Psychology Department

University of Stirling

Stirling

FK9 4LA
Scotland

UK

I graduated in 1996 with a degree in Psychology from the University of Edinburgh, then completed a Masters degree in Cognitive Science at the University of Manchester, graduating in 1997. I went on to study part-time for a PhD at the University of St Andrews, supervised by Professor Andrew Whiten. I completed my PhD work in 2002 and moved to the University of Exeter. In 2004 I was appointed as a lecturer here in Stirling.

I am a member of the Psychology Department's Behaviour and Evolution Research Group. Every Tuesday our group holds a discussion meeting. For more information on the BERG discussion group meetings click here.

I am interested in social learning, traditions, and cultural evolution, in nonhumans and humans. My work to date has focussed primarily on nonhuman primates and adult humans. I have one PhD student, Claire Watson, who is studying social learning in primates. I have two research assistants, Cristina Matthews and Kerstin Schillinger, who are employed on my current ESRC-funded project.

Research Funding:

• ESRC Research Grant (RES-062-23-1634), An experimental approach to studying cultural variation and convergence, March 2009 - Feb 2011, £317,402 (Principal Investigator).
• ESRC "First Grants" Award (RES-061-23-0072), Testing hypotheses about cumulative cultural evolution, Oct 2006-Sept 2008, £143,161 (Principal Investigator), Final report graded "Outstanding".

I am module coordinator for the second year course PSY9A3 Social Communication. I also teach two final year electives: Culture and Evolution, and Theories on the Evolution of Language.

I am chair of the Psychology Student-Staff Consultative Committee.

Watson, C. F. I. & Caldwell, C. A. (in press). Neighbor effects in marmosets: Social contagion of agonism and affiliation in captive Callithrix jacchus. American Journal of Primatology.

Caldwell, C. A. & Millen, A. E. (in press). Conservatism in laboratory microsocieties: unpredictable payoffs accentuate group-specific traditions. Evolution and Human Behavior.

Caldwell, C. A. & Whiten, A. (in press). Social learning in monkeys and apes: cultural animals? In C. J. Campbell, A. Fuentes, K. C. MacKinnon, S. Bearder & R. Stumpf (Eds.). Primates in Perspective, 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Price, E. E., Caldwell, C. A. & Whiten, A. (2010). Comparative cultural cognition. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 1, 23-31. PDF

Caldwell, C. A. & Millen, A. E. (2009). Social learning mechanisms and cumulative cultural evolution: is imitation necessary? Psychological Science, 20, 1478-1483. PDF

Watson, C. F. I. & Caldwell, C. A. (2009). Understanding behavioral traditions in primates: are current experimental approaches too focused on food? International Journal of Primatology, 30, 143-167. PDF

Caldwell, C. A., Watson, C. F. E. & Morris, K. D. (2009). Exploiting flavour preferences of common marmosets to increase palatability of a dry pellet diet. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 116, 244-249. PDF

Caldwell, C. A. (2009). Experimental approaches to the study of culture in primates. In L. S. Roska-Hardy & E. M. Neumann-Held (Eds.), Learning from Animals? Examining the Nature of Human Uniqueness (pp 173-187). Hove, UK: Psychology Press. PDF

Caldwell, C. A. (2008). Convergent cultural evolution may explain linguistic universals (commentary on Christiansen & Chater, Language as shaped by the brain). Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31, 515-516.

Caldwell, C. A. & Millen, A. E. (2008). Studying cumulative cultural evolution in the laboratory. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 363, 3529–3539. PDF

Caldwell, C. A. & Millen, A. E. (2008). Experimental models for testing hypotheses about cumulative cultural evolution. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29, 165-171. PDF

Little, A. C., Burriss, R. P., Jones, B. C., DeBruine, L. M. & Caldwell, C. A. (2008). Social influence in human face preference: men and women are influenced more for long-term than short-term attractiveness decisions. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29, 140-146. PDF

Price, E. & Caldwell, C. A. (2007). Artificially generated cultural variation between two groups of captive monkeys, Colobus guereza kikuyuensis. Behavioural Processes, 74, 13-20. PDF

Leaver, L. A., Hopewell, L., Caldwell, C. & Mallarky, L. (2007). Audience effects on food caching in grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis): evidence for pilferage avoidance strategies. Animal Cognition, 10, 23-27. PDF

Caldwell, C. A. & Whiten, A. (2006). Social learning in monkeys and apes: Cultural animals? In C. J. Campbell, A. Fuentes, K. C. MacKinnon, M. Panger & S. Bearder. Primates in Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Horton, K. E. & Caldwell, C. A. (2006). Visual co-orientation and expectations about attentional orientation in pileated gibbons (Hylobates pileatus). Behavioural Processes, 72, 65-73. PDF

Poyser, F., Caldwell, C. & Cobb, M. (2006). Dog paw preference shows lability and sex differences. Behavioural Processes, 73, 216–221. PDF

Caldwell, C. A. & Whiten, A. (2004). Testing for social learning and imitation in common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus, using an “artificial fruit”. Animal Cognition, 7, 77-85. PDF

Caldwell, C. A. & Whiten, A. (2003). Scrounging facilitates social learning in common marmosets, Callithrix jacchus. Animal Behaviour, 64, 1085-1092. PDF

Caldwell, C. A. & Whiten, A. (2002). Evolutionary perspectives on imitation: Is a comparative psychology of social learning possible? Animal Cognition, 5, 193-208. PDF

Scottish Primate Research Group

Primate Society of Great Britain

University of St Andrews Centre for Social Learning and Cognitive Evolution

Human Behavior and Evolution Society

European Human Behaviour and Evolution Association