What does it take to become ‘best friends’? Evolutionary changes in canine social competence

The traditional and relatively narrow-focused research on ape–human comparisons has recently been significantly extended by investigations of different clades of animals, including the domestic dog ( Canis familiaris ). Here, we provide a short overview of how the comparative investigation of canine...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in cognitive sciences 2013-06, Vol.17 (6), p.287-294
Main Authors: MIKLOSI, Adám, TOPAL, József
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal ethology
Animals
Behavior, Animal
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
Decision Making
Dogs
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Mammalia
Mental Competency - psychology
Neurology
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Social Behavior
Vertebrata
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Summary:The traditional and relatively narrow-focused research on ape–human comparisons has recently been significantly extended by investigations of different clades of animals, including the domestic dog ( Canis familiaris ). Here, we provide a short overview of how the comparative investigation of canine social behaviour advances our understanding of the evolution of social skills and argue that a system-level approach to dog social cognition provides a broader view on the ‘human-likeness’ of canine social competence. We introduce the concept of evolutionary social competence as a collateral notion of developmental social competence. We argue that such an extended perspective on social competence provides a useful tool for conceptualising wolf–dog differences in socio-cognitive functioning, as well as for considering specific social skills not in isolation, but as a part of a system.
ISSN:1364-6613
1879-307X
DOI:10.1016/j.tics.2013.04.005