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Thus, the more individuals can be recognized, the greater the number of
social contexts recognized which can potentially lead to different responses
and interpretations of communicated signals. If an animal can recognize group
members individually, then it opens up a large set of choices, choices of who
to join with, collaborate with, make friends with etc. The animal's situation is
then much different from that of an animal that perceives itself as a member
of a large anonymous group of (almost) identical group members. Living in
an individualized group poses great cognitive challenges and can enhance the
richness and diversity of social life in a group.
2.
Individuals can understand and predict at least part of the behavior of
other animals. Emotional information needs to be processed, in particular
they need to recognize and act on cues to other animals' emotional states.
A variety of behavioral and contextual clues are used to predict another ani-
mal's behavior. The human ape is possibly the most social animal of all pri-
mates, and shows highly complex social structures and organizations. Elabo-
rate mechanisms of social understanding, including sympathy and empathy
(discussed below), a rich body language and facial expressions which are used
to express internal states, moods etc. facilitate communication. Humans from
a certain age on also attribute mental states to others, they possess a
theory-of-
mind
(cf. (Leslie 1987), (Baron-Cohen 1995)) and can reason about beliefs, de-
sires, wishes and goals of others. The abilities of humans to get along with each
other, despite frequent violent encounters, is remarkable. Imagine one hundred
chimpanzees, unfamiliar with each other, crowded in a metro coach. Very soon
injuries, even deaths of animals are almost certain to occur. However, millions
of (human) commuters survive exactly the same scenario day after day. Surviv-
ing in large 'anonymous' groups of people is controlled in human society by a
number of norms and regulations. Thus, humans can not only understand and
predict individuals, they can apply the same mechanisms to a crowd (as a kind
of meta-organism).
3.
Individuals remember aspects of previous interactions with group mem-
bers and so form
dyadic, direct relationships
with them.
This involves remembering rank and past affiliations of group members. Even
personal histories (e.g. who helped or received help) might be remembered.
Cognitive processes of learning and memory make this possible.
4.
Individuals need to remember dyadic relationships in the whole group, i.e.
interactions other group members have with each other. This allows them
