Andrew Whiten

{{Short description|British zoologist and psychologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix = | name = Andrew Whiten | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FBA|FSB|FBPsS|FRSE|size=100%}} | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = David Andrew Whiten  | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1948}} | birth_place = Grimsby, England | death_date =  | death_place = | period = | occupation = | title = Professor of Evolutionary and Developmental Psychology; Professor [[Henry Wardlaw|Wardlaw]] [[Emeritus]] at [[University of St Andrews]] in Scotland | boards =  | known_for = research in [[social cognition]] | spouse = | children = | era = | discipline = [[Psychology]] | sub_discipline = {{Ubl | [[Evolutionary psychology]] | [[Developmental psychology]] }} | movement =  | religion =  | denomination =  | education = | alma_mater = {{Ubl | [[University of Sheffield]]: [[Zoology]] | [[University of Bristol]]: [[PhD]] in Psychology }} | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | doctoral_students = | notable_students =  | main_interests = evolution of social cognition in human and non-human primates | workplaces = [[University of St Andrews]] | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influences =  | influenced =  | awards = {{Ubl | 2001 Delwart International Scientific Prize | 2007 Rivers Memorial Medal | 2007 Osman Hill Medal | 2014 Sir James Black Medal | 2015 Senior Prize and Medal for Public Engagement }} | website = {{URL|risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/andrew-whiten(00983056-5f70-4a76-ad39-5820ce066bf3).html|Andrew Whiten}} | footnotes = }} '''David Andrew Whiten''', known as '''Andrew Whiten''' (born 1948), is a British [[zoologist]] and psychologist, Professor of Evolutionary and Developmental Psychology, and Professor [[Henry Wardlaw|Wardlaw]] [[Emeritus]] at [[University of St Andrews]] in Scotland.<ref name="BA">[https://www.britac.ac.uk/users/professor-andrew-whiten Professor Andrew Whiten]. britac.ac.uk</ref><ref name="award">[https://synergy.st-andrews.ac.uk/solace/2015/04/17/professor-andrew-whiten-has-been-awarded-the-royal-society-of-edinburghs-senior-prize-and-medal-for-public-engagement/ ''Professor Andrew Whiten has been awarded the Royal Society of Edinburgh's Senior Prize and Medal for Public Engagement''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170408171458/https://synergy.st-andrews.ac.uk/solace/2015/04/17/professor-andrew-whiten-has-been-awarded-the-royal-society-of-edinburghs-senior-prize-and-medal-for-public-engagement/ |date=8 April 2017 }}. st-andrews.ac.uk, April 17, 2015</ref> He is known for his research in [[social cognition]], specifically on [[social learning theory|social learning]], [[tradition]] and the evolution of [[culture]], social [[Machiavellian intelligence]], [[autism]] and [[imitation]], as well as the behavioral ecology of [[sociality]].<ref name="Primate Eye">[http://www.psgb.org/PrimateEyePDF/2010%20Vol%20102.pdf ''Professor Andrew Whiten: Osman Hill Memorial Lecturer, 2010''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507085639/http://www.psgb.org/PrimateEyePDF/2010%20Vol%20102.pdf |date=7 May 2018 }}. In: Primate Eye. Primate Society of Great Britain. No. 102. October 2010. p. 3-4</ref> In 1996, Whiten and his colleagues invented an artificial fruit that allowed them to study learning in apes and humans.<ref>A. Whiten et al.: ''Imitative learning of artificial fruit processing in children (Homo sapiens) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes),'' 1996. In: Journal of comparative psychology 110 (1), 3. {{doi|10.1037/0735-7036.110.1.3}}</ref><ref>[[Ludwig Huber (biologist)|Ludwig Huber]]: [http://behav.zoology.unibe.ch/sysuif/uploads/files/esh/pdf_online/taborskym/Huber_AnimBeh2001.pdf ''Social learning affects object exploration and manipulation in keas, Nestor notabilis'']. In: Animal Behaviour, 2001, 62, 945–954 {{doi|10.1006/anbe.2001.1822}}</ref>

==Personal life and education== Whiten was born in 1948 in [[Grimsby]], [[England]].<ref>Bruce Gilchrist: ''The descendants of Charles Gilchrist and Catherine Robinson: married in Boston, Lincolnshire, 1798''. Gateway Press, 2004</ref> He graduated with a degree in [[zoology]] from the [[University of Sheffield]] and achieved a [[PhD]] in [[Psychology]] at the [[University of Bristol]].<ref name="Primate Eye"/>

==Career== Whiten started reading and lecturing at the [[University of St Andrews]] in 1970, joined the Department of Psychology in St Andrews in 1975, and became professor of [[Evolutionary psychology|evolutionary]] and [[developmental psychology]] in 1997.<ref name="BA"/><ref name="Primate Eye"/> Whiten was co-founder of the [[Scottish Primate Research Group]].<ref name="Primate Eye"/> In 2003, he founded the Centre for Social Learning and Cultural Evolution at the University of St Andrews.<ref name="BA"/> He was the founder and first director of the primate research centre Living Links to Human Evolution (short: ''Living Links'') that opened 2008 in [[Edinburgh Zoo]] and draws more than 250,000 visitors per year.<ref name="award"/><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2004/nov/09/science.science ''Edinburgh becomes heart of monkey study business'']. [[The Guardian]], November 9, 2004</ref><ref name="Primate Eye"/>

==Research== Whiten conducted long-term research on cultural evolution in chimpanzees and other primates and is noted for his contributions to this field. He has demonstrated the existence of traditions in primate culture in areas such as foraging, tool use and courtship. He has also shown that it is possible to introduce new traditions, by teaching primates in different groups different methods for getting a treat from a box. The first two chimps taught others, who almost always learned the method used first in their group. In another study, [[vervet monkeys]] which had learned to avoid grains of corn of a particular color (flavored by a bitter taste) relearned their color preferences for food once they became part of another group with different preferences.

Such [[transmission chain studies]] have shown cultural learning between individuals in at least 20 different species. The ability to learn from others is particularly important for adaptability under changing conditions such as [[climate change]].<ref name="Vernimmen">{{cite journal |last1=Vernimmen |first1=Tim |title=Cultural transmission makes animals flexible, but vulnerable |journal=Knowable Magazine |date=29 July 2022 |doi=10.1146/knowable-072822-1|doi-access=free |url=https://knowablemagazine.org/article/living-world/2022/cultural-transmission-makes-animals-flexible-vulnerable |access-date=10 August 2022 |language=en|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Fellowships== Whiten is member of the following [[Learned society|learned societies]]:<ref name="St Andrews">{{Cite web |url=https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/andrew-whiten(00983056-5f70-4a76-ad39-5820ce066bf3).html |title=Andrew Whiten |publisher=st-andrews.ac.uk |access-date=April 7, 2017}}</ref> * [[British Academy]] since 2000 * [[British Psychological Society]] since 2000 * [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] since 2001 * [[Cognitive Science Society]] since 2013

He was member of the [[Editorial Board]] of the [[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]], Biological Sciences, from 2008 to 2013.<ref>[https://royalsociety.org/people/andrew-whiten-10855/ Andrew Whiten] at royalsociety.org</ref> He additionally chaired the Research Awards Committee of the British Academy from 2011 to 2013.<ref name="BA"/><ref name="St Andrews"/>

==Awards and honors== Whiten was awarded the Delwart International Scientific Prize by the [[Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium]] in 2001,<ref>[https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/getfile/2868 News of Members]{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. In: The Psychologist. Vol 15, No 2. February 2002</ref> the [[Rivers Memorial Medal]] of the [[Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland|Royal Anthropological Institute]] (RAI), and the [[William Charles Osman Hill|Osman Hill]] Medal of the [[Primate Society of Great Britain]] in 2007. He is the first and only scientist who was awarded both, the [[James Black (pharmacologist)|Sir James Black]] Medal (in 2014) and the Senior Prize and Medal for Public Engagement (in 2015) by the Royal Society of Edinburgh.<ref name="BA"/><ref name="prizes">[https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/andrew-whiten(00983056-5f70-4a76-ad39-5820ce066bf3)/prizes.html Andrew Whiten: Prizes]. st-andrews.ac.uk</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ed.ac.uk/student-administration/graduations/honorary/future-honorary-grads |title=Honorary Graduates |publisher=ed.ac.uk |access-date=April 7, 2017}}</ref><ref name="St Andrews"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://synergy.st-andrews.ac.uk/solace/2015/04/17/professor-andrew-whiten-has-been-awarded-the-royal-society-of-edinburghs-senior-prize-and-medal-for-public-engagement/ |title=Award |publisher=st-andrews.ac.uk |access-date=April 7, 2017 |archive-date=8 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170408171458/https://synergy.st-andrews.ac.uk/solace/2015/04/17/professor-andrew-whiten-has-been-awarded-the-royal-society-of-edinburghs-senior-prize-and-medal-for-public-engagement/ }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=Zp5KLo8AAAAJ |title=Andrew Whiten |access-date=April 7, 2017}}</ref>

He was awarded an [[honorary doctor]] of the [[Heriot-Watt University]] in Edinburgh in 2015, of the [[University of Stirling]] in 2016, and of the [[University of Edinburgh]] in 2016/2017.<ref name="prizes"/><ref>[https://www.hw.ac.uk/services/docs/honorary-graduates-1966-present.pdf Heriot-Watt University Honorary Graduates since 1966]. hw.ac.uk</ref><ref>[https://www.stir.ac.uk/events/graduation/honorary-graduates/ Honorary Graduates of the University of Stirling - Emeritus Professor Andrew Whiten]. stir.ac.uk</ref><ref>[https://www.ed.ac.uk/about/people/honorary-degrees/2016-17 Honorary graduates 2016/17]. ed.ac.uk</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Selected works== * {{cite journal|doi=10.1146/annurev-psych-010416-044108|pmid=28051932|title=Social Learning and Culture in Child and Chimpanzee|journal=[[Annual Review of Psychology]]|volume=68|pages=129–154|year=2017|last1=Whiten|first1=Andrew|doi-access=free}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1098/rstb.2014.0359|pmid=26483537|title=Experimental studies illuminate the cultural transmission of percussive technologies in Homo and Pan|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=370|issue=1682|article-number=20140359|year=2015|last1=Whiten|first1=Andrew|pmc=4614722|doi-access=free}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1126/science.1232769|pmid=23620053|title=Potent Social Learning and Conformity Shape a Wild Primate's Foraging Decisions|journal=Science|volume=340|issue=6131|pages=483–485|year=2013|last1=Van De Waal|first1=E.|last2=Borgeaud|first2=C.|last3=Whiten|first3=A.|bibcode=2013Sci...340..483V |s2cid=206546598}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1098/rstb.2012.0114|pmid=22734055|title=The human socio-cognitive niche and its evolutionary origins|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=367|issue=1599|pages=2119–2129|year=2012|last1=Whiten|first1=Andrew|last2=Erdal|first2=David|pmc=3385679|doi-access=free}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1098/rstb.2010.0372|pmid=21357216|title=Culture evolves|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences|volume=366|issue=1567|pages=938–948|year=2011|last1=Whiten|first1=Andrew|last2=Hinde|first2=Robert A.|last3=Laland|first3=Kevin N.|last4=Stringer|first4=Christopher B.|pmc=3049105|doi-access=free}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1038/nature04047|pmid=16113685|title=Conformity to cultural norms of tool use in chimpanzees|journal=Nature|volume=437|issue=7059|pages=737–740|year=2005|last1=Whiten|first1=Andrew|last2=Horner|first2=Victoria|last3=De Waal|first3=Frans B. M.|bibcode=2005Natur.437..737W |s2cid=4408848}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1038/21415|pmid=10385119|title=Cultures in chimpanzees|journal=Nature|volume=399|issue=6737|pages=682–685|year=1999|last1=Whiten|first1=A.|last2=Goodall|first2=J.|last3=McGrew|first3=W. C.|last4=Nishida|first4=T.|last5=Reynolds|first5=V.|last6=Sugiyama|first6=Y.|last7=Tutin|first7=C. E. G.|last8=Wrangham|first8=R. W.|last9=Boesch|first9=C.|bibcode=1999Natur.399..682W |s2cid=4385871}} * {{cite journal|doi=10.1037/0735-7036.110.1.3|pmid=8851548|title=Imitative learning of artificial fruit processing in children (Homo sapiens) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)|journal=Journal of Comparative Psychology|volume=110|pages=3–14|year=1996|last1=Whiten|first1=Andrew|last2=Custance|first2=Deborah M.|last3=Gomez|first3=Juan-Carlos|last4=Teixidor|first4=Patricia|last5=Bard|first5=Kim A.|issue=1}} * A. Whiten, Richard W. Byrne (ed.): ''Machiavellian intelligence. Social expertise and the evolution of intellect in monkeys, apes, and humans'', 1988.

==External links== *[https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/andrew-whiten(00983056-5f70-4a76-ad39-5820ce066bf3).html Andrew Whiten] at the University of St Andrews * [https://www.britac.ac.uk/users/professor-andrew-whiten Andrew Whiten] at the British Academy * [https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/42618387_Andrew_Whiten Andrew Whiten] at [[ResearchGate]] * {{IMDb name|2392357}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiten, Andrew}} [[Category:1948 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:British psychologists]] [[Category:British zoologists]] [[Category:Fellows of the Cognitive Science Society]] [[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]] [[Category:Fellows of the British Psychological Society]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Sheffield]]