Table Of ContentContributors
Robert Β. Cairns
Joseph B. Couch
Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt
Roger S. Fouts
John L. Fuller
Benson E. Cinsburg
Martin E. Hahn
Peter H. Klopfer
Thomas K. Pitcairn
J. P. Scott
Edward C Simmel
COMMUNICATIVE
BEHAVIOR
AND EVOLUTION
EDITED BY
MARTIN E. HAHN
William Paterson College
Wayne, New Jersey
EDWARD C. SIMMEL
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio
ACADEMIC PRESS New York San Francisco London 1976
A Subsidiary of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers
COPYRIGHT © 1976, BY ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED OR
TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, ELECTRONIC
OR MECHANICAL, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPY, RECORDING, OR ANY
INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL SYSTEM, WITHOUT
PERMISSION IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER.
ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
Ill Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10003
United Kingdom Edition published by
ACADEMIC PRESS, INC. (LONDON) LTD.
24/28 Oval Road, London NW1
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Communicative behavior and evolution.
Based on papers presented at the Symposium on the
Evolution of Communicative Behavior held at William
Paterson College in Nov. 1974.
Includes bibliographies and indexes.
1. Interpersonal communication-Congresses.
2. Psychology, Comparative-Congresses. 3. Genetic
psychology-Congresses. I. Hahn, Martin E.
II. Simmel, Edward C. III. Symposium on the
Evolution of Communicative Behavior, William Paterson
College, 1974. [DNLM: 1. Communication-Congresses.
2. Social behavior-Congresses. HM258 S989c 1974]
BF637.C45C65 153 75-19644
ISBN 0-12-314350-0
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Numbers in parentheses indicate the pages on which the authors' contributions begin.
Robert B. Cairns (115), Department of Psychology, University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Joseph B. Couch (141), Institute for Primate Studies and Department
of Psychology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt (81), Arbeitsgruppe für Humanethologie am
Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie, Starnberg, West
Germany
Roger S. Fouts (141), Institute for Primate Studies and Department of
Psychology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
ix
χ List of Contributors
John L Fuller (23), Department of Psychology, State University of
New York, Binghamton, New York
Benson E. Cinsburg (59), Behavioral Genetics Laboratory and Depart-
ment of Biobehavioral Sciences, University of Connecticut,
Storrs, Connecticut
Martin E. Hahn (1, 163), Department of Biology, William Paterson
College, Wayne, New Jersey
Peter H. Klopfer (7), Department of Zoology, Duke University,
Durham, North Carolina
Thomas K. Pitcairn (81), Arbeitsgruppe für Humanethologie, Am
Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie, Starnberg, West
Germany
). P. Scott (39), Center for Research on Social Behavior, Bowling
Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio
Edward C. Simmel (1, 163), Behavior Genetics Laboratory and
Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio
PREFACE
The contributors to this volume represent a number of scientific
disciplines (zoology, ethology, behavior genetics, comparative psy-
chology, and developmental psychology); they work from a variety of
theoretical viewpoints, employing diverse research strategies and
using many different species as the subjects of choice. Nevertheless,
we think that the chapters taken together present a cohesive
whole—that the variety of backgrounds and viewpoints serve to
minimize redundancy, and to present as true a picture as possible of
the nature and implications of this area of investigation at this time.
To this end, we hope that the following brief summary of the
xi
xii Preface
chapters to be found in this volume will prove of interest to potential
readers.
Klopfer provides the "keynote" chapter, presenting a critical
analysis of past and current attempts to deal with the evolution of
behavior in general, and of communication and human language in
particular.
Fuller specifically introduces what proved to be a major theme of
several of the chapters, the behavior-genetic approach. He summa-
rizes many data on communicative behavior taken from a wide
variety of species, followed by a succinct view of the problems and
opportunties to be found in applying behavior-genetic analyses to
determine the sources of intraspecific differences in communication.
Scott carries forward the behavior-genetic theme, providing an
original systems approach to genetic and selection mechanisms, then
showing how this approach applies to communicative behavior
through his current research on dogs.
Ginsburg, while also relating to the behavior-genetic theme
previously mentioned, emphasizes the importance of communica-
tion in establishing social roles and social organization, supported by
original data from his canine research program (dogs, wolves, and
coyotes). One of the unique features of this research is the
investigation of interspecific communication.
Pitcairn and Eibl-Eibesfeldt discuss communication from the
perspective of modern ethology, emphasizing behavioral commonal-
ities within a species and providing an interesting contrast with
several of the chapters that precede and follow. Most readers will not
be surprised by the well-illustrated experiments, but some might be
surprised by the species used.
Cairns' approach contrasts directly with the one immediately
preceding it. Supported by findings from many sources, including his
own data from inbred mice and human infants, he emphasizes the
importance that the ontogeny of social interactions has for a
theoretical formulation of the evolution of communicative behavior.
Important implications of this approach for research strategy are also
discussed.
Fouts and Couch present their latest, and perhaps most startling
findings on a different sort of interspecific communication: learned
Preface xiii
language in chimpanzees, together with a review of the work Fouts
began with the Gardners. We placed this chapter last partly because
we hoped that the reader might leave this book with a question:
"What is human communication?"
Although this volume had its origins in the Symposium on the
Evolution of Communicative Behavior held at William Paterson
College in November, 1974, it is not a transcription of those
proceedings, but rather must be considered an outcome of them.
Each contributor prepared his chapter following the symposium so
that he could take into account the other presentations, as well as
the formal and informal discussions.
While held on a New Jersey campus, the symposium is consid-
ered the third in the series, Miami University Symposium on Social
Behavior, and bears a strong resemblance in organization and
conceptualization to its two predecessors and to the volumes which
were their outcomes: Social Facilitation and Imitative Behavior
(edited by E. C. Simmel, R. A. Hoppe, and G. A. Milton, and published
by Ally η & Bacon in 1968); and Early Experiences and the Processes of
Socialization (edited by R. A. Hoppe, G. A. Milton, and E. C. Simmel,
and published by Academic Press in 1970).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Preparation of the manuscript for this book was made possible
by support from the College of Arts and Science of Miami University.
We are indebted to its dean, C. K. Williamson, for his support and
encouragement. And, of course, this book would not have appeared
so promptly without the expert services of our manuscript typist,
Mrs. Betty Marak; our indexer, Sonja Haber; and the excellent work
of the editorial and production staffs of Academic Press.
The symposium itself was sponsored by two units of William
Paterson College: the Student Government Association and the
College of Arts and Science and the dean of the latter, jay Ludwig.
We gratefully acknowledge this support.
XV
xvi Acknowledgments
The symposium could not have been as successful and enjoyable
as it was without the help of Dean Alvin Shinn and Ms. Dorina
Frizzerà, and of a number of students who gave freely of their time:
Charlene Buser, Denise Degethoff, Judy Grapes, Herb Hanson, Diane
Hughes, Manny Lamprou, John McGraw and Marie Vitale. Miami
graduate students John Wright, Greg Harshfield, and Sonja Haber
also provided invaluable assistance, as did Karen Glovinsky.
We are also most grateful to Marilyn and Lynn who helped in
many ways.
Edward C. Simmel
Martin E. Hahn
