Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis Ashley Allen Marisa Molina Herrman, E., Call, J. Hernandez-Lloreda, M.V., Hare, B., Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis. Science, 317,

Video Clip Herrman, E., Call, J. Hernandez-Lloreda, M.V., Hare, B., Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis. Science, 317,

Introduction Herrman, E., Call, J. Hernandez-Lloreda, M.V., Hare, B., Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis. Science, 317, How and why have humans evolved such large brains? ~ The General Intelligence Hypothesis With large brains humans can do numerous cognitive tasks better than other species. ~ The Ecological Intelligence Hypothesis It is the environment that humans lived in that made their cognitive abilities evolve. ~ The Social Intelligence Hypothesis With a complex social life primate cognition had to evolve. ~ The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis Young children who have not be formally educated should have the same physical cognition as apes, but their skills of social cognition should be distinctly human.

Methods Herrman, E., Call, J. Hernandez-Lloreda, M.V., Hare, B., Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis. Science, 317, Participants human children (52 males & 53 females; 2.5 years old) chimpanzees (53 males & 53 females; 10 years old) orangutans (17 males & 15 females; 6 years old) Procedure - The Primate Cognition Test Battery (PCTB)- Measured physical and social cognition levels of all participants. -6 scales made up the two domains in the measure *Domain: Physical 1 st Scale- Space, 2 nd Scale- Quantities, 3 rd Scale- Causality *Domain: Social 1 st Scale- Social Learning, 2 nd Scale- Communication, 3 rd Scale- Theory of Mind

Results Herrman, E., Call, J. Hernandez-Lloreda, M.V., Hare, B., Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis. Science, 317, Physical Domain The human children and chimpanzees had around the same proportion of correct responses while the orangutans had slightly lower scores. Social Domain The human children participants performed better than the chimpanzee and the orangutan participants, and again the orangutans performed the worst.

Adapted from Herrmann et. al, 2007, p.1362 Herrman, E., Call, J. Hernandez-Lloreda, M.V., Hare, B., Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis. Science, 317,

Discussion Herrman, E., Call, J. Hernandez-Lloreda, M.V., Hare, B., Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis. Science, 317, *The study supported the cultural intelligence hypothesis which states that human beings have evolved some distinct social- cognitive skills for surviving and communicating in cultural groups. *Herrman et al. stated that some researchers may critique the study’s approach to measuring social cognition in both primates and humans. * The PCTB can be used in future research to identify the evolution of cognitive skills across all primate species.

Critical Review Herrman, E., Call, J. Hernandez-Lloreda, M.V., Hare, B., Tomasello, M. (2007). Humans Have Evolved Specialized Skills of Social Cognition: The Cultural Intelligence Hypothesis. Science, 317, Pros: * The same experimenter tested the participants throughout the entire study. * All subjects were not informed about the tests from the test battery. * Other constructs that might have an influence on the results in the study were controlled. Cons: * There were less orangutan participants in the study compared to both the human and chimpanzee participants. * The testing time frame was not kept consistent throughout the study for all participants. * Since the design of the experiment was created by humans the human children participants had a better chance of succeeding in the tasks.

Test Questions Multiple Choice: 1)The participants in the study consisted of: a) humans, chimps, and bonobos b) humans, chimps, and orangutans c) chimps, bonobos, and orangutans d) gorillas, orangutans, and humans 2) Which scale was not apart of the physical cognition domain? a) space b) quantities c) social learning d) causality 3) What did the Primate Cognition Test Battery (PCTB) measure? a) social cognition b) physical cognition c) both a and b d) none of the above True or False: 4) (T/F) There was only one experimenter present in the study. 5) (T/F) The cultural intelligence hypothesis is an extension from the primate social intelligence hypothesis. 6) (T/F) The orangutans performed better than the chimpanzees in the physical cognition domain.