William Hoppitt and Kevin N. Laland
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150703
- eISBN:
- 9781400846504
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150703.003.0006
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology
This chapter describes repertoire-based methods for detecting and quantifying the social transmission of behavior based on a “snapshot” of the behavioral repertoires of individuals or groups. ...
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This chapter describes repertoire-based methods for detecting and quantifying the social transmission of behavior based on a “snapshot” of the behavioral repertoires of individuals or groups. Repertoire-based methods often take the form of a group contrast approach, where the researcher attempts to ascertain whether different groups have different behavioral repertoires, which might be caused by a higher rate of social transmission within groups than between them. The chapter first considers approaches that can be applied to determine whether group differences in behavior exist, including the group contrasts approach and the method of exclusion. In particular, it discusses methods for assessing the genetic hypothesis and the ecological hypothesis. It also presents a model-fitting approach and a causal modeling framework. Finally, it highlights the limitations of studying social learning based solely on differences in repertoires.Less
This chapter describes repertoire-based methods for detecting and quantifying the social transmission of behavior based on a “snapshot” of the behavioral repertoires of individuals or groups. Repertoire-based methods often take the form of a group contrast approach, where the researcher attempts to ascertain whether different groups have different behavioral repertoires, which might be caused by a higher rate of social transmission within groups than between them. The chapter first considers approaches that can be applied to determine whether group differences in behavior exist, including the group contrasts approach and the method of exclusion. In particular, it discusses methods for assessing the genetic hypothesis and the ecological hypothesis. It also presents a model-fitting approach and a causal modeling framework. Finally, it highlights the limitations of studying social learning based solely on differences in repertoires.
