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, 1360-1366.
Video Clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHWXYeElJWU
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, 1360-1366.
Introduction
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.
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, 1360-1366.
Methods
Participants
1. 105 human children (52 males & 53 females; 2.5 years old)
2. 106 chimpanzees (53 males & 53 females; 10 years old)
3. 32 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
1st Scale- Space, 2nd Scale- Quantities, 3rd Scale- Causality
*Domain: Social
1st Scale- Social Learning, 2nd Scale- Communication, 3rd Scale- Theory
of Mind
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, 1360-1366.
Results
Physical Domain
The human children and chimpanzees had around
the same proportion of correct responses while
the orangutans had slightly lower scores.
Social Domain
orangutan
orangutans
The human children participants performed
better than the chimpanzee and the
participants, and again the
performed the worst.
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, 1360-1366.
Adapted from Herrmann et. al, 2007, p.1362
0.8
0.7
0.74
0.68 0.68
0.59
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.36 0.33
0.3
Human
Chimpanzee
Orangutan
0.2
0.1
0
Physical
Social
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, 1360-1366.
Discussion
*The study supported the cultural intelligence hypothesis which
states that human beings have evolved some distinct socialcognitive 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.
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, 1360-1366.
Critical Review
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.
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, 1360-1366.
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.