Question

3. In determining whether different nonhuman primate species have culture, how important do you consider the ability to transmit cultural behaviors and knowledge across generations? In other words, how comparable would you consider the cultures of humans and nonhuman primates? Explain why you feel the way you do.

Answer 1

It is very important to transmit cultural behaviours and knowledge across generations as it leads to cumulative cultural evolution.In humans,there exists cumulative cultural evolution but not in non human primates.It is the cumulative cultural evolution that leads to culture transmission in humans but in case of non human primates, the cultural evolution is normativity cultural evolution.Cumulative cultural evolution is not present in non human primates as the way in which the imitative learning abilities are unfolded in non human primates is in a very less consistent manner than those of humans.Imitation along with the ability to approve or disapprove certain learned behaviour leads to cultural evolution and transmitting those behaviour to the next generations in humans while in non human primates ,learning is based on that indirect social learning mechanisms with limited imitative abilities.We feel this way because in humans,the cultural behaviour is affected by different societies in which humans live and any behavioural,learning changes induced is transmitted to next generation but this is absent in case of non primates.