scholarly journals A functional paradigm for evaluating culture: An example with cetaceans

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Linda Greggor
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Species Analysis ◽  
Learning Capabilities ◽  
Physical Attributes ◽  
Fitness Benefits ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Taxonomic Groups ◽  
Learning Ecology

Abstract Nonhuman culture was first considered in nonhuman primates because they are genetically similar to humans. However, evolution is not progressive and therefore many species may occupy niches that favor socially transmitted, group specific behavior. Not surprisingly, evidence for culture has accrued in several taxonomic groups, including cetaceans. If culture is an adaptation, it is imperative we understand the factors that favor its formation. Understanding the evolutionary origin of culture will allow for a wider range of species to be studied, including those that are difficult to test in the laboratory. I propose a broad-based functional paradigm for evaluating nonhuman culture; based on the idea that while not all cultural behaviors may garner fitness benefits to the individual, the ecological and social environments in which cultural behaviors evolved must have favored the physical attributes and social learning capabilities that allow for cultural formation. Specifically this framework emphasizes the relationships between social learning, ecology, social systems, and biology in relation to culture. I illustrate the utility of the functional paradigm with evidence from the ceteacean group, while setting the stage for a stringent species by species analysis. By means of contextualizing culture, the Functional Paradigm can evaluate a species’ potential to exhibit culture and can investigate potentially cultural behaviors [Current Zoology 58 (2): 271–286, 2012].

scholarly journals Innovation and social learning: individual variation and brain evolution

2003 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Reader
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Relative Size ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Cognitive Correlates ◽  
Interspecific Differences ◽  
Innovation Rate ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Taxonomic Groups

Abstract This paper reviews behavioural, neurological and cognitive correlates of innovation at the individual, population and species level, focusing on birds and primates. Innovation, new or modified learned behaviour not previously found in the population, is the first stage in many instances of cultural transmission and may play an important role in the lives of animals with generalist or opportunistic lifestyles. Within-species, innovation is associated with low neophobia, high neophilia, and with high social learning propensities. Indices of innovatory propensities can be calculated for taxonomic groups by counting the frequency of reports of innovation in published literature. These innovation rate data provide a useful comparative measure for studies of behavioural flexibility and cognition. Innovation rate is positively correlated with the relative size of association areas in the brain, namely the hyperstriatum ventrale and neostriatum in birds, and the neocortex and striatum in primates. Innovation rate is also positively correlated with the reported variety of tool use, as well as interspecific differences in learning. Current evidence thus suggests similar patterns of cognitive evolution in primates and birds.

scholarly journals Models of Identity Signaling

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul E. Smaldino
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Identity Signaling ◽  
Encrypted Communication

Identity signals inform receivers of a signaler’s membership in a subset of individuals, and in doing so shape cooperation, conflict, and social learning. Understanding the use and consequences of identity signaling is therefore critical for a complete science of collective human behavior. And, as with all complex social systems, this understanding is aided by the use of formal mathematical and computational models. Here I review some formal models of identity signaling. I divide these models into two categories. The first concerns models that assert how identity functions as a signal and test the consequences of those assertions, with a focus on public health behavior and disease transmission. The second concerns models used to understand how identity signals operate strategically in different social environments, with a focus on covert or encrypted communication.

¿Quién soy yo? Reflexiones teórico sistémicas acerca de la indentidad individual

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-31
Author(s):  
Francisco Xavier Morales
Keyword(s):  
Identity Construction ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Individual Identity ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Moral Communication ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Individual

The problem of identity is an issue of contemporary society that is not only expressed in daily life concerns but also in discourses of politics and social movements. Nevertheless, the I and the needs of self-fulfillment usually are taken for granted. This paper offers thoughts regarding individual identity based on Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory. From this perspective, identity is not observed as a thing or as a subject, but rather as a “selfillusion” of a system of consciousness, which differentiates itself from the world, event after event, in a contingent way. As concerns the definition  of contents of self-identity, the structures of social systems define who is a person, how he or she should act, and how much esteem he or she should receive. These structures are adopted by consciousness as its own identity structures; however, some social contexts are more relevant for self-identity construction than others. Moral communication increases the probability that structure appropriation takes place, since the emotional element of identity is linked to the esteem/misesteem received by the individual from the interactions in which he or she participates.

scholarly journals Time, the deer, is in the wood: Chronotopic identities, trajectories of texts and community self-management

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Bartlett
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Issues ◽  
Relevant Context ◽  
The Individual

AbstractThis paper opens with a problematisation of the notion of real-time in discourse analysis – dissected, as it is, as if time unfolded in a linear and regular procession at the speed of speech. To illustrate this point, the author combines Hasan’s concept of “relevant context” with Bakhtin’s notion of the chronotope to provide an analysis of Sorley MacLean’s poem Hallaig, with its deep-rootedness in space and its dissolution of time. The remainder of the paper is dedicated to following the poem’s metamorphoses and trajectory as it intertwines with Bartlett’s own life and family history, creating a layered simultaneity of meanings orienting to multiple semio-historic centres. In this way the author (pers. comm.) “sets out to illustrate in theory, text analysis and (self-)history the trajectories taken by texts as they cross through time and space; their interconnectedness with social systems at different scales; and the manner in which they are revoiced in order to enhance their legitimacy before the diverse audiences they encounter on their migratory paths.” In this process, Bartlett relates his own story to the socioeconomic concerns of the Hebridean island where his father was raised, and to dialogues between local communities and national and external policy-makers – so echoing Denzin’s call (2014. Interpretive Autoethnography (2nd Edition). Los Angeles: Sage: vii) to “develop a methodology that allows us examine how the private troubles of individuals are connected to public issues and to public responses to these troubles”. Bartlett presents his data through a range of legitimation strategies and voicing techniques, creating transgressive texts that question received notions of identity, authorship, legitimacy and authenticity in academia, the portals of power, and the routines of daily life. The current Abstract is one such example. As with the author’s closing caveat on the potential dangers of self-revelation, offered, no doubt, as a flimsy justification for the extensive focus in the paper on his own life as a chronotope, I leave it for the individual reader to decide if Bartlett’s approach is ultimately ludic or simply ludicrous.

Canadian and American Religion Redux: Revisiting America’s Religious Exceptionalism and Persistence Compared to Canada

2021 ◽  
pp. 000842982110042
Author(s):  
Alastair Hay
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Religious Culture ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Sixties ◽  
Religious Lives ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Welfare State

Two core lines of argument presently define our understanding of why Christianity’s historical influence continues to persist in the lives of Americans to a degree not observed in Canada (despite the recent loss of religious affiliation in both countries). These are: 1) changes in the functional dominance of social systems (i.e. shifts to the welfare state in Canada) and 2) important foundational, cultural differences between Canada and America. Using a historiographic approach (coupled with quantitative research conducted in Canada and the US), this article argues that one less well-recognized factor also deserves our attention: Charles Taylor’s observation that American religious culture was primed for the Age of Authenticity. In this article I argue that Taylor was probably right. Over and above the well-established individualistic character of the religious lives of Americans is a related, but important, additional effect—the sanctioning of the ‘this-worldly’ potential of the individual life from within its religious institutions. It is this aspect of America’s religious exceptionalism, I argue, that has also helped to render the religious lives of Americans less vulnerable to – but not immune from – the watershed effects of the sixties compared to Christianity in Canada.

scholarly journals Migration, acculturation, and the maintenance of between-group cultural variation

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Mesoudi
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
And Migration ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Social Learning Processes

AbstractHow do migration and acculturation (i.e. psychological or behavioral change resulting from migration) affect within- and between-group cultural variation? Here I answer this question by drawing analogies between genetic and cultural evolution. Population genetic models show that migration rapidly breaks down between-group genetic structure. In cultural evolution, however, migrants or their descendants can acculturate to local behaviors via social learning processes such as conformity, potentially preventing migration from eliminating between-group cultural variation. An analysis of the empirical literature on migration suggests that acculturation is common, with second and subsequent migrant generations shifting, sometimes substantially, towards the cultural values of the adopted society. Yet there is little understanding of the individual-level dynamics that underlie these population-level shifts. To explore this formally, I present models quantifying the effect of migration and acculturation on between-group cultural variation, for both neutral and costly cooperative traits. In the models, between-group cultural variation, measured using F statistics, is eliminated by migration and maintained by conformist acculturation. The extent of acculturation is determined by the strength of conformist bias and the number of demonstrators from whom individuals learn. Acculturation is countered by assortation, the tendency for individuals to preferentially interact with culturally-similar others. Unlike neutral traits, cooperative traits can additionally be maintained by payoff-biased social learning, but only in the presence of strong sanctioning institutions. Overall, the models show that surprisingly little conformist acculturation is required to maintain realistic amounts of between-group cultural diversity. While these models provide insight into the potential dynamics of acculturation and migration in cultural evolution, they also highlight the need for more empirical research into the individual-level learning biases that underlie migrant acculturation.

scholarly journals Analysis of information and psychological impact on personality in COVID-19 pandemic conditions

2021 ◽  
pp. 66-78
Author(s):  
Оксана Георгиевна Меретукова ◽  
Светлана Владимировна Нестерова ◽  
Владимир Владимирович Харин ◽  
Олег Васильевич Стрельцов ◽  
Ольга Сергеевна Маторина
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Intervention ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Prevention Measures ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Current Task ◽  
Psychological Influence ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Flow Of Information

В настоящей статье проанализированы теоретические аспекты информационно-психологического воздействия на личность. Основными сферами информационно-психологического воздействия являются: экономические, политические, военные и т.д. Реализация процесса информационно-психологического воздействия направлена на основные сферы жизнедеятельности индивида или социальной группы посредством средств массовой информации, социальных сетей, глобальных компьютерных сетей, слухов (фейковых новостей) и т.д. Важнейшей задачей эффективного противодействия является своевременное выявление и идентификация информационно-психологического влияния, а также точная оценка возможных деструктивных последствий, которые могут привести к информационному и психологическому вмешательству. В данной связи актуальной задачей является изучение рассматриваемых в статье вопросов. В настоящее время в связи с возрастанием потока информации из различных источников актуальность обретает разработка мер предупреждения информационно-психологического воздействия и негативных последствий в виде изменения потребностей индивида (групп людей) посредством манипуляторных действий производителей и поставщиков товаров и услуг. Авторами статьи изучена реализация процесса управления социальными системами в информационном обществе, представленная российскими и зарубежными авторами. Приведены основные понятия, классификации методов информационно-психологического воздействия, выделены и разграничены методы, оказывающие наиболее высокое воздействие на людей с критическим и некритическим восприятием информации. Важнейшими характеристиками мыслительной деятельности личности являются: самостоятельность, критичность мышления, глубина и гибкость мышления, анализ и поиск решения задач. Представлен литературный обзор и основные выводы исследователей сущности и содержания процесса информационно-психологического воздействия. Проведен анализ информационно-психологического влияния на человека (группы лиц) в период пандемии. This paper analyzes theoretical aspects of information-psychological influence on personality. The main areas of information and psychological impact include economic, political, military, etc. The implementation of the process of information and psychological impact is aimed at the main spheres of life of an individual or social group through the media, social networks, global computer networks, rumors (fake news), etc. The most important task of effective counteraction is the timely identification of information and psychological influence, as well as an accurate assessment of possible destructive consequences that can lead to information and psychological intervention. In this regard, the current task is to study the issues discussed in the paper. At present, as the flow of information from various sources increases, the development of information prevention measures becomes relevant. At present, as the flow of information from various sources increases, the development of measures to prevent information and psychological effects and negative consequences in the form of changing the needs of the individual (groups of people) through manipulative actions of manufacturers and suppliers of goods and services becomes relevant. The authors of the publication studied the implementation of the process of managing social systems in the information society, presented by Russian and foreign authors. Basic concepts, classifications of methods of information-psychological impact are given, methods having the highest impact on people with critical and non-critical perception of information are identified and delineated. The most important characteristics of a person's thought activity are independence, criticality of thinking, depth and flexibility of thinking, analysis and search for solutions to problems. Literary overview and main conclusions of researchers on essence and content of the process of information-psychological impact are presented. An analysis of the information and psychological impact on the person (groups of persons) during the pandemic was carried out.

scholarly journals Social learning strategies regulate the wisdom and madness of interactive crowds

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wataru Toyokawa ◽  
Andrew Whalen ◽  
Kevin N. Laland
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Group Size ◽  
Collective Intelligence ◽  
Collective Wisdom ◽  
The Social ◽  
Challenging Tasks ◽  
Task Uncertainty ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Social Learning Strategies

AbstractWhy groups of individuals sometimes exhibit collective ‘wisdom’ and other times maladaptive ‘herding’ is an enduring conundrum. Here we show that this apparent conflict is regulated by the social learning strategies deployed. We examined the patterns of human social learning through an interactive online experiment with 699 participants, varying both task uncertainty and group size, then used hierarchical Bayesian model-ftting to identify the individual learning strategies exhibited by participants. Challenging tasks elicit greater conformity amongst individuals, with rates of copying increasing with group size, leading to high probabilities of herding amongst large groups confronted with uncertainty. Conversely, the reduced social learning of small groups, and the greater probability that social information would be accurate for less-challenging tasks, generated ‘wisdom of the crowd’ effects in other circumstances. Our model-based approach provides evidence that the likelihood of collective intelligence versus herding can be predicted, resolving a longstanding puzzle in the literature.

scholarly journals The Importance of Individual Memories of Slovenian Emigrants When Interpreting Slovenian Emigration Processes

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 174-190
Author(s):  
Mojca Ilc Klun
Keyword(s):  
Life Stories ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Real Life ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Global Migration ◽  
Personal Experiences ◽  
General Data ◽  
Place Of Origin ◽  
The Individual

Slovenian emigration is often presented with a general overview in which general data and statistical facts prevail, while the individual experiences and memories of Slovenian emigrants are omitted from these descriptions. In the study, which was conducted using a biographical-narrative methodological approach among members of the Slovenian diaspora from the United States of America, Canada and Australia, we were interested in the personal experiences and memories of those who emigrated from Slovenia themselves, or whose ancestors did. Through those life stories and memories, we can illustrate Slovenian emigration processes in such a way that people would better understand global migration processes. In the article we present three real life stories of members of the Slovenian diaspora, their individual memories and perceptions of their place of origin, homeland, the memories of emigration and immigration processes and memories of integration to the new social environments.

Patterns in the distribution of Melanesian land Mollusca

1969 ◽  
Vol 255 (800) ◽  
pp. 285-306 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Region ◽  
Ecological Diversity ◽  
Positive Correlation ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Distributional Patterns ◽  
Changing Patterns ◽  
Biological Attributes ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Taxonomic Groups ◽  
Available Information

Melanesia is important in any discussion concerned with the distribution of terrestrial Mollusca in the Pacific region, as a zone exhibiting an intermingling of faunas derived from different geographical areas. Along the chain of islands constituting Melanesia these faunal elements exhibit changing patterns consistent with island hopping across water gaps. Yet the numbers of species of Mollusca on these islands show a positive correlation with the size of the individual islands (figure 19) and not, as might be expected, with the distance of particular taxonomic groups from centres of dispersal. Variations in this pattern can be attributed to differences in the isolation of islands, ecological diversity and the paucity of collecting in many areas. It should be realized that the distributional patterns recorded for any particular taxon must reflect the frequency and density of collecting and the inadequacies of the systematics of the group, besides biological attributes of the taxon and the island. The limitations should not distract, however, from attempts to analyse the available information, instead they must serve as a guide to the difficulties involved.

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