Social Learning Strategies in Children and Nonhuman Primates

Abstract

Social learning strategies are profound for the survival of individuals. At the level of social strategies, human and other primates shared many similarities but also have differences between them. This article aim to gather previous studies about childrens collaborative learning approach and other primates social learning strategies, and compare their similarities and difference and discuss the causal information of the variability between children and primates. When different social learning techniques are linked to various incentives, both children and chimps can vary their social learning strategies. However, children are more adaptable than chimpanzees when it comes to selecting or changing their social learning strategies. Furthermore, orangutans did not exhibit the majority-based transmission, unlike toddlers and chimps, who both exhibit a tendency toward social conformity, or the tendency to do what the majority of other members of their social group do. It is suggested that all of the above-mentioned differences between young humans and apes are the result of socialization and cultural transmission.