Removing older members erodes socially transmitted knowledge that groups depend on

Evidence

Often the older exemplars have in their memory all the experience accumulated and their removal reduces the chance for a group to better survive without the use of this experience. For example, family groups of elephants are guided by old matriarchs that have the capacity to discriminate between several other families. The personal knowledge of the other individuals encountered during the year is important for social cohesion, territory delimitation, and social exchanges for all. Experiments conducted by McComb et al. (2001) on the vocal recognition of different individuals have verified this hypothesis. Families with older matriarchs were able to better discriminate familiar and unfamiliar females when experimentally submitted to the playback of different groups. — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology, 2222

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Trust substitutes knowledge of system structure for unavailable information about others.; A group’s social interconnectedness outweighs individual intelligence in producing innovation — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 694; Weak member identification with a cooperative erodes psychological ownership and invites degeneration. — Adrian Josef Amon, Organizing the study of degeneration…, 86 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Trust substitutes knowledge of system structure for unavailable information about others. #expands (0.75)
• Weak member identification with a cooperative erodes psychological ownership and invites degeneration. #corroborates (0.72) — Adrian Josef Amon, Organizing the study of degeneration…, 86
• A group’s social interconnectedness outweighs individual intelligence in producing innovation #corroborates (0.70) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 694