The Cultural Evolution of Epistemic Practices

Human Nature ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ze Hong ◽  
Joseph Henrich
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Epistemic Practices

The cultural evolution of epistemic practices: the case of divination

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Hong
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Human Learning ◽  
Comparative Religion ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Prior Belief ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Epistemic Practices ◽  
Scientific Epistemology

While a substantial literature in anthropology and comparative religion explores divination across diverse societies and back into history, little research has integrated the older ethnographic and historical work with recent insights on human learning, cultural transmission and cognitive science. Here we present evidence showing that divination practices are often best viewed as an epistemic technology, and formally model the scenarios under which individuals may over-estimate the efficacy of divination that contribute to its cultural omnipresence and historical persistence. We found that strong prior belief, under-reporting of negative evidence, and mis-inferring belief from behavior can all contribute to biased and inaccurate beliefs about the effectiveness of epistemic technologies. We finally suggest how scientific epistemology, as it emerged in the Western societies over the last few centuries, has influenced the importance and cultural centrality of divination practices.

Social transmission bias and the cultural evolution of folk-economic beliefs

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hirshleifer ◽  
Siew Hong Teoh
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Social Transmission ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Economic Attitudes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Beliefs ◽  
Over Time

AbstractEvolved dispositions influence, but do not determine, how people think about economic problems. The evolutionary cognitive approach offers important insights but underweights the social transmission of ideas as a level of explanation. The need for asocialexplanation for the evolution of economic attitudes is evidenced, for example, by immense variations in folk-economic beliefs over time and across individuals.

Refining our understanding of the “elephant in the room”

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Whiten
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Technological Culture

Abstract The authors do the field of cultural evolution a service by exploring the role of non-social cognition in human cumulative technological culture, truly neglected in comparison with socio-cognitive abilities frequently assumed to be the primary drivers. Some specifics of their delineation of the critical factors are problematic, however. I highlight recent chimpanzee–human comparative findings that should help refine such analyses.

Contextualisation and typology of disc-headed and trapezoidal gravemarker forms in Scotland

2012 ◽  
Vol 34-35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
George Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Shetland Islands ◽  
Small Disc

Two distinctive small funerary artefact types, disc-headed and trapezoidal gravemarkers, are described. Both are uncommon in Scotland. Small disc-headed gravemarkers are distributed throughout the country but, with two exceptions, trapezoidal gravemarkers are restricted to the Shetland Islands. All known examples of these objects, including some not previously reported, are detailed and discussed in the context of similar artefacts in the rest of Britain and Europe. The current confusion in the use of names for these marker types and their variants is addressed and, through the construction of two separate typologies, a practical taxonomy is suggested. It is also suggested that both these gravemarker forms may represent examples of convergent cultural evolution.

Social Learning

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Hoppitt ◽  
Kevin N. Laland
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Experimental Psychology ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Indispensable Tool ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

Many animals, including humans, acquire valuable skills and knowledge by copying others. Scientists refer to this as social learning. It is one of the most exciting and rapidly developing areas of behavioral research and sits at the interface of many academic disciplines, including biology, experimental psychology, economics, and cognitive neuroscience. This book provides a comprehensive, practical guide to the research methods of this important emerging field. It defines the mechanisms thought to underlie social learning and demonstrate how to distinguish them experimentally in the laboratory. It presents techniques for detecting and quantifying social learning in nature, including statistical modeling of the spatial distribution of behavior traits. It also describes the latest theory and empirical findings on social learning strategies, and introduces readers to mathematical methods and models used in the study of cultural evolution. This book is an indispensable tool for researchers and an essential primer for students.

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