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The benefits of an evolutionary framework for the investigation of teaching behaviour: Emphasis should be taken off humans as a benchmark

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2015

Amanda R. Ridley  and
Benjamin J. Ashton
Amanda R. Ridley
Affiliation:
Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Perth, WA 6009, Australia. Amanda.ridley@uwa.edu.auBenjamin.ashton@research.uwa.edu.auwww.babbler-research.comhttp://www.ceb.uwa.edu.au/research/profiles?profile/1/id/4130 Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, WC 7701, South Africa.
Benjamin J. Ashton
Affiliation:
Centre of Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Perth, WA 6009, Australia. Amanda.ridley@uwa.edu.auBenjamin.ashton@research.uwa.edu.auwww.babbler-research.comhttp://www.ceb.uwa.edu.au/research/profiles?profile/1/id/4130
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Abstract

We agree with Kline that a lack of unification is preventing progress in understanding the occurrence of teaching behaviour and the selective pressures influencing its presence. However, we feel that the proposed framework, which incorporates mentalistic and cultural approaches, continues to overlook cases of teaching in nonhuman animals. We advocate the comparative functionalist framework to identify the proximate causes of teaching behaviour in both humans and other animals.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 38 , 2015 , e59
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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