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Co-operation and communication in apes and humans

Author

Summary, in English

We trace the difference between the ways in which apes and humans co–operate to differences in communicative abilities, claiming that the pressure for future–directed co–operation was a major force behind the evolution of language. Competitive co–operation concerns goals that are present in the environment and have stable values. It relies on either signalling or joint attention. Future–directed co–operation concerns new goals that lack fixed values. It requires symbolic communication and context–independent representations of means and goals. We analyse these ways of co–operating in game–theoretic terms and submit that the co–operative strategy of games that involve shared representations of future goals may provide new equilibrium solutions.

Publishing year

2003

Language

English

Pages

484-501

Publication/Series

Mind & Language

Volume

18

Issue

5

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Topic

  • General Language Studies and Linguistics
  • Learning

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0268-1064