Primate Cognition [Paperback]

Michael Tomasello (Author), Josep Call (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 18, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0195106245 | ISBN-13: 978-0195106244 | Edition: 1

Soon after Charles Darwin formulated his theory of evolution, primate cognition became a major area of research. In this book, Michael Tomasello and Josep Call assess the current state of our knowledge about the cognitive skills of non-human primates. They integrate empirical findings on the topic from the beginning of the century to the present, placing this research in theoretical perspective. They begin with an examination of the way primates adapt to their physical world, mostly for the purpose of foraging. The second part of the book looks at primate social knowledge and focuses on the adaptations of primates to their social world for purposes of competition and cooperation. In the third section, the authors construct a general theory of primate cognition, distinguishing the cognition in primates from that of other mammals (human in particular). Their broad-ranging theory provides a guide for future research. Primate Cognition is an enlightening exploration of the cognitive capacities of our nearest primate relatives and a useful resource for a wide range of researchers and students in psychology, behavioral biology, primatology, and anthropology.

Editorial Reviews

Review

""Fin de si�cle primatology is an exuberant, contentious, and ambitious discipline. . . . Those who took classes in primatology as few as 5 to 10 years ago would not recognize many of the current issues, a short list of examples being sexual selection, phylogenetic weighting in comparative analyses, gut-brain tradeoffs in the evolution of energy and tissue allocation, and reciprocity and retribution. Primate Cognition is a superb example of this new, reinvigorated primatology. . . . Tomasello and Call accomplish a meticulous merging of primate behavior, recent insights from cognitive and developmental psychology on the multidimensionality of cognitive abilities, and a good understanding of primate evolution to critically analyze what is and is not yet known about cognition in nonhuman primates."--American Journal of Human Biology

"[The authors] divide the volume into fourteen chapters organized into three parts: Knowledge of the Physical World, Knowledge of the Social World, and A Theory of Primate Cognition, which summarizes their conclusions and briefly reviews human cognitive development. The book includes an introduction to the Order Primates (as well as an appendix on their taxonomy) and a brief history of studies of primate cognition."--The Quarterly Review of Biology

"This book is a careful and critical review of the existing literature on the cognitive capacities of primates and other mammals and, at the same time, is a launching platform for a very important theory on what is unique for primates with respect to other mammals and what is unique for human beings with respect to nonhuman primates. . . . What makes this book appealing to any kind of reader and extremely useful as an educational tool is the way in which the material is organized, critically described, and summarized in useful tables and summaries. . . . In addition, the book has 50 pages of references, an authors' index, a species index, and a subject index, as well as a multitude of figures and photographs . . . I strongly recommend this marvellous book to ethologists, animal psychologists, developmental psychologists, cognitive scientists, and anyone just interested in primates."--The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

About the Author

Michael Tomasello is at Emory University. Josep Call is at Emory University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (September 18, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195106245
• ISBN-13: 978-0195106244
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #704,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #85 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Animals > Apes & Monkeys
  • #98 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Zoology > Primatology

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best reference on (non-human) primate cognition research, June 26, 2001

By 

Mark Mills (Glen Rose, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Primate Cognition (Paperback)

This is a very technical work compared to the 'popular' talking apes literature. One the other hand, it is not as detailed as "Chimpanzee Politics : Power and Sex Among Apes" by Frans De Waal. The book comprehensively covers all non-human primate cognition research as of 1996. The authors do a masterful job of keeping their own opinions from dominating the text, allowing the hundreds individual studies to stand more-or-less on their own.

The book is organized along Piaget's outline of cognitive development. It is broken into 3 major sections: (1) knowledge of the physical world, (2) knowledge of the social world and (3) a theory of cognition. I found the first section the best researched and interesting. The last sections is underdeveloped, but represents the state of research. Overall, the book is expertly crafted.

A necessary reference for any serious about primate research.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is a great reference, January 22, 2002

By 

Tiger Buchman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Primate Cognition (Hardcover)

Read the other review. Other than telling the world how much I love this book, I don't have much more to add, except that this is a reference I actually use on a weekly basis.