Description:
My research focuses on cultural evolution. My work investigates whether there are individual differences – with a focus on personality and social network positions – in the propensity to solve problems through social learning or innovation, in both human children and chimpanzees.
Before my PhD, I completed my BSc in Psychology at the University of Plymouth, and my MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of York. From there, I conducted research work on a range of primate species, but with a particular focus on the evolution of social learning, culture and social network analysis. I have conducted field work investigating social learning in Brazil (capuchins) and Zambia (chimpanzees).
Publications:
Rawlings, B., Flynn, E.G., & Kendal, R. (2017). To Copy or To Innovate? The role of personality and social networks in children’s learning strategies. Child Development Perspectives, 11, 39–44. DOI: 10.1111/cdep.12206
Forrester, G.S., Rawlings, B. & Davila-Ross, M. (2016). An analysis of bimanual actions in natural feeding of semi-wild chimpanzees. American Journal of Physical Anthropology,159, 85-92. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.22845
Rawlings, B., Davila-Ross, M. & Boysen, S. (2014). Semi-wild chimpanzees open fruits differently across communities. Animal Cognition, 17, 891-899. DOI: 10.1007/s10071-013-0722-z
Baddeley, A., Rawlings, B. & Hayes, A. (2013). Constrained prose recall and the assessment of long term forgetting: The case of aging and the Crimes Test. Memory. DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2013.865753
Schel, A.M., Rawlings, B., Claidière, N., Wilke, C., Wathan, J., Richardson, J., Pearson S., Whiten, A, & Slocombe, K. (2012). Network analysis of social changes in a captive chimpanzee community following the successful integration of two adult groups. American Journal of Primatology, 75. 254-66. DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22101
