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.

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.

scholarly journals Not by transmission alone: the role of invention in cultural evolution

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1828) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Perry ◽  
Alecia Carter ◽  
Marco Smolla ◽  
Erol Akçay ◽  
Sabine Nöbel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Four Levels ◽  
New Research

Innovation—the combination of invention and social learning—can empower species to invade new niches via cultural adaptation. Social learning has typically been regarded as the fundamental driver for the emergence of traditions and thus culture. Consequently, invention has been relatively understudied outside the human lineage—despite being the source of new traditions. This neglect leaves basic questions unanswered: what factors promote the creation of new ideas and practices? What affects their spread or loss? We critically review the existing literature, focusing on four levels of investigation: traits (what sorts of behaviours are easiest to invent?), individuals (what factors make some individuals more likely to be inventors?), ecological contexts (what aspects of the environment make invention or transmission more likely?), and populations (what features of relationships and societies promote the rise and spread of new inventions?). We aim to inspire new research by highlighting theoretical and empirical gaps in the study of innovation, focusing primarily on inventions in non-humans. Understanding the role of invention and innovation in the history of life requires a well-developed theoretical framework (which embraces cognitive processes) and a taxonomically broad, cross-species dataset that explicitly investigates inventions and their transmission. We outline such an agenda here. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Foundations of cultural evolution’.

Ritual’s Evolutionary Landscapes

2021 ◽  
pp. 127-144
Author(s):  
Harvey Whitehouse
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Social Complexity ◽  
Epigenetic Landscape ◽  
Basic Model ◽  
Different Levels

Understanding the role of ritual in the evolution of social complexity requires attention to many complex, interacting processes operating at different levels. This chapter attempts to sort these out into a coherent overarching framework by building on the ideas of British biologist, philosopher, and polymath C. H. Waddington, who put forward the idea of an ‘epigenetic landscape’ to explain how organisms develop. Waddington’s basic model can be extended to explain how cognitive-developmental and social-historical landscapes unfold and how all three kinds of landscapes interact. Adopting this overarching perspective on cultural evolution helps bridge the unnecessary divisions among branches of evolutionary theory and psychology that emphasize distinct but potentially complementary aspects of social learning and cultural transmission.

scholarly journals Competitive advantage of rare behaviours induces adaptive diversity rather than social conformity in skill learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1933) ◽  
pp. 20201259
Author(s):  
Naama Aljadeff ◽  
Luc-Alain Giraldeau ◽  
Arnon Lotem
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Skill Learning ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Social Conformity ◽  
Frequency Dependent ◽  
Adaptive Diversity ◽  
Dependent Learning ◽  
Foraging Specialization

Recent studies have emphasized the role of social learning and cultural transmission in promoting conformity and uniformity in animal groups, but little attention has been given to the role of negative frequency-dependent learning in impeding conformity and promoting diversity instead. Here, we show experimentally that under competitive conditions that are common in nature, social foragers (although capable of social learning) are likely to develop diversity in foraging specialization rather than uniformity. Naive house sparrows that were introduced into groups of foraging specialists did not conform to the behaviour of the specialists, but rather learned to use the alternative food-related cues, thus forming groups of complementary specialists. We further show that individuals in such groups may forage more effectively in diverse environments. Our results suggest that when the benefit from socially acquired skills diminishes through competition in a negative frequency-dependent manner, animal societies will become behaviourally diverse rather than uniform.

Magistri Legis. Eine Studie zur dogmatischen Funktion im industriellen System

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-112
Author(s):  
Pierre Legendre
Keyword(s):  
Social Function ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Cultural Reproduction ◽  
Industrial System ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Law ◽  
New Look

"Der Beitrag reevaluiert die «dogmatische Funktion», eine soziale Funktion, die mit biologischer und kultureller Reproduktion und folglich der Reproduktion des industriellen Systems zusammenhängt. Indem sie sich auf der Grenze zwischen Anthropologie und Rechtsgeschichte des Westens situiert, nimmt die Studie die psychoanalytische Frage nach der Rolle des Rechts im Verhalten des modernen Menschen erneut in den Blick. </br></br>This article reappraises the dogmatic function, a social function related to biological and cultural reproduction and consequently to the reproduction of the industrial system itself. On the borderline of anthropology and of the history of law – applied to the West – this study takes a new look at the question raised by psychoanalysis concerning the role of law in modern human behaviour. "

Refugees in Resettlement: Processes, Policies, and Mental Health in the United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-195
Author(s):  
Johanna E. Nilsson ◽  
Katherine C. Jorgenson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Culturally Responsive ◽  
The United States ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Intervention Model ◽  
Humanitarian Crisis ◽  
American Psychological ◽  
Introductory Article

According to 2019 data, there are 26 million refugees and 3.5 million asylum seekers around the globe, representing a major humanitarian crisis. This Major Contribution provides information on the experiences of refugees resettled in the United States via the presentation of five manuscripts. In this introductory article, we address the current refugee crisis, refugee policies, and resettlement processes in the United States, as well as the American Psychological Association’s response to the crisis and the role of counseling psychology in serving refugees. Next follows three empirical articles, addressing aspects of the resettlement experiences of three groups of refugees: Somali, Burmese, and Syrian. The final article provides an overview of a culturally responsive intervention model to use when working with refugees.

scholarly journals The role of kinship in knowledge about medicinal plants: evidence for context-dependent model-based biases in cultural transmission?

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 370-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla de Carvalho de Brito ◽  
Washington Soares Ferreira-Júnior ◽  
Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque ◽  
Marcelo Alves Ramos ◽  
Taline Cristina da Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medicinal Plants ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Dependent Model ◽  
Context Dependent

Learning and the Evolution of Language: The Role of Cultural Variation and Learning Costs in the Baldwin Effect

2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Munroe ◽  
Angelo Cangelosi
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Structural Properties ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Cultural Variation ◽  
Baldwin Effect ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Acquisition Device ◽  
The Baldwin Effect

The Baldwin effect has been explicitly used by Pinker and Bloom as an explanation of the origins of language and the evolution of a language acquisition device. This article presents new simulations of an artificial life model for the evolution of compositional languages. It specifically addresses the role of cultural variation and of learning costs in the Baldwin effect for the evolution of language. Results show that when a high cost is associated with language learning, agents gradually assimilate in their genome some explicit features (e.g., lexical properties) of the specific language they are exposed to. When the structure of the language is allowed to vary through cultural transmission, Baldwinian processes cause, instead, the assimilation of a predisposition to learn, rather than any structural properties associated with a specific language. The analysis of the mechanisms underlying such a predisposition in terms of categorical perception supports Deacon's hypothesis regarding the Baldwinian inheritance of general underlying cognitive capabilities that serve language acquisition. This is in opposition to the thesis that argues for assimilation of structural properties needed for the specification of a full-blown language acquisition device.

scholarly journals Using insect natural history collections to study global change impacts: challenges and opportunities

2018 ◽  
Vol 374 (1763) ◽  
pp. 20170405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather M. Kharouba ◽  
Jayme M. M. Lewthwaite ◽  
Rob Guralnick ◽  
Jeremy T. Kerr ◽  
Mark Vellend
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Genomic Information ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
The Past ◽  
Natural History Collections ◽  
Global Change Research ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

Over the past two decades, natural history collections (NHCs) have played an increasingly prominent role in global change research, but they have still greater potential, especially for the most diverse group of animals on Earth: insects. Here, we review the role of NHCs in advancing our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary responses of insects to recent global changes. Insect NHCs have helped document changes in insects' geographical distributions, phenology, phenotypic and genotypic traits over time periods up to a century. Recent work demonstrates the enormous potential of NHCs data for examining insect responses at multiple temporal, spatial and phylogenetic scales. Moving forward, insect NHCs offer unique opportunities to examine the morphological, chemical and genomic information in each specimen, thus advancing our understanding of the processes underlying species’ ecological and evolutionary responses to rapid, widespread global changes. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Biological collections for understanding biodiversity in the anthropocene’.

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