Evolutionary Changes in Canine Social Competence
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Review What does it take to become ‘best friends’? Evolutionary changes in canine social competence ´ 1,2 3 Ada´ m Miklo´ si and Jo´ zsef Topa´ l 1 Department of Ethology, Eo¨ tvo¨ s University, Budapest, Hungary 2 MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary 3 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary The traditional and relatively narrow-focused research offers an exciting possibility for comparative social cogni- on ape–human comparisons has recently been signifi- tion, there are heated debates in the literature and there is cantly extended by investigations of different clades of no scientific consensus on the validity of this approach. animals, including the domestic dog (Canis familiaris). Thus, in the light of diverging views on canine social Here, we provide a short overview of how the compar- cognition, it may be useful to develop functional theories ative investigation of canine social behaviour advances for systematising relevant research. our understanding of the evolution of social skills and We review the available evidence and focus on those key argue that a system-level approach to dog social cog- social traits in dogs that are characteristic features of the nition provides a broader view on the ‘human-likeness’ functionally human-like nature of dogs’ social competence. of canine social competence. We introduce the concept We will also provide a concise overview of the different of evolutionary social competence as a collateral notion theories that aim to explain the evolution of the canine of developmental social competence. We argue that mind and the role that domestication plays in the acquisi- such an extended perspective on social competence tion of socio-cognitive skills. provides a useful tool for conceptualising wolf–dog The comparative study of canine cognition offers a good differences in socio-cognitive functioning, as well as opportunity to introduce the term evolutionary social com- for considering specific social skills not in isolation, but petence (ESC – see Glossary). The advantage of this con- as a part of a system. cept is that it provides a basis for a system-level view on mental processes and helps to integrate behavioural func- The comparative investigation of canine social tions which until now have been studied in isolation. It also behaviour provides a useful concept for comparative investigations on The interest in comparative social cognition originates from the effects of proximate (developmental) and ultimate the quest to understand the evolution of human-specific (evolutionary) determinants of canine socio-cognitive abil- skills or to collect evidence more generally for those selec- ities in general and communication skills, in particular. tive factors that may promote changes in mental structures that control social functioning [1,2]. The traditional and The functionally ‘human-like’ traits of dogs relatively narrow-focused research on ape–human compar- Living in inter-specific groups with humans is one of the isons has been expanded by investigations of different unique features of dogs. Based on this fact, various authors clades of animals, including social insects [3], fishes [4], and birds [5]. In recent years, domestic dogs, ‘man’s best friends’, have also attracted increasing attention from Glossary researchers interested in comparative social cognition. Behavioural (phenotypic) plasticity: the potential capacity of a species to exhibit a range of (social) phenotypes in response to variations in the There has been a surge in both theoretical and experimen- environment. tal work, and the number of published papers has increased Developmental social competence (DSC): an individual’s ability to generate exponentially [6]. From a comparative perspective, dogs social skills that conform to the expectations of others and the social rules of the group. have become an interesting case, given increasing scientific Enculturation: the socialisation processes through which an individual agreement that their domestication can be considered as an acquires the social rules and behaviour patterns of a human-centred evolutionary process [7], during which wolf-like capabilities environment. Evolutionary social competence (ESC): an emergent property of interacting were specifically transformed by the challenges of living individuals that is manifested as a complex system of prosocial and coercive with humans. Although the idea that some of the crucial behaviour skills expressed by individuals of a species. components of human social skills can be found in dogs Set point: the set point of evolutionary social competence refers to a genetically determined default value of the system that determines the Corresponding author: Miklo´si, &. ([email protected]) tendency to react in a coercive–prosocial way in social interactions. Species-specific reaction norm: the degree of (social) behavioural plasticity of a 1364-6613/$ – see front matter species, which depends on its genetic endowment. ß 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2013.04.005 Trends in Cognitive Sciences, June 2013, Vol. 17, No. 6 287 Review Trends in Cognitive Sciences June 2013, Vol. 17, No. 6 (e.g., [8–10]) argue that it would be advantageous for dogs These results support the notion that ostensive addres- to display specific social skills for interaction with humans. sing, which can effectively form a ready-to-interact atti- It is often implicitly assumed that such social skills are tude in the dog, is an indispensable component of dog– functional matches of respective human traits, and thus human communicative interactions. are referred to as ‘human (infant)-like’ [8,11]. Indeed, Another characteristic feature of canine–human com- research has uncovered a wide range of general, as well municative interactions is related to the referential char- as more specific, social skills in dogs that seem to share acter of human cueing. That is, in communicative important functional and behavioural aspects with those interactions, humans often use signals with referential displayed by humans. A broader list of such traits is properties (e.g., pointing, gaze shifts, etc.). Ample evidence provided by Topa´l et al. [12]; here we focus on two illustra- suggests that, like young infants, dogs rely on human tive examples. directional signals that have potential referential signifi- There is evidence to suggest (e.g., [13,14]) that the cance [30,31]. They can utilise different forms of pointing relationship which develops between a dog and its owner gestures or gaze shifts to locate objects very flexibly [32], fulfils the behavioural criteria of attachment (e.g., tend to relate to pointing as directional instruction [33,34], approaching the caregiver in times of emotional distress, especially in a cooperative context [35], and are influenced using the caregiver as a secure base for exploration, etc.; by the directedness of some human emotional expressions see [15,16]). This is also supported by research showing [36]. Dogs are also willing to look at the human to obtain characteristic features of attachment toward human care- information about unfamiliar objects or events [18]. givers in dogs, whereas wolves lack a similar behaviour- In addition, dogs seem to react to the information- organising mechanism [17]. Advanced skills for attach- transferring nature of communicative contexts in a specific ment also ensures that dogs regard the human as a source manner: human ostensive–referential signals effectively of information [18], as well as protection and help [19]. activate a ‘ready-to-obey’ attitude in dogs [17,37] and, as a More importantly, attachment has a fundamental role consequence, dogs show an increased tendency to act in in the emergence of a complex system of inter-specific line with the perceived instruction, without necessarily communication, because it allows the development of so- comprehending the causal structure of the collaborative cially competent communicative interactions and synchro- interaction [38], even if the action is unusual or represents nised collaborative activities between dogs and humans. A a counter-productive solution to the problem [10,26]. characteristic feature of human communicative interaction From a functional perspective, human-like aspects of is that, in order to initialise and maintain communication, attachment and communication allow the dog to engage in signals are often used in a specific ostensive–referential complex and complementing collaborative interactions manner. Preverbal infants are able to profit from this with humans. However, despite the fairly general accep- highly interactive system (c.f. natural pedagogy [20]), be- tance of the ‘human-likeness’ concept in dogs [8,12,25], cause they show adequate responsiveness to the speaker’s several different hypotheses have been generated in order intention to communicate, as well as to those signals by to account for the evolutionary causes of the specificity of which the speaker can specify the referent about which canine social cognition and their behavioural and cognitive information exchange actually takes place [21]. manifestations. Although dogs very likely utilise a different cognitive architecture for processing human communication than Comparison of theories that explain the emergence of human beings, the shared, and ‘demanding’, social envi- ‘human-like’ social traits in dogs ronment of dogs and infants