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social complexity - Coggle Diagram
social complexity
general concepts and mechanisms
sociality
evolutionary mechanisms
cognition
definition
all the mechanisms by which an animal acquires, processes, stores and uses information
social life
Why might social life change cognition?
Social life creates uncertainty
Their behaviour can change.
Competition and conflict are possible.
Other individuals have their own goals.
Social life provides information
Their behaviour can act as a cue.
Communication can coordinate activity
Others reveal where food may be found.
The social brain hypothesis
greater social demands may favour greater investment in brain regions involved in cognition.
problems
Correlation ≠ causation: A relationship does not prove cause and effect.
Imperfect measures: Group size does not fully measure social complexity, and brain size does not directly measure cognition.
Alternative explanations: Ecological challenges can also favour cognitive abilities.
Social intelligence hypothesis
Social relationships favour the evolution of greater cognitive abilities.
Track dominance relationships.
Maintain alliances.
Respond to changing behaviour.
Use tactical deception.
Ecological intelligence hypothesis
Finding scattered or hidden food may favour memory, navigation and landmark recognition.
Social and ecological pressures can act together.
Comparisons must also account for evolutionary relationships (phylogeny).
processes
acquiring
receiving information
Detecting a flowers odour
processing
interpreting information
Distinguishing between odours
storing
remembering information
Remembering which flower gives a reward
using
applying information
Finding the way back to the nest
lineages
vertebrates
invertebrates
insects