scholarly journals Behavioural variation in 172 small-scale societies indicates that social learning is the main mode of human adaptation

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1810) ◽  
pp. 20150061 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Mathew ◽  
Charles Perreault
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Causal Reasoning ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Human Adaptation ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Main Mode

The behavioural variation among human societies is vast and unmatched in the animal world. It is unclear whether this variation is due to variation in the ecological environment or to differences in cultural traditions. Underlying this debate is a more fundamental question: is the richness of humans’ behavioural repertoire due to non-cultural mechanisms, such as causal reasoning, inventiveness, reaction norms, trial-and-error learning and evoked culture, or is it due to the population-level dynamics of cultural transmission? Here, we measure the relative contribution of environment and cultural history in explaining the behavioural variation of 172 Native American tribes at the time of European contact. We find that the effect of cultural history is typically larger than that of environment. Behaviours also persist over millennia within cultural lineages. This indicates that human behaviour is not predominantly determined by single-generation adaptive responses, contra theories that emphasize non-cultural mechanisms as determinants of human behaviour. Rather, the main mode of human adaptation is social learning mechanisms that operate over multiple generations.

Towards robot cultures?

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aris Alissandrakis ◽  
Chrystopher L. Nehaniv ◽  
Kerstin Dautenhahn
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Action Learning ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Virtual Agents ◽  
Correspondence Problem ◽  
Test Bed ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Research Issues ◽  
Perceptual Matching

The study of imitation and other mechanisms of social learning is an exciting area of research for all those interested in understanding the origin and the nature of animal learning in a social context. Moreover, imitation is an increasingly important research topic in Artificial Intelligence and social robotics which opens up the possibility of individualized social intelligence in robots that are part of a community, and allows us to harness not only individual learning by the single robot, but also the acquisition of new skills by observing other members of the community (robots, humans, or virtual agents). After an introduction to the main research issues in research on imitation in various fields (including psychology, biology and robotics), we motivate the particular focus of this work, namely the correspondence problem. We describe Action Learning for Imitation via Correspondences between Embodiments (Alice), an implemented generic framework for solving the correspondence problem between differently embodied robots. Alice enables a robotic agent to learn a behavioral repertoire suitable to performing a task by observing a model agent. Importantly, the model agent could possibly possess a different type of body, e.g. a different number of limbs or joints (implying different degrees of freedom), a different height, different sensors, a different basic action repertoire, etc. Previously, in a test-bed where the agents differed according to their possible movement patterns, we demonstrated that the character of imitation achieved will depend on the granularity of subgoal matching, and on the metrics used to evaluate success. In our current work, we implemented Alice in a new test-bed called Rabit where simple simulated robotic arm agents use various metrics for evaluating success according to actions, states, effects, or weighted combinations. We examine the roles of synchronization, looseness of perceptual matching, and of proprioceptive matching by a series of experiments. Also, we study how Alice copes with changes in the embodiment of the imitator during learning. Our simulation results suggest that synchronization and loose perceptual matching allow for faster acquisition of behavioral compentencies at low error rates. Social learning (broadly construed) plays a role as a replication mechanism for behaviors and results in variability when the transmitted behavior differs from the model’s behavior, thus providing the evolutionary substrate for culture and its pre-cursors. Social learning in robotics could therefore serve as the basis for culture in societies whose members include artificial agents. We address the use of imitative social learning mechanisms like Alice for transmission of skills between robots, and give first examples of transmission of a skill despite differences in embodiment of agents involved. In the particular setup, transmission occurs through a chain, as well as emerging in cyclic arrangements of robots. These simple examples demonstrate that by using social learning and imitation, (proto-)cultural transmission is possible among robots, even in heterogeneous groups of robots.

THE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DIFFUSION OF STYLISTIC INNOVATIONS IN MATERIAL CULTURE

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 1150010 ◽  
Author(s):  
JONATHAN B. SCHOLNICK
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
New England ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovations ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Cumulative Frequency ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Culture Sequence ◽  
Frequency Curves

Many explanations for the sigmoid or S-shaped curves that characterize the diffusion of innovations through time have been proposed. Recent studies demonstrate that social learning mechanisms, including conformist strategies, and heterogeneous adoption thresholds related to economic inequality and the decreasing cost of goods can generate these S-shaped cumulative frequency curves. The present study of a regional material culture sequence expands our inquiry concerning the underlying social forces that structure diffusion through both space and time. Using historic New England gravestones and their associated documents, this study considers both cultural transmission between stone carvers and consumer choices. Social learning among consumers can generate both wave-like diffusion patterns through space and lead to the persistence of cultural variants in certain locales.

scholarly journals Rules of thumb and cultural evolution: How simple heuristics have guided human adaptation and the emergence of cultural complexity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roope Oskari Kaaronen ◽  
Mikael A. Manninen ◽  
Jussi T. Eronen
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Ecological Rationality ◽  
Simple Rules ◽  
Rules Of Thumb ◽  
Cumulative Cultural Evolution ◽  
Simple Heuristics

This article combines insights from ecological rationality and cultural evolution to illustrate how simple heuristics – colloquially, “rules of thumb” – have guided human behaviour and the evolution of complex cultures. Through a variety of examples and case studies, we discuss how human cultures have used rules of thumb in domains as diverse as foraging, resource management, social learning, moral judgment, and cultural niche construction. We propose four main arguments. Firstly, we argue that human societies have a rich cultural history in applying rules of thumb to guide daily activities and social organization. Second, we emphasise how rules of thumb may be convenient units of cultural transmission and high-fidelity social learning – the backbones of cumulative cultural evolution. Third, we highlight how rules of thumb can facilitate efficient decision making by making use of environmental and bodily features. Fourth, we discuss how simple rules of thumb may serve as building blocks for the emergence of more complex cultural patterns. This paper sets a research agenda for studying how simple rules contribute to cultural evolution in the past, the present, and the Anthropocene future.

scholarly journals Introduction. Cultural transmission and the evolution of human behaviour

2008 ◽  
Vol 363 (1509) ◽  
pp. 3469-3476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenny Smith ◽  
Michael L Kalish ◽  
Thomas L Griffiths ◽  
Stephan Lewandowsky
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Personal View ◽  
Introductory Article

The articles in this theme issue seek to understand the evolutionary bases of social learning and the consequences of cultural transmission for the evolution of human behaviour. In this introductory article, we provide a summary of these articles (seven articles on the experimental exploration of cultural transmission and three articles on the role of gene–culture coevolution in shaping human behaviour) and a personal view of some promising lines of development suggested by the work summarized here.

Cultural evolution and cultural psychology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Mesoudi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Cultural Inheritance ◽  
Human Psychology

Cultural evolution is a branch of the evolutionary sciences which assumes that (i) human cognition and behaviour is shaped not only by genetic inheritance, but also cultural inheritance (also known as social learning), and (ii) this cultural inheritance constitutes a Darwinian evolutionary system that can be analysed and studied using tools borrowed from evolutionary biology. In this chapter I explore the numerous compatibilities between the fields of cultural evolution and cultural psychology, and the potential mutual benefits from their closer alignment. First, understanding the evolutionary context within which human psychology emerged gives added significance to the findings of cultural psychologists, which reinforce the conclusion reached by cultural evolution scholars that humans inhabit a ‘cultural niche’ within which the major means of adaptation to difference environments is cultural, rather than genetic. Hence, we should not be surprised that human psychology shows substantial cross-cultural variation. Second, a focus on cultural transmission pathways, drawing on cultural evolution models and empirical research, can help to explain to the maintenance of, and potential changes in, cultural variation in psychological processes. Evidence from migrants, in particular, points to a mix of vertical, oblique and horizontal cultural transmission that can explain the differential stability of different cultural dimensions. Third, cultural evolutionary methods offer powerful means of testing historical (“macro-evolutionary”) hypotheses put forward by cultural psychologists for the origin of psychological differences. Explanations in terms of means of subsistence, rates of environmental change or pathogen prevalence can be tested using quantitative models and phylogenetic analyses that can be used to reconstruct cultural lineages. Evolutionary considerations also point to potential problems with current cross-country comparisons conducted within cultural psychology, such as the non-independence of data points due to shared cultural history. Finally, I argue that cultural psychology can play a central role in a synthetic evolutionary science of culture, providing valuable links between individual-oriented disciplines such as experimental psychology and neuroscience on the one hand, and society-oriented disciplines such as anthropology, history and sociology on the other, all within an evolutionary framework that provides links to the biological sciences.

Low Self-Control, Substance-Using Peers and Intimate Partners, Pro-Drug Use Definitions, and Inhalant Use Among Convicted Offenders in South Korea

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 128-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaeyong Choi ◽  
Nathan E. Kruis
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Mediation Effects ◽  
Mediation Hypothesis ◽  
Low Self Control ◽  
The Relationship

Hirschi has repeatedly argued that the relationship between social learning variables and crime is a product of “self-selection” driven by low self-control (LSC). Akers’ has suggested that social learning mechanisms, such as affiliations with deviant individuals and acceptance of criminal definitions, can mediate the effects of LSC on crime. Interestingly, there has been little comparative work done to explore this mediation hypothesis in the realm of substance use for offender populations outside of the United States. This study helps fill these gaps in the literature by exploring the potential mediation effects of social learning variables on the relationship between LSC and inhalant use among a sample of 739 male offenders in South Korea. Our results provide strong support for the mediation hypothesis that LSC indirectly influences self-reported inhalant use through social learning mechanisms.

scholarly journals The evolution of social learning mechanisms and cultural phenomena in group foragers

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. van der Post ◽  
Mathias Franz ◽  
Kevin N. Laland
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Mechanisms

scholarly journals Experimental studies illuminate the cultural transmission of percussive technologies in Homo and Pan

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1682) ◽  
pp. 20140359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Whiten
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Tool Use ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Cognitive Context ◽  
The Social ◽  
Special Power ◽  
Social Learning Processes

The complexity of Stone Age tool-making is assumed to have relied upon cultural transmission, but direct evidence is lacking. This paper reviews evidence bearing on this question provided through five related empirical perspectives. Controlled experimental studies offer special power in identifying and dissecting social learning into its diverse component forms, such as imitation and emulation. The first approach focuses on experimental studies that have discriminated social learning processes in nut-cracking by chimpanzees. Second come experiments that have identified and dissected the processes of cultural transmission involved in a variety of other force-based forms of chimpanzee tool use. A third perspective is provided by field studies that have revealed a range of forms of forceful, targeted tool use by chimpanzees, that set percussion in its broader cognitive context. Fourth are experimental studies of the development of flint knapping to make functional sharp flakes by bonobos, implicating and defining the social learning and innovation involved. Finally, new and substantial experiments compare what different social learning processes, from observational learning to teaching, afford good quality human flake and biface manufacture. Together these complementary approaches begin to delineate the social learning processes necessary to percussive technologies within the Pan – Homo clade.

scholarly journals Testing differential use of payoff-biased social learning strategies in children and chimpanzees

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1868) ◽  
pp. 20171751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian L. Vale ◽  
Emma G. Flynn ◽  
Jeremy Kendal ◽  
Bruce Rawlings ◽  
Lydia M. Hopper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Beneficial Traits ◽  
Children’S Behaviour ◽  
Social Exposure ◽  
Reward Information ◽  
Social Learning Strategies ◽  
Exchange Behaviour

Various non-human animal species have been shown to exhibit behavioural traditions. Importantly, this research has been guided by what we know of human culture, and the question of whether animal cultures may be homologous or analogous to our own culture. In this paper, we assess whether models of human cultural transmission are relevant to understanding biological fundamentals by investigating whether accounts of human payoff-biased social learning are relevant to chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ). We submitted 4- and 5-year-old children ( N = 90) and captive chimpanzees ( N = 69) to a token–reward exchange task. The results revealed different forms of payoff-biased learning across species and contexts. Specifically, following personal and social exposure to different tokens, children's exchange behaviour was consistent with proportional imitation, where choice is affected by both prior personally acquired and socially demonstrated token–reward information. However, when the socially derived information regarding token value was novel, children's behaviour was consistent with proportional observation; paying attention to socially derived information and ignoring their prior personal experience. By contrast, chimpanzees' token choice was governed by their own prior experience only, with no effect of social demonstration on token choice, conforming to proportional reservation. We also find evidence for individual- and group-level differences in behaviour in both species. Despite the difference in payoff strategies used, both chimpanzees and children adopted beneficial traits when available. However, the strategies of the children are expected to be the most beneficial in promoting flexible behaviour by enabling existing behaviours to be updated or replaced with new and often superior ones.

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