scholarly journals Human nature, human culture: the case of cultural evolution

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 20170018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Lewens
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Social Anthropology ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
Organic Evolution ◽  
Related Idea ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

In recent years, far from arguing that evolutionary approaches to our own species permit us to describe the fundamental character of human nature, a prominent group of cultural evolutionary theorists has instead argued that the very idea of ‘human nature’ is one we should reject. It makes no sense, they argue, to speak of human nature in opposition to human culture. The very same sceptical arguments have also led some thinkers—usually from social anthropology—to dismiss the intimately related idea that we can talk of human culture in opposition to human nature. How, then, are we supposed to understand the cultural evolutionary project itself, whose proponents seem to deny the distinction between human nature and human culture, while simultaneously relying on a closely allied distinction between ‘genetic’ (or sometimes ‘organic’) evolution and ‘cultural’ evolution? This paper defends the cultural evolutionary project against the charge that, in refusing to endorse the concept of human nature, it has inadvertently sabotaged itself.

scholarly journals The Cultural Evolution of Human Nature

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Stanford
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Evolutionary Synthesis ◽  
Social Anthropology ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary ◽  
Ontological Framework

Abstract Recent years have seen the growing promise of cultural evolutionary theory as a new approach to bringing human behaviour fully within the broader evolutionary synthesis. This review of two recent seminal works on this topic argues that cultural evolution now holds the potential to bring together fields as disparate as neuroscience and social anthropology within a unified explanatory and ontological framework.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Lewens
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Potential Functions ◽  
Human Psychology ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
The Third ◽  
Current State ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Compare And Contrast

Many evolutionary theorists have enthusiastically embraced human nature, but large numbers of evolutionists have also rejected it. It is also important to recognize the nuanced views on human nature that come from the side of the social sciences. This introduction provides an overview of the current state of the human nature debate, from the anti-essentialist consensus to the possibility of a Gray’s Anatomy of human psychology. Three potential functions for the notion of species nature are identified. The first is diagnostic, assigning an organism to the correct species. The second is species-comparative, allowing us to compare and contrast different species. The third function is contrastive, establishing human nature as a foil for human culture. The Introduction concludes with a brief synopsis of each chapter.

scholarly journals Cultural Evolution of Genetic Heritability

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.

The function of myths about great leaders in human culture: A cultural evolutionary perspective

Leadership ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 757-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micha Popper ◽  
Omri Castelnovo
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Evolutionary Perspective ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Suggested Approach ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary ◽  
Cultural Functions

The discussion takes an evolutionary–cultural perspective in which (a) humans are inherently attracted to large figures (i.e., leaders, heroes), perceived as competent and benevolent entities; (b) the large figure’s influence rests largely on evolutionary phylogenetic biases; (c) the large figure’s effects are expressed through a mechanism designed to transmit cultural knowledge vertically. The suggested view sheds a different light on the psychological and cultural functions of myths about great leaders, and allows us to examine issues such as charisma and culture, the place of the leader in creating collective identity and transmission of cultural norms and practices. Research directions derived from the suggested approach are discussed.

scholarly journals Sacral rulers in pre-Christian Scandinavia: The possibilities of typological comparisons within the paradigm of cultural evolution

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-35
Author(s):  
Simon Nygaard
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Main Part ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Societal Structure ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

This article offers a new perspective on the century-old discussion of sacral rulers in the history of religions generally, and pre-Christian Scandinavian religions specifically, namely the application of a cultural evolutionary theoretical framework based on the work of Robert N. Bellah. In doing this, the article opens the possibility of wider typological comparisons within this paradigm and suggests a nuancing of Bellah’s typology with the addition of the category of ‘chiefdom religion’. This is utilised in the main part of the article, which features a comparison between the figure of the sacral ruler in pre-Christian Scandinavian and pre-Christian Hawaiian religions through an analysis of: 1) the position of the ruler in society, cult, and ideology; 2) the societal structure in which these religions are found; 3) the idea of a ruler sacrifice; 4) incestuous relationships and their ideological implications; and, finally, 5) the idea of a double rulership. Following this comparison, the perspectives in and the usefulness of cultural evolutionary theories in the history of religions are briefly evaluated.

scholarly journals Other Ethics: Decentering the Human in Weird Horror

2017 ◽  
pp. 12-24
Author(s):  
Marianne Gunderson
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
Human Subjectivity ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Weird Fiction ◽  
The Absolute

Margrit Shildrick has argued that the monster’s ability to disturb and unsettle arises from its position as simultaneously same and different, both self and other at the same time. Through an analysis of Algernon Blackwood’s novella The Willows, this article discusses the challenge posed by the nonhuman Absolute other, the nebulous creatures whose whose difference is total, as they appear in weird fiction. Drawing on posthuman theory, it explores the ethical implications of imagining the crumbling horizons of human subjectivity in the meeting with the absolute and unknowable other. This article argues that by bringing concepts such as the horror of scale, ecophobia, the transformative power of awe, and the strangeness of matter into the monstrous figure, the weird undermines the structures that constructs human, culture, and mind as separate and different from the non-human, nature, and matter. By making us imagine a perspective from which humans are not just insignificant, but irrelevant, weird fiction not only challenges the anthropocentric worldview, but also makes us aware of the limitations and situatedness of human experience.

scholarly journals Variation is the universal: making cultural evolution work in developmental psychology

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1743) ◽  
pp. 20170059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Ann Kline ◽  
Rubeena Shamsudheen ◽  
Tanya Broesch
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Interdisciplinary Studies ◽  
Cultural Research ◽  
Cross Cultural Research ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary ◽  
Geographical Scope ◽  
Cultural Gaps

Culture is a human universal, yet it is a source of variation in human psychology, behaviour and development. Developmental researchers are now expanding the geographical scope of research to include populations beyond relatively wealthy Western communities. However, culture and context still play a secondary role in the theoretical grounding of developmental psychology research, far too often. In this paper, we highlight four false assumptions that are common in psychology, and that detract from the quality of both standard and cross-cultural research in development. These assumptions are: (i) the universality assumption , that empirical uniformity is evidence for universality, while any variation is evidence for culturally derived variation; (ii) the Western centrality assumption , that Western populations represent a normal and/or healthy standard against which development in all societies can be compared; (iii) the deficit assumption , that population-level differences in developmental timing or outcomes are necessarily due to something lacking among non-Western populations; and (iv) the equivalency assumption , that using identical research methods will necessarily produce equivalent and externally valid data, across disparate cultural contexts. For each assumption, we draw on cultural evolutionary theory to critique and replace the assumption with a theoretically grounded approach to culture in development. We support these suggestions with positive examples drawn from research in development. Finally, we conclude with a call for researchers to take reasonable steps towards more fully incorporating culture and context into studies of development, by expanding their participant pools in strategic ways. This will lead to a more inclusive and therefore more accurate description of human development. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bridging cultural gaps: interdisciplinary studies in human cultural evolution’.

The cultural evolution of war rituals

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Glowacki
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Evolutionary Processes ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary

AbstractThe cultural evolutionary processes outlined by Singh illuminate why ritualized behaviors aimed at controlling unseen forces and overcoming fear are common in warfare among many small-scale societies. They also suggest an explanation for the development of ritual specialists for war who are distinct from war leaders.

Rethinking Cultural Evolutionary Psychology

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 477-492
Author(s):  
Ryan Nichols ◽  
Henrike Moll ◽  
Jacob L. Mackey
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Psychology ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Cultural Evolutionary ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Alternative Theories

AbstractThis essay discusses Cecilia Heyes’ groundbreaking new book Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking. Heyes’ point of departure is the claim that current theories of cultural evolution fail adequately to make a place for the mind. Heyes articulates a cognitive psychology of cultural evolution by explaining how eponymous “cognitive gadgets,” such as imitation, mindreading and language, mental technologies, are “tuned” and “assembled” through social interaction and cultural learning. After recapitulating her explanations for the cultural and psychological origins of these gadgets, we turn to criticisms. Among those, we find Heyes’ use of evolutionary theory confusing on several points of importance; alternative theories of cultural evolution, especially those of the Tomasello group and of Boyd, Richerson and Henrich, are misrepresented; the book neglects joint attention and other forms of intersubjectivity in its explanation of the origins of cognitive gadgets; and, whereas Heyes accuses other theories of being “mindblind,” we find her theory ironically other-blind and autistic in character.

scholarly journals The evolution of high-fidelity social learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1928) ◽  
pp. 20200090
Author(s):  
Marcel Montrey ◽  
Thomas R. Shultz
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Bayesian Model ◽  
Individual Learning ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
Cumulative Cultural Evolution ◽  
Over Time

A defining feature of human culture is that knowledge and technology continually improve over time. Such cumulative cultural evolution (CCE) probably depends far more heavily on how reliably information is preserved than on how efficiently it is refined. Therefore, one possible reason that CCE appears diminished or absent in other species is that it requires accurate but specialized forms of social learning at which humans are uniquely adept. Here, we develop a Bayesian model to contrast the evolution of high-fidelity social learning, which supports CCE, against low-fidelity social learning, which does not. We find that high-fidelity transmission evolves when (1) social and (2) individual learning are inexpensive, (3) traits are complex, (4) individual learning is abundant, (5) adaptive problems are difficult and (6) behaviour is flexible. Low-fidelity transmission differs in many respects. It not only evolves when (2) individual learning is costly and (4) infrequent but also proves more robust when (3) traits are simple and (5) adaptive problems are easy. If conditions favouring the evolution of high-fidelity transmission are stricter (3 and 5) or harder to meet (2 and 4), this could explain why social learning is common, but CCE is rare.

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