Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Department
Office: 3815 Walnut St., room 101
My picture
Baboon research
Publications
In the Spring term of 1999 I'll be teaching Psychology 241, an undergraduate seminar in animal communication (M 10-1). This course is designed for students who have taken either the introductory lecture course in Animal Behavior (Psych 131/BBB 231/Bio 231) or Dr. Crawford's course, Brain Behavior and Evolution (Psych 133). The seminar will review recent research on vocal communication and its development among birds and mammals. Particular emphasis will be placed on the possible parallels between animal communication and human language.
During 1999-2000, I'll be co-teaching (with Prof. Cheney in Biology) the introductory lecture course in animal behavior (Psych 131/BBB 231/Bio 231) and a graduate proseminar in animal behavior.
Research focuses on the social behavior, vocal communication, and cognition of nonhuman primates in their natural habitat. Methods include observational sampling and playback experiments in which the calls of known individuals are played to subjects from a concealed loudspeaker and the subjects' behavior is filmed. Our goals are to clarify the differences between nonhuman primate communication and human language, and to explore the cognitive mechanisms that may underlie nonhuman primate social relationships. Species and research sites that are currently the focus of research by graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and me include baboons in the Okavango Delta, Botswana; red colobus and diana monkeys in the Tai Forest, Ivory Coast; spider monkeys in Mexico; and cebus monkeys in Costa Rica. Dorothy Cheney's and my earlier work on vervet monkeys was described in "How monkeys see the world" (1990, University of Chicago Press).
Cheney, D.L. & Seyfarth, R.M. 1990. How monkeys see the world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Seyfarth, R.M. & Cheney, D.L. 1992. Meaning and mind in monkeys. Scientific American 267, 122-129.
Cheney, D.L., Seyfarth, R.M. & Silk, J.B. 1995. The role of grunts in reconciling opponents and facilitating interactions among adult female baboons. Animal Behaviour 50, 249-257.
Zuberbuhler, K., Noe, R., & Seyfarth, R.M. (1997) Diana monkey long distance calls: Messages for conspecifics and predators. Animal Behaviour, 53: 589-604.
Palombit, R.A., Seyfarth, R.M., & Cheney, D.L. (1997) The adaptive value of "friendships" to female baboons: Experimental and observational evidence. Animal Behaviour 54: 599-614.
Cheney, D.L. & Seyfarth, R.M. (1997) Reconciliatory grunts by dominant female baboons influence victims' behavior. Animal Behaviour 54: 409-418.
Seyfarth, R.M. & Cheney, D.L. (1997) Behavioral mechanisms underlying vocal communication in nonhuman primates. Animal Learning and Behavior 25, 249-267.
Zuberbuhler, K., Cheney, D.L., & Seyfarth, R.M. (In press) Conceptual semantics in a nonhuman primate. Journal of Comparative Psychology.
Rendall, Drew, Seyfarth, R.M., Cheney, D.L., & Owren, M.J. (In press) Reference, context, and social identity affect call meaning and function in baboon grunts. Animal Behaviour.
