Social Contextual Influences on Behaviour

Abstract

From the earliest days of writing on behaviour, we have known that an individual’s social context can powerfully influence that individual’s behaviour. Behaviour of individuals is often affected by the absence or presence of other individuals, and by the number, types, or composition of individuals if present. Like many ideas in organismal biology, this notion goes back to Darwin (Darwin 1871, 1872), with traces found in the writings of Lamarck (Lamarck 1809 / 1984). The notion remained important in both early ethology (Tinbergen 1953) and early comparative psychology (Carpenter 1964); see Crawford (1939) for a review of the early years of study on this question. Indeed, some of the earliest experimental laboratory work in animal behaviour pointed to the importance of social settings on individual exploration and activity (Small 1900). In this chapter, we take a proximate approach to the question of social contextual influences on behaviour. We first describe several types of social contextual influence. We then discuss a series of recent observational and experimental studies on how variation in flocks of Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) influences individual chickadee behaviour. We conclude with a brief section of suggested future avenues of research on social contextual influences, including those that integrate proximate and ultimate approaches.