Cultural evolution of conformity and anticonformity

Conformist bias occurs when the probability of adopting a more common cultural variant in a population exceeds its frequency, and anticonformist bias occurs when the reverse is true. Conformist and anticonformist bias have been widely documented in humans, and conformist bias has also been observed in many nonhuman animals. Boyd and Richerson used models of conformist and anticonformist bias to explain the evolution of large-scale cooperation, and subsequent research has extended these models. We revisit Boyd and Richerson’s original analysis and show that, with conformity based on more than three role models, the evolutionary dynamics can be more complex than previously assumed. For example, we show the presence of stable cycles and chaos under strong anticonformity and the presence of new equilibria when both conformity and anticonformity act at different variant frequencies, with and without selection. We also investigate the case of population subdivision with migration and find that the common claim that conformity can maintain between-group differences is not always true. Therefore, the effect of conformity on the evolution of cooperation by group selection may be more complicated than previously stated. Finally, using Feldman and Liberman’s modifier approach, we investigate the conditions under which a rare modifier of the extent of conformity or the number of role models can invade a population. Understanding the dynamics of conformist- and anticonformist-biased transmission may have implications for research on human and nonhuman animal behavior, the evolution of cooperation, and frequency-dependent transmission in general.

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Human evolution and transitions in individuality

Contrastes Revista Internacional de Filosofía ◽

10.24310/contrastescontrastes.v0i0.1168 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Paulo C. Abrantes

Keyword(s):

Human Evolution ◽

Cultural Evolution ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Dimensional Space ◽

Evolution Of Cooperation ◽

Dual Inheritance Theory ◽

Multi Level ◽

Dual Inheritance ◽

Shed Light ◽

The Way

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates whether it is fruitful to describe the role culture began to play at some point in the hominin lineage as pointing to a transition in individuality, by reference to the works of Buss, Maynard-Smith and Szathmáry, Michod and Godfrey-Smith. The chief question addressed is whether a population of groups having different cultural phenotypes is either paradigmatically Darwinian or marginal, by using Godfrey-Smith’s representation of such transitions in a multi-dimensional space. Richerson and Boyd’s «dual inheritance» theory, and the explanation it provides of the evolution of cooperation in the hominin lineage, is taken into account to shed light on the way Godfrey-Smith deals with cultural evolution, especially concerning the amount of variation in a population of groups with various cultural phenotypes, the role played by multi-level selection in the evolutionary dynamics of such a population and the adequacy of different modalities of group-reproduction.KEYWORDSTRANSITIONS IN INDIVIDUALITY, CULTURAL EVOLUTION, DARWINIAN POPULATIONS, EVOLUTION OF COOPERATION, DUAL INHERITANCE THEORYRESUMENEste trabajo indaga acerca de si es fructífero o no describir el papel que la cultura comenzó a jugar en algún punto en el linaje de los homininos como si se tratara de una transición en la individualidad, en referencia a las obras de Buss, Maynard-Smith y Szathmáry, y Michod y Godfrey-Smith. La cuestión principal es si una población de grupos con diferentes fenotipos culturales es o bien paradigmáticamente darwiniana o bien marginal, usando para ello la representación de Godfrey-Smith de tales transiciones en un espacio multidimensional. La teoría de la «herencia dual» de Richerson y Boyd, y la explicación que proporciona de la cooperación en el linaje hominino es tenida en cuenta para arrojar luz sobre el modo en que Godfrey-Smith trata la evolución cultural, especialmente en lo concerniente a la cantidad de variación en una población de grupos con diversos fenotipos culturales, el papel jugado por la selección multi-nivel en el dinámica evolutiva de tal población y la adecuación de diferentes modalidades de reproducción de grupos.PALABRAS CLAVETRANSICIONES EN LA INDIVIDUALIDAD, EVOLUCIÓN CULTURAL, POBLACIONES DARWINIANAS, EVOLUCIÓN DE LA COOPERACIÓN, TEORÍA DE LA HERENCIA DUAL

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When does optional participation allow the evolution of cooperation?

Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rspb.2008.1623 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 276 (1659) ◽

pp. 1167-1174 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Sarah Mathew ◽

Robert Boyd

Keyword(s):

Public Goods ◽

General Model ◽

Large Scale ◽

Evolution Of Cooperation ◽

Opting Out ◽

General Consequence ◽

Altruistic Punishment ◽

Opt Out ◽

The Common ◽

Diseconomies Of Scale

Altruistic punishment has been shown to invade when rare if individuals are allowed to opt out of cooperative ventures. Individuals that opt out do not contribute to the common enterprise or derive benefits from it. This result is potentially significant because it offers an explanation for the origin of large-scale cooperation in one-shot interactions among unrelated individuals. Here, we show that this result is not a general consequence of optional participation in cooperative activities, but depends on special assumptions about cooperative pay-offs. We extend the pay-off structure of optional participation models to consider the effects of economies and diseconomies of scale in public-goods production, rival and non-rival consumption of goods, and different orderings of the pay-offs of freeriding and opting out. This more general model highlights the kinds of pay-offs for which optional participation favours cooperation, and those in which it does not.

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The Metapattern of General Evolutionary Dynamics and the Three Dynamical Realms of Big History

Journal of Big History ◽

10.22339/jbh.v4i3.4320 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 31-53

Author(s):

Tyler Volk ◽

Keyword(s):

Cultural Evolution ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Biological Evolution ◽

Cognitive Learning ◽

Four Dimensions ◽

Possibility Space ◽

The Common ◽

Physical Laws ◽

Variation And Selection ◽

Big History

The goal of this paper is to formalize better the division of big history into three main stages (phases, eras). In my own work they are “dynamical realms,” 1. physical laws, 2. biological evolution, and 3. cultural evolution. I show a deep similarity in two mighty transitions; first, from dynamical realm 1 to 2, and then from 2 to 3. The common “metapattern” in these transitions is that of generalized evolutionary dynamics, which in both cases opened up vast new arenas of possibility space. I first present relevant conclu-sions from my book, Quarks to Culture. A “grand sequence” of twelve fundamental levels was forged through a repeated cycle of “combogenesis” spanning the dynamical realms as families of levels. Next, I provide examples of other scholars who have similarly weighed in on a three-fold arc; notably Christian, Spier, Chaisson, Rolston, Salk, and Voros (following Jansch). Like me, all have nominally recognized similarities between biological and cultural evolution as important in the dynamics of realms two and three. Generally, these scholars have not placed primary emphasis on general evolutionary dynamics as a multiply-instantiated process. The PVS metapattern for evolution (propagation, variation, and selection) is well established as overarching across many patterns in biology, following life’s origin. In culture the operation of general evolution-ary dynamics is, I suggest, dual-tier, consisting of cognitive PVS of individuals coupled to social PVS of groups. The emergence of realm-forming PVS-dynamics twice (biology, culture) created radically new ways to explore and stabilize patterns in expansive fields of diverse types within the respective dynamics. Thus, we can recognize a fundamental-ly similar reason (i.e., two emergent forms of evolutionary dynamics) for why so many scholars have correctly, in my opinion, discerned a threefold arc of big history. Im-portant as well in the flow of progress from quarks to culture were two only slightly less major instantiations of PVS-dynamics (though both crucial): an era of chemical evolution within the realm of physical laws, which led into the realm of biological evolution, and also the evolution of the animal cognitive learning PVS of trial, error, and success, which was essential to the path into cultural evolution. In concluding remarks, I note several outstanding issues: alternative proposals for five orders or four dimensions (i.e., divisions more than three in the arc of big history); the use of the word “evolution,” and three matrices (cosmosphere, biosphere, civisphere) that contain and are constituted by the varieties of patterns within the corresponding dynamical realms.

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A Family With Autosomal-Dominant Progressive Sensorineural Hearing Loss

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/1059-0889.0501.23 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 23-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Chris Halpin ◽

Barbara Herrmann ◽

Margaret Whearty

Keyword(s):

Speech Production ◽

Hearing Aids ◽

Role Models ◽

Speech Intelligibility ◽

Large Scale ◽

Speech Language Pathology ◽

The Family ◽

Patient Will ◽

Language Pathology

The family described in this article provides an unusual opportunity to relate findings from genetic, histological, electrophysiological, psychophysical, and rehabilitative investigation. Although the total number evaluated is large (49), the known, living affected population is smaller (14), and these are spread from age 20 to age 59. As a result, the findings described above are those of a large-scale case study. Clearly, more data will be available through longitudinal study of the individuals documented in the course of this investigation but, given the slow nature of the progression in this disease, such studies will be undertaken after an interval of several years. The general picture presented to the audiologist who must rehabilitate these cases is that of a progressive cochlear degeneration that affects only thresholds at first, and then rapidly diminishes speech intelligibility. The expected result is that, after normal language development, the patient may accept hearing aids well, encouraged by the support of the family. Performance and satisfaction with the hearing aids is good, until the onset of the speech intelligibility loss, at which time the patient will encounter serious difficulties and may reject hearing aids as unhelpful. As the histological and electrophysiological results indicate, however, the eighth nerve remains viable, especially in the younger affected members, and success with cochlear implantation may be expected. Audiologic counseling efforts are aided by the presence of role models and support from the other affected members of the family. Speech-language pathology services were not considered important by the members of this family since their speech production developed normally and has remained very good. Self-correction of speech was supported by hearing aids and cochlear implants (Case 5’s speech production was documented in Perkell, Lane, Svirsky, & Webster, 1992). These patients received genetic counseling and, due to the high penetrance of the disease, exhibited serious concerns regarding future generations and the hope of a cure.

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Student Perceptions of Community: A Different Perspective

NASPA Journal ◽

10.2202/0027-6014.1064 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 35 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Jackie Clark ◽

Joan Hirt

Keyword(s):

Student Perceptions ◽

Large Scale ◽

Research University ◽

Small Scale ◽

Social Environments ◽

Common Assumption ◽

Small Communities ◽

Public Research University ◽

The Common ◽

Using Data

The creation of small communities has been proposed as a way of enhancing the educational experience of students at large institutions. Using data from a survey of students living in large and small residences at a public research university, this study does not support the common assumption that small-scale social environments are more conducive to positive community life than large-scale social environments.

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Measuring sleep regularity: Theoretical properties and practical usage of existing metrics

SLEEP ◽

10.1093/sleep/zsab103 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dorothee Fischer ◽

Elizabeth B Klerman ◽

Andrew J K Phillips

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Research Question ◽

Group Differences ◽

Regularity Index ◽

Wake Patterns ◽

Health Related ◽

Phase Deviation ◽

Unbiased Estimates ◽

Large Scale Simulations ◽

Larger Sample

Abstract Study Objectives Sleep regularity predicts many health-related outcomes. Currently, however, there is no systematic approach to measuring sleep regularity. Traditionally, metrics have assessed deviations in sleep patterns from an individual’s average. Traditional metrics include intra-individual standard deviation (StDev), Interdaily Stability (IS), and Social Jet Lag (SJL). Two metrics were recently proposed that instead measure variability between consecutive days: Composite Phase Deviation (CPD) and Sleep Regularity Index (SRI). Using large-scale simulations, we investigated the theoretical properties of these five metrics. Methods Multiple sleep-wake patterns were systematically simulated, including variability in daily sleep timing and/or duration. Average estimates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for six scenarios that affect measurement of sleep regularity: ‘scrambling’ the order of days; daily vs. weekly variation; naps; awakenings; ‘all-nighters’; and length of study. Results SJL measured weekly but not daily changes. Scrambling did not affect StDev or IS, but did affect CPD and SRI; these metrics, therefore, measure sleep regularity on multi-day and day-to-day timescales, respectively. StDev and CPD did not capture sleep fragmentation. IS and SRI behaved similarly in response to naps and awakenings but differed markedly for all-nighters. StDev and IS required over a week of sleep-wake data for unbiased estimates, whereas CPD and SRI required larger sample sizes to detect group differences. Conclusions Deciding which sleep regularity metric is most appropriate for a given study depends on a combination of the type of data gathered, the study length and sample size, and which aspects of sleep regularity are most pertinent to the research question.

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A High-Content Screening Assay for Small Molecules That Stabilize Mutant Triose Phosphate Isomerase (TPI) as Treatments for TPI Deficiency

SLAS DISCOVERY Advancing Life Sciences ◽

10.1177/24725552211018198 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 247255522110181

Author(s):

Andreas Vogt ◽

Samantha L. Eicher ◽

Tracey D. Myers ◽

Stacy L. Hrizo ◽

Laura L. Vollmer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Throughput Screening ◽

Large Scale ◽

Protein Quality ◽

Fluorescent Protein ◽

Triose Phosphate Isomerase ◽

Pharmacological Intervention ◽

Screening Assay ◽

Triose Phosphate ◽

The Common ◽

Green Fluorescent

Triose phosphate isomerase deficiency (TPI Df) is an untreatable, childhood-onset glycolytic enzymopathy. Patients typically present with frequent infections, anemia, and muscle weakness that quickly progresses with severe neuromusclar dysfunction requiring aided mobility and often respiratory support. Life expectancy after diagnosis is typically ~5 years. There are several described pathogenic mutations that encode functional proteins; however, these proteins, which include the protein resulting from the “common” TPIE105D mutation, are unstable due to active degradation by protein quality control (PQC) pathways. Previous work has shown that elevating mutant TPI levels by genetic or pharmacological intervention can ameliorate symptoms of TPI Df in fruit flies. To identify compounds that increase levels of mutant TPI, we have developed a human embryonic kidney (HEK) stable knock-in model expressing the common TPI Df protein fused with green fluorescent protein (HEK TPIE105D-GFP). To directly address the need for lead TPI Df therapeutics, these cells were developed into an optical drug discovery platform that was implemented for high-throughput screening (HTS) and validated in 3-day variability tests, meeting HTS standards. We initially used this assay to screen the 446-member National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Collection and validated two of the hits in dose–response, by limited structure–activity relationship studies with a small number of analogs, and in an orthogonal, non-optical assay in patient fibroblasts. The data form the basis for a large-scale phenotypic screening effort to discover compounds that stabilize TPI as treatments for this devastating childhood disease.

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Cultural Evolution of Genetic Heritability

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x21000893 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-147

Author(s):

Ryutaro Uchiyama ◽

Rachel Spicer ◽

Michael Muthukrishna

Keyword(s):

Cultural Evolution ◽

Evolutionary Dynamics ◽

Behavioral Genetics ◽

Social Contexts ◽

Genetic Effects ◽

Genetic Heritability ◽

Innovation And Diffusion ◽

Nuanced Understanding ◽

Cultural Evolutionary ◽

The Life Course

Abstract Behavioral genetics and cultural evolution have both revolutionized our understanding of human behavior—largely independent of each other. Here we reconcile these two fields under a dual inheritance framework, offering a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between genes and culture. Going beyond typical analyses of gene–environment interactions, we describe the cultural dynamics that shape these interactions by shaping the environment and population structure. A cultural evolutionary approach can explain, for example, how factors such as rates of innovation and diffusion, density of cultural sub-groups, and tolerance for behavioral diversity impact heritability estimates, thus yielding predictions for different social contexts. Moreover, when cumulative culture functionally overlaps with genes, genetic effects become masked, unmasked, or even reversed, and the causal effects of an identified gene become confounded with features of the cultural environment. The manner of confounding is specific to a particular society at a particular time, but a WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, democratic) sampling problem obscures this boundedness. Cultural evolutionary dynamics are typically missing from models of gene-to-phenotype causality, hindering generalizability of genetic effects across societies and across time. We lay out a reconciled framework and use it to predict the ways in which heritability should differ between societies, between socioeconomic levels and other groupings within some societies but not others, and over the life course. An integrated cultural evolutionary behavioral genetic approach cuts through the nature–nurture debate and helps resolve controversies in topics such as IQ.

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A NOTE ON PHASING LONG GENOMIC REGIONS USING LOCAL HAPLOTYPE PREDICTIONS

Journal of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology ◽

10.1142/s0219720006002272 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 04 (03) ◽

pp. 639-647 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

ELEAZAR ESKIN ◽

RODED SHARAN ◽

ERAN HALPERIN

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Computational Cost ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Single Nucleotide ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Maximum Likelihood Criterion ◽

The Common ◽

Genomic Regions ◽

High Computational Cost ◽

Combining Information

The common approaches for haplotype inference from genotype data are targeted toward phasing short genomic regions. Longer regions are often tackled in a heuristic manner, due to the high computational cost. Here, we describe a novel approach for phasing genotypes over long regions, which is based on combining information from local predictions on short, overlapping regions. The phasing is done in a way, which maximizes a natural maximum likelihood criterion. Among other things, this criterion takes into account the physical length between neighboring single nucleotide polymorphisms. The approach is very efficient and is applied to several large scale datasets and is shown to be successful in two recent benchmarking studies (Zaitlen et al., in press; Marchini et al., in preparation). Our method is publicly available via a webserver at .

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Reanalysis of Flash Floods and Debris Flows on two continents and their management strategies

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-373 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Juan Daniel Rios-Arboleda

Keyword(s):

Risk Management ◽

Developing Countries ◽

South America ◽

Debris Flow ◽

Debris Flows ◽

Large Scale ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Original Analysis ◽

Risk Management Strategies ◽

Latitudinal Patterns

This research expands the original analysis of Baker and Costa (1987) including data from Europe and South America with the objective to understand if there are emerging latitudinal patterns. In addition, the threshold proposed by Zimmermann et al. (1997) it is evaluated with the data from tropical zones finding that this is a good predictor.Mainly, recent Debris Flow occurred in South America are analyzed with the aim of identifying the best risk management strategies and their replicability for developing countries, particularly, the cases that have occurred in Colombia and Venezuela in the last 30 years are analyzed in order to compare management strategies and understand which are the most vulnerable areas to this phenomenon.It is concluded that large-scale and multinational projects such as SED ALP are required in South America to better characterize events that have left multiple fatalities (sometimes hundreds of people) and better understand how to manage the risk on densely populated areas.Finally, the use of amateur videos is proposed to characterize these events in nations with limited budgets for projects such as SED ALP, methodology that will be described extensively in later works.

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