Self
and Others in Nonhuman Primates: A Question of Perspective
J. R. Anderson |
There
is robust evidence to suggest that unlike great apes, monkeys never
arrive at the realization that the source of their reflection in
a mirror is their own body. This failure to achieve self-recognition
may be due to a lack of a sufficiently integrated concept of self
in monkeys. The failure of monkeys to show self-recognition is a
persistent finding in spite of many experimental manipulations aimed
at enhancing their understanding of reflections. There is no obvious
relationship between self-recognition ability and the capacity for
tool-use; great apes and capuchin monkeys are both competent tool-users
but only the former show self-recognition. Recently, evidence has
been accumulating for a great ape - monkey divide in another fundamental
sociocognitive ability, namely visual perspective-taking. Perspective-taking
may be intimately related to self-recognition. Key words: self-recognition, perspective-taking, tool-use, monkeys, apes |