Why Study Social Learning?
2. A Brief History of Social Learning Research
Social Learning Mechanisms
The Diffusion of Innovations
3. Methods for Studying Social Learning in the Laboratory
Traditional Social Learning Studies
Alternative Experimental Approaches
Transmission chain studies
The Biological Bases of Social Learning
Neuroendocrinological studies
Neural mechanisms of observational learning
4. Social Learning Mechanisms
A Classification of Social Learning Mechanisms
Observational conditioning
Observational R-S learning
Distinguishing Social Learning Mechanisms
Observational conditioning
Observational R-S learning
A Pragmatic Approach to Characterizing Mechanisms of Social Transmission
5. Statistical Methods for Diffusion Data
Network-Based Diffusion Analysis (NBDA)
Inclusion of individual-level variables
Model selection and inference
Modeling multiple diffusions
Choosing a social network
"Untransmitted" social effects
Spatial Spread of a Behavioral Trait
Other approaches for spatial data
6. Repertoire-Based Methods for Detecting and Quantifying Social Transmission
The Group-Contrasts Approach
Basic and advanced methods of exclusion
Methods for assessing the genetic hypothesis
Methods for assessing the ecological hypothesis
Further problems with the method of exclusion
A matrix regression approach
A return to group comparisons
A Causal Modeling Framework
Relationship to the matrix regression approach
Ruling out unknown ecological variables
Relationship to the method of exclusion
7. Developmental Methods for Studying Social Learning
Describing the developmental process
Modeling probability of acquisition
Modeling time of acquisition
Modeling proficiency of trait performance
Limitations of observational data
Experimental Manipulations
Manipulation of social experience
8. Social Learning Strategies
Why Social Learning Is Strategic
Copy when established behavior is unproductive
Copy when asocial learning is costly
Copy when prior information is outdated
Is copying a first or last resort?
Frequency-dependent biases
Statistical Methods for Detecting Social Learning Strategies
Meta-strategies, Best Strategies, and Hierarchical Control
9. Modeling Social Learning and Culture
Operationalizing the culture concept
Parallels between biological and cultural evolution
Theoretical Approaches to Social Learning and Cultural Evolution
Population-genetic style models of cultural evolution
Population-genetic style models of gene-culture coevolution
Neutral models and random copying
Spatially explicit models
Reaction-diffusion models
