Research areas
Recent and current research interests focus on social learning, traditions and culture. To elucidate the evolution of these phenomena I study and compare human and non-human primates, especially our closest living relatives, chimpanzees. Studies include both large scale surveys of behaviour in the wild and behavioural experiments with children and non-human primates. The latter studies include the first ones that track the diffusion of behavioural techniques experimentally introduced into existing groups. Development of social learning capacities is studied in children and juvenile non-human primates.
Selected publications
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Open access
The pervasive role of social learning in primate lifetime development
Whiten, A. & van de Waal, E., May 2018, In: Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 72, 16 p., 80.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
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Open access
A second inheritance system: the extension of biology through culture
Whiten, A., 6 Oct 2017, In: Interface Focus. 7, 5, 16 p., 20160142.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Social learning and culture in child and chimpanzee
Whiten, A., Jan 2017, In: Annual Review of Psychology . 68, p. 129-154 28 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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Open access
Social learning, culture and the ‘socio-cultural brain’ of human and non-human primates
Whiten, A. & van de Waal, E., Nov 2017, In: Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 82, p. 58-75Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
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Open access
Culture extends the scope of evolutionary biology in the great apes
Whiten, A., 25 Jul 2017, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 114, 30, p. 7790-7797 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
The extension of biology through culture
Whiten, A., Ayala, F., Feldman, M. W. & Laland, K. N., 25 Jul 2017, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 114, 30, p. 7775-7781 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Innovation and social transmission in experimental micro-societies: exploring the scope of cumulative culture in young children
McGuigan, N., Burdett, E., Burgess, V., Dean, L., Lucas, A., Vale, G. & Whiten, A., 5 Dec 2017, In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B, Biological Sciences. 372, 1735, 14 p., 20160425.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Acquisition of a socially learned tool use sequence in chimpanzees: implications for cumulative culture
Vale, G. L., Davis, S. J., Lambeth, S. P., Schapiro, S. J. & Whiten, A., Sept 2017, In: Evolution and Human Behavior. 38, 5, p. 635-644 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Open access
Chimpanzees copy dominant and knowledgeable individuals: implications for cultural diversity
Kendal, R., Hopper, L. M., Whiten, A., Brosnan, S. F., Lambeth, S. P., Schapiro, S. J. & Hoppitt, W., Jan 2015, In: Evolution and Human Behavior. 36, 1, p. 65-72 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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The comparative psychology of social learning
Galef Jr, B. G. & Whiten, A., 2017, APA Handbook of Comparative Psychology. Call, J. (ed.). Washington DC: American Psychological Association Inc., p. 411-440Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter