Journal
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 7, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01147
Keywords
information; sociality; experimental design; social cognition; social network; social competency
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Funding
- University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Studies (USIAS)
- Brazilian Ministry of Education (CAPES)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
- Kyoto University Step-Up Fund
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [16H06181] Funding Source: KAKEN
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The capacity to use information provided by others to guide behavior is a widespread phenomenon in animal societies. A standard paradigm to test if and/or how animals use and transfer social information is through social diffusion experiments, by which researchers observe how information spreads within a group, sometimes by seeding new behavior in the population. In this article, we review the context, methodology and products of such social diffusion experiments. Our major focus is the transmission of information from an individual (or group thereof) to another, and the factors that can enhance or, more interestingly, inhibit it. We therefore also discuss reasons why social transmission sometimes does not occur despite being expected to. We span a full range of mechanisms and processes, from the nature of social information itself and the cognitive abilities of various species, to the idea of social competency and the constraints imposed by the social networks in which animals are embedded. We ultimately aim at a broad reflection on practical and theoretical issues arising when studying how social information spreads within animal groups.
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