Coordination in Human and Primate Groups

Coordination in Human and Primate Groups presents one of the first collections of the different approaches and methods used to assess coordination processes in groups. Written by psychologists and primatologists, the book represents a broad range of coord

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Margarete Boos Michaela Kolbe Peter M. Kappeler Thomas Ellwart l

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Editors

Coordination in Human and Primate Groups

Editors Prof. Dr. Margarete Boos Georg-Elias-Mu¨ller-Institute of Psychology Georg-August-University Go¨ttingen Goßlerstrasse 14 37075 Go¨ttingen Germany [email protected] Prof. Peter M. Kappeler Department of Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology German Primate Center Kellnerweg 6 37077 Go¨ttingen Germany [email protected]

Dr. Michaela Kolbe Department of Management Technology, and Economics Organisation, Work, Technology Group ETH Zu¨rich, Kreuzplatz 5, KPL G 14 8032 Zu¨rich, Switzerland [email protected] Prof. Dr. Thomas Ellwart University of Trier Department of Economic Psychology D-54286 Trier Germany [email protected]

ISBN 978-3-642-15354-9 e-ISBN 978-3-642-15355-6 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-15355-6 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover photo: Composition of Primates (upper photo) #Peter M. Kappeler and humans (lower photo) #Rainer Sturm / Pixelio (www.pixelio.de) Cover design: deblik, Berlin Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

Preface

All members of our species are faced with cooperative decision making and group coordination on a daily basis. By definition, group coordination involves the coordination and reconciliation of potentially conflicting interests of individuals within a group to produce a joint solution. It is therefore cumbersome, timeconsuming, and politically problematic. As psychologists, we are learning from cooperative projects with our primatologist colleagues (such as this book) that this weighing of the costs and benefits of group coordination defines the very causal roots of primate group living. Primatological studies reveal that cooperation and coordination are also involved in daily decisions of non-human primate groups, providing an important comparative perspective that is leading to a better understanding of general patterns and mechanisms of group coordination as well as aspects that are unique to humans. We therefore invite everyone faced with decision making and the challenges that group coordination

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