The imitation dilemma: can parrots maintain their vocal individuality when imitating conspecifics?

Behaviour ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 156 (5-8) ◽  
pp. 787-814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi M. Thomsen ◽  
Thorsten J.S. Balsby ◽  
Torben Dabelsteen
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Strong Basis ◽  
Vocal Individuality ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Vocal Imitation ◽  
Contact Calls ◽  
Individual Distinctiveness ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Many species of parrots live in fission–fusion social systems, characterised by frequent changes in flock composition. In these systems, the ability to selectively choose flock members is essential in order to maximise individual fitness. As a result, most species of parrots have individual distinctive contact calls that mediate the formation of groups during fission and fusion events. However, in vocal interactions during fission and fusion events, individuals will modify the fine-scale structure of their contact calls in a manner that sometimes will result in imitation of the contact calls of another individual, potentially altering or weakening the individual distinctiveness of contact calls. This presents parrots with an interesting dilemma. Here we present a study investigating the effect of vocal modification during interactions, including vocal imitation, on the individual distinctiveness and sex-specific differences of contact calls from ten captive bred peach-fronted conures (Eupsittula aurea). In order to determine if vocal individual- and sex distinctiveness persists in contact calls that are modified to that of another individual, we compared nine acoustic parameters from spontaneous (baseline) contact calls and contact calls emitted as response to a playback stimulus. Although modified, all acoustic parameters remained individually distinctive when the focal individuals interacted with the playback stimulus. These results provide a strong basis for discriminating between calls from different individuals across several social contexts, which could play an important role in mediating selective associations between individual peach-fronted conures during fission and fusion events.

¿Quién soy yo? Reflexiones teórico sistémicas acerca de la indentidad individual

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-31
Author(s):  
Francisco Xavier Morales
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Individual Identity ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Moral Communication ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual

The problem of identity is an issue of contemporary society that is not only expressed in daily life concerns but also in discourses of politics and social movements. Nevertheless, the I and the needs of self-fulfillment usually are taken for granted. This paper offers thoughts regarding individual identity based on Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory. From this perspective, identity is not observed as a thing or as a subject, but rather as a “selfillusion” of a system of consciousness, which differentiates itself from the world, event after event, in a contingent way. As concerns the definition  of contents of self-identity, the structures of social systems define who is a person, how he or she should act, and how much esteem he or she should receive. These structures are adopted by consciousness as its own identity structures; however, some social contexts are more relevant for self-identity construction than others. Moral communication increases the probability that structure appropriation takes place, since the emotional element of identity is linked to the esteem/misesteem received by the individual from the interactions in which he or she participates.

scholarly journals Frequency-modulated second elements of two-element alarm calls do not enhance discrimination of callers in three Eurasian ground squirrels

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 749-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irena Schneiderová
Keyword(s):  
Function Analysis ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Ground Squirrels ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Acoustic Parameters ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Limited Frequency ◽  
Spermophilus Citellus ◽  
Individual Distinctiveness ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Alarm calls of the European Spermophilus citellus (EGS), Taurus S. taurensis (TGS) and Anatolian S. xanthoprymnus (AGS) ground squirrels share the same basic structure. They are tonal sounds consisting primarily of two different elements. The first element, often produced without the second element, has limited frequency modulation, while the second element is more frequency modulated. The present study examined whether this frequency-modulated element enhances the individual distinc-tiveness of calls, allowing calls to be ascribed with greater confidence to individual callers of the three species. Cross-validated discriminant function analysis (DFA) based on five acoustic parameters of the first element successfully classified calls to correct individuals (EGS: 90%, TGS: 98%, AGS: 96%). Cross-validated DFA based on five acoustic parameters of the second element was also successful in classifications (EGS: 88%, TGS: 86%, AGS: 96%), though discrimination of callers based on parameters of the second versus first element was the same for the AGS, lower for the EGS and significantly lower for the TGS. Cross-validated DFA based on five acoustic parameters of two-element calls also successfully classified calls to correct individuals (EGS: 93%, TGS: 98%, AGS: 97%), though did not improve the extent to which calls could be classified to individuals beyond that based on the first element alone. Thus, the second element does not enhance the individual distinctiveness of calls, but may convey other information such as the location of the caller.

scholarly journals Vocal individuality of Holstein-Friesian cattle is maintained across putatively positive and negative farming contexts

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Green ◽  
Cameron Clark ◽  
Livio Favaro ◽  
Sabrina Lomax ◽  
David Reby
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Training Set ◽  
Vocal Individuality ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Holstein Friesian ◽  
Contact Calls ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Positive And Negative Valence ◽  
Individual Distinctiveness ◽  
Friesian Cattle

AbstractCattle mother-offspring contact calls encode individual-identity information; however, it is unknown whether cattle are able to maintain individuality when vocalising to familiar conspecifics over other positively and negatively valenced farming contexts. Accordingly, we recorded 333 high-frequency vocalisations from 13 Holstein-Friesian heifers during oestrus and anticipation of feed (putatively positive), as well as denied feed access and upon both physical and physical & visual isolation from conspecifics (putatively negative). We measured 21 source-related and nonlinear vocal parameters and stepwise discriminant function analyses (DFA) were performed. Calls were divided into positive (n = 170) and negative valence (n = 163) with each valence acting as a ‘training set’ to classify calls in the oppositely valenced ‘test set’. Furthermore, MANOVAs were conducted to determine which vocal parameters were implicated in individual distinctiveness. Within the putatively positive ‘training set’, the cross-validated DFA correctly classified 68.2% of the putatively positive calls and 52.1% of the putatively negative calls to the correct individual, respectively. Within the putatively negative ‘training set’, the cross-validated DFA correctly assigned 60.1% of putatively negative calls and 49.4% of putatively positive calls to the correct individual, respectively. All DFAs exceeded chance expectations indicating that vocal individuality of high-frequency calls is maintained across putatively positive and negative valence, with all vocal parameters except subharmonics responsible for this individual distinctiveness. This study shows that cattle vocal individuality of high-frequency calls is stable across different emotionally loaded farming contexts. Individual distinctiveness is likely to attract social support from conspecifics, and knowledge of these individuality cues could assist farmers in detecting individual cattle for welfare or production purposes.

Personality and Social Contexts as Sources of Change and Continuity Across the Life Span

2018 ◽  
pp. 750-776
Author(s):  
Abigail J. Stewart ◽  
Kay Deaux
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Movement Participation

This chapter provides a framework designed to address how individual persons respond to changes and continuities in social systems and historical circumstances at different life stages and in different generations. We include a focus on systematic differences among the people who experience these changes in the social environment—differences both in the particular situations they find themselves in and in their personalities. Using examples from research on divorce, immigration, social movement participation, and experiences of catastrophic events, we make a case for an integrated personality and social psychology that extends the analysis across time and works within socially and historically important contexts.

scholarly journals Individual behavioural traits not social context affects learning about novel objects in archerfish

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick A. R. Jones ◽  
Helen C. Spence-Jones ◽  
Mike Webster ◽  
Luke Rendell
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Behavioural Phenotype ◽  
Social Species ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Animals ◽  
Novel Objects ◽  
The Individual

Abstract Learning can enable rapid behavioural responses to changing conditions but can depend on the social context and behavioural phenotype of the individual. Learning rates have been linked to consistent individual differences in behavioural traits, especially in situations which require engaging with novelty, but the social environment can also play an important role. The presence of others can modulate the effects of individual behavioural traits and afford access to social information that can reduce the need for ‘risky’ asocial learning. Most studies of social effects on learning are focused on more social species; however, such factors can be important even for less-social animals, including non-grouping or facultatively social species which may still derive benefit from social conditions. Using archerfish, Toxotes chatareus, which exhibit high levels of intra-specific competition and do not show a strong preference for grouping, we explored the effect of social contexts on learning. Individually housed fish were assayed in an ‘open-field’ test and then trained to criterion in a task where fish learnt to shoot a novel cue for a food reward—with a conspecific neighbour visible either during training, outside of training or never (full, partial or no visible presence). Time to learn to shoot the novel cue differed across individuals but not across social context. This suggests that social context does not have a strong effect on learning in this non-obligatory social species; instead, it further highlights the importance that inter-individual variation in behavioural traits can have on learning. Significance statement Some individuals learn faster than others. Many factors can affect an animal’s learning rate—for example, its behavioural phenotype may make it more or less likely to engage with novel objects. The social environment can play a big role too—affecting learning directly and modifying the effects of an individual’s traits. Effects of social context on learning mostly come from highly social species, but recent research has focused on less-social animals. Archerfish display high intra-specific competition, and our study suggests that social context has no strong effect on their learning to shoot novel objects for rewards. Our results may have some relevance for social enrichment and welfare of this increasingly studied species, suggesting there are no negative effects of short- to medium-term isolation of this species—at least with regards to behavioural performance and learning tasks.

scholarly journals Time, the deer, is in the wood: Chronotopic identities, trajectories of texts and community self-management

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Bartlett
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Issues ◽  
Relevant Context ◽  
The Individual

AbstractThis paper opens with a problematisation of the notion of real-time in discourse analysis – dissected, as it is, as if time unfolded in a linear and regular procession at the speed of speech. To illustrate this point, the author combines Hasan’s concept of “relevant context” with Bakhtin’s notion of the chronotope to provide an analysis of Sorley MacLean’s poem Hallaig, with its deep-rootedness in space and its dissolution of time. The remainder of the paper is dedicated to following the poem’s metamorphoses and trajectory as it intertwines with Bartlett’s own life and family history, creating a layered simultaneity of meanings orienting to multiple semio-historic centres. In this way the author (pers. comm.) “sets out to illustrate in theory, text analysis and (self-)history the trajectories taken by texts as they cross through time and space; their interconnectedness with social systems at different scales; and the manner in which they are revoiced in order to enhance their legitimacy before the diverse audiences they encounter on their migratory paths.” In this process, Bartlett relates his own story to the socioeconomic concerns of the Hebridean island where his father was raised, and to dialogues between local communities and national and external policy-makers – so echoing Denzin’s call (2014. Interpretive Autoethnography (2nd Edition). Los Angeles: Sage: vii) to “develop a methodology that allows us examine how the private troubles of individuals are connected to public issues and to public responses to these troubles”. Bartlett presents his data through a range of legitimation strategies and voicing techniques, creating transgressive texts that question received notions of identity, authorship, legitimacy and authenticity in academia, the portals of power, and the routines of daily life. The current Abstract is one such example. As with the author’s closing caveat on the potential dangers of self-revelation, offered, no doubt, as a flimsy justification for the extensive focus in the paper on his own life as a chronotope, I leave it for the individual reader to decide if Bartlett’s approach is ultimately ludic or simply ludicrous.

Colorblind Racism: Identities, Ideologies, and Shifting Subjectivities

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 857-865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan A. Burke
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Colorblind Racism ◽  
Racial Dynamics ◽  
Colorblind Ideology

Sociologists have recently begun to recognize the need to more deeply examine the mechanisms of contemporary colorblind racism, to move beyond frame identification and glean new insights. This is important because as racial dynamics evolve, so will the ideologies and discourses that surround them. This article considers how we might be able to untangle ideology, racism, discourse, and the material realities of our wider social systems. It also introduces the themes in this Special Issue that parse ideals from ideologies, that consider individual subjectivities as they emerge in different social contexts, and that examine strategies for grappling with the realities of racism. This allows us to trace the connections between colorblind ideology and racism more broadly, giving us traction to potentially use this knowledge to sharpen our resistance to racism.

Canadian and American Religion Redux: Revisiting America’s Religious Exceptionalism and Persistence Compared to Canada

2021 ◽  
pp. 000842982110042
Author(s):  
Alastair Hay
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Religious Culture ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Sixties ◽  
Religious Lives ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Welfare State

Two core lines of argument presently define our understanding of why Christianity’s historical influence continues to persist in the lives of Americans to a degree not observed in Canada (despite the recent loss of religious affiliation in both countries). These are: 1) changes in the functional dominance of social systems (i.e. shifts to the welfare state in Canada) and 2) important foundational, cultural differences between Canada and America. Using a historiographic approach (coupled with quantitative research conducted in Canada and the US), this article argues that one less well-recognized factor also deserves our attention: Charles Taylor’s observation that American religious culture was primed for the Age of Authenticity. In this article I argue that Taylor was probably right. Over and above the well-established individualistic character of the religious lives of Americans is a related, but important, additional effect—the sanctioning of the ‘this-worldly’ potential of the individual life from within its religious institutions. It is this aspect of America’s religious exceptionalism, I argue, that has also helped to render the religious lives of Americans less vulnerable to – but not immune from – the watershed effects of the sixties compared to Christianity in Canada.

History and Systems of Critical Psychology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Teo
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Theory ◽  
Critical Psychology ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Strong Basis ◽  
Psychological Practice ◽  
The Status ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Many Sources ◽  
The Relationship

Critical psychology comprises a broad range of international approaches centered around theories and practices of critique, power, resistance, and alternatives of practice. Although critical psychology had an axial age in and around the 1970s, many sources can be found decades and even centuries earlier. Critical psychology is not only about the critique of psychology, which is a broader historical and theoretical field, but about doing justice in and through theory, justice with and to groups of people, and justice to the reality of society, history, and culture as they powerfully constitute subjectivity, as well as the discipline and profession of psychology. Doing justice in and through psychological theory has a strong basis in Western critical approaches, representing a privileged position of reflection in Euro-American research institutions. Critical psychologists argue that traditional psychology is missing its subject matter and hence is not doing justice in methodology, and its practices of control and adjustment are not doing justice to the emancipatory possibilities of human agency or human science. Critical psychologists who are attempting to do justice with and to human beings are not neglecting the onto-epistemic-ethical domain, but are instead focusing on people, often marginalized or oppressed groups. Critical psychologists who want to do justice in history, culture, and society have argued that traditional psychological practice means adaption and adjustment. This means that not only subjectivity, but also the discipline and profession of psychology need to be connected with contexts. Psychologists have attempted to conceptualize the relationship between society and the individual, as well as the ability of humans not only to adapt to an environment but to change their living conditions and transform the status quo. This conceptualization also means providing concrete analyses of how current society, based in neoliberal capitalism, not only impacts individuals but also the discipline of psychology. Despite the complexities of critical psychology around the world, critical psychologists emphasize the importance of reflexivity and praxis when it comes to changing the conditions of social reality that create mental life. Given that subjectivity cannot be limited to intra-psychological processes, critical psychologists attend to relational and structural societal realities, requiring inter- and transdisciplinarity in the discipline and profession.

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