Cultural transmission in animals

Animal culture involves the current theory of cultural learning in non-human animals, through socially transmitted behaviors. The question as to the existence of culture in non-human societies has been a contentious subject for decades, largely due to the lack of a concise definition for the word 'culture'. However, many leading scientists agree on seeing culture as a process, rather than an end product. This process, most agree, involves the social transmittance of novel behaviour, both among peers and between generations. Such behaviour can be shared by a group of animals, but not necessarily between separate groups of the same species.'We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. 'Mimeme' comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like 'gene'. I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme.' (Dawkins) Animal culture involves the current theory of cultural learning in non-human animals, through socially transmitted behaviors. The question as to the existence of culture in non-human societies has been a contentious subject for decades, largely due to the lack of a concise definition for the word 'culture'. However, many leading scientists agree on seeing culture as a process, rather than an end product. This process, most agree, involves the social transmittance of novel behaviour, both among peers and between generations. Such behaviour can be shared by a group of animals, but not necessarily between separate groups of the same species. The notion of culture in animals dates back to Aristotle in classical antiquity, and more recently to Charles Darwin, but the association of animals' actions with the actual word 'culture' first originated with Japanese primatologists' discoveries of socially-transmitted food behaviours in the 1940s. Culture can be defined as 'all group-typical behavior patterns, shared by members of animal communities, that are to some degree reliant on socially learned and transmitted information'. One definition of culture, particularly in relation to the organizational aspect is the utilization of 'involvement, consistency, adaptation, and mission.' Cultural traits that are indicators of a successful form of organization are more likely to be assimilated into our everyday lives. Organizations that utilize the four aforementioned aspects of culture are the ones that are the most successful. Therefore, cultures that are better able to involve their citizens towards a common goal have a much higher rate of effectiveness than those who do not have a shared goal. A further definition of culture is, 'ocially transmitted behavior patterns that serve to relate human communities to their ecological settings.' This definition connects cultural behavior to the environment. Since culture is a form of adaptation to ones environment, it is mirrored in many aspects of our current and past societies. Other researchers are currently exploring the idea that there is a connection between cultural sociology and psychology. Certain individuals are especially concerned with the analysis of studies connecting 'identity, collective memory, social classification, logics of action, and framing.' Views of what exactly culture is has been changing due to the recent convergence of sociological and psychological thought on the subject. 'Recent work depicts culture as fragmented across groups and inconsistent across its manifestations. The view of culture as values that diffuse other aspects of belief, intention, and collective life has succumbed to one of culture as complex rule-like structures that constitute resources that can be put to strategic use.' Culture is specific to region and not just one umbrella definition or concept can truly give us the essence of what culture is. Also referenced is the importance of symbols and rituals as cognitive building blocks for a psychological concept of shared culture. Richard Dawkins argues for the existence of a 'unit of cultural transmission' called a meme. This concept of memes has become much more accepted as more extensive research has been done into cultural behaviors. Much as one can inherit genes from each parent, it is suggested that individuals acquire memes through imitating what they observe around them. The more relevant actions (actions that increase ones probability of survival), such as architecture and craftwork are more likely to become prevalent, enabling a culture to form. The idea of memes as following a form of Natural Selection was first presented by Daniel Dennett. It has also been argued by Dennett that memes are responsible for the entirety of human consciousness. He claims that everything that constitutes humanity, such as language and music is a result of memes and the unflinching hold they have on our thought processes. A closely related concept to memes is the idea of evolutionary culture. The validity of the concept of evolutionary culture has been increasing recently due to the re-evaluation of the term by anthropologists. The broadening scope of evolution from simple genes to more abstract concepts, such as designs and behaviors makes the idea of evolutionary culture more plausible. Evolutionary culture theory is defined as 'a theory of cultural phylogeny.' The idea that all human culture evolved from one main culture has been presented, citing the interconnectedness of languages as one of his examples has also been presented. There is, however, also the possibility for disparate ancestral cultures, in that the cultures we see today may potentially have stemmed from more than one original culture. According to the Webster's dictionary definition of culture, learning and transmission are the two main components of culture, specifically referencing tool making and the ability to acquire behaviors that will enhance one's quality of life. Using this definition it is possible to conclude that animals are just as likely to adapt to cultural behaviors as humans. One of the first signs of culture in early humans was the utilization of tools. Chimpanzees have been observed using tools such as rocks and sticks to obtain better access to food. There are other learned activities that have been exhibited by animals as well. Some examples of these activities that have been shown by varied animals are opening oysters, swimming, washing of food, and unsealing tin lids. This acquisition and sharing of behaviors correlates directly to the existence of memes. It especially reinforces the natural selection component, seeing as these actions employed by animals are all mechanisms for making their lives easier, and therefore longer. Though the idea of 'culture' in animals has only been around for just over half of a century, scientists have been noting social behaviors of animals for centuries. Aristotle was the first to provide evidence of social learning in the songs of birds. Charles Darwin first attempted to find the existence of imitation in animals when attempting to prove his theory that the human mind had evolved from that of lower beings. Darwin was also the first to suggest what became known as social learning in attempting to explain the transmission of an adaptive pattern of behavior through a population of honey bees.