The maintenance of traditions in marmosets: individual habit, not social conformity? A field experiment.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Social conformity is a cornerstone of human culture because it accelerates and maintains the spread of behaviour within a group. Few empirical studies have investigated the role of social conformity in the maintenance of traditions despite an increasing body of literature on the formation of behavioural patterns in non-human animals. The current report presents a field experiment with free-ranging marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) which investigated whether social conformity is necessary for the maintenance of behavioural patterns within groups or whether individual effects such as habit formation would suffice.

Methods

Using a two-action apparatus, we established alternative behavioural patterns in six family groups composed of 36 individuals. These groups experienc

SUBMITTER: Pesendorfer MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2636861 | biostudies-literature | 2009

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature