behavioral patterns in wild chimpanzees are socially learned. The question remains, however, as to whether, from a scientific viewpoint, it is useful to term such patterns cultural. It is argued here that cultural mosaics of multiple behaviors that differ intercommunally, both in humans and chimpanzees, are an emergent property of a phylogenetic (i.e., historical) process of descent with modification, mediated by mechanisms of social transmission, variation, and sorting through time. This historical perspective is productive when attempting to consider the phenomenon of culture across species.
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I am indebted to Mark Collard and Bill McGrew for generously collaborating with me on the question of chimpanzee culture, the products of which have obviously influenced some of the ideas expressed here. I am also grateful to Rachel Kendal and Jamie Tehrani for helpful comments on a previous version of the manuscript, as well as to Tatyana Humle for illuminating conversations. I alone, however, take responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions. For continued support and academic engagement, I am also grateful to Leslie Aiello, Parth Chauhan, John Gowlett, Alex Mesoudi, Chris Norton, Mike O’Brien, and Noreen von Cramon-Taubadel. A special word of thanks is necessary for Rachel Kendal, who organized the original session on which this issue of Learning & Behavior is based, as well as her coeditors for their invitation to participate.
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Lycett, S.J. The importance of history in definitions of culture: Implications from phylogenetic approaches to the study of social learning in chimpanzees. Learning & Behavior 38, 252–264 (2010). https://doi.org/10.3758/LB.38.3.252
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/LB.38.3.252