scholarly journals Cultural selection shapes network structure

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. eaaw0609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Smolla ◽  
Erol Akçay
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Level Structure ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Dense Networks ◽  
The Social

Cultural evolution relies on the social transmission of cultural traits along a population’s social network. Research indicates that network structure affects information spread and thus the capacity for cumulative culture. However, how network structure itself is driven by population-culture co-evolution remains largely unclear. We use a simple model to investigate how populations negotiate the trade-off between acquiring new skills and getting better at existing skills and how this trade-off shapes social networks. We find unexpected eco-evolutionary feedbacks from culture onto social networks and vice versa. We show that selecting for skill generalists results in sparse networks with diverse skill sets, whereas selecting for skill specialists results in dense networks and a population that specializes on the same few skills on which everyone is an expert. Our model advances our understanding of the complex feedbacks in cultural evolution and demonstrates how individual-level behavior can lead to the emergence of population-level structure.

scholarly journals Cultural Selection Shapes Network Structure

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Smolla ◽  
Erol Akcay
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Level Structure ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Ecological Trap ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Cultural Selection ◽  
Dynamic Social Networks ◽  
The Social

Cultural evolution relies on the social transmission of cultural traits across a population, along the ties of an underlying social network that emerges from non-random interactions among individuals. Research indicates that the structure of those interaction networks affects information spread, and thus a population's ability for cumulative culture. However, how network structure itself is driven by population-culture co-evolution remains largely unclear. We use a simple but realistic model of complex dynamic social networks to investigate how populations negotiate the trade-off between acquiring new skills and getting better at existing skills, and how this trade-off, in turn, shapes the social structure of the population. Our results reveal unexpected eco-evolutionary feedback from culture onto social network structure and vice versa. We show that selecting for generalists (favouring a broad repertoire of skills) results in sparsely connected networks with highly diverse skill sets, whereas selecting for specialists (favouring skill proficiency) results in densely connected networks and a population that specializes on the same few skills on which everyone is an expert. Surprisingly, cultural selection for specialisation can act as an 'ecological trap' where it can take a long time for a specialist population to adapt to a generalist world. Our model advances our understanding of the complex feedbacks in cultural evolution and demonstrates how individual-level behaviour can lead to the emergence of population-level structure.

scholarly journals The Network Structure of Police Misconduct

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 237802311987979 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Wood ◽  
Daria Roithmayr ◽  
Andrew V. Papachristos
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Misconduct ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Network Ties ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Using Data

Conventional explanations of police misconduct generally adopt a microlevel focus on deviant officers or a macrolevel focus on the top-down organization of police departments. Between these levels are social networks of misconduct. This study recreates these networks using data on 16,503 complaints and 15,811 police officers over a six-year period in Chicago. We examine individual-level factors associated with receiving a complaint, the basic properties of these misconduct networks, and factors related to officer co-naming in complaints. We find that the incidence of police misconduct is associated with attributes including race, age, and tenure and that almost half of police officers are connected in misconduct ties in broader networks of misconduct. We also find that certain dyadic factors, especially seniority and race, strongly predict network ties and the incidence of group misconduct. Our results provide actionable information regarding possible ways to leverage the co-complaint network structure to reduce misconduct.

Factors Affecting Individual Level ERP Assimilation in a Social Network Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luan Gao ◽  
Luning Liu ◽  
Yuqiang Feng
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Interactive Learning ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Social

Prior research on ERP assimilation has primarily focused on influential factors at the organizational level. In this study, the authors attempt to extend their understanding of individual level ERP assimilation from the perspective of social network theory. They designed a multi-case study to explore the relations between ERP users' social networks and their levels of ERP assimilation based on the three dimensions of the social networks. The authors gathered data through interviews with 26 ERP users at different levels in five companies. Qualitative analysis was used to understand the effects of social networks and interactive learning. They found that users' social networks play a significant role in individual level ERP assimilation through interactive learning among users. They also found five key factors that facilitate users' assimilation of ERP knowledge: homophily (age, position and rank), tie content (instrumental and expressive ties), tie strength, external ties, and centrality.

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.

On the Privacy and Utility of Anonymized Social Networks

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Song ◽  
Xuesong Lu ◽  
Sadegh Nobari ◽  
Stéphane Bressan ◽  
Panagiotis Karras
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Media ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Private Lives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Do So

One is either on Facebook or not. Of course, this assessment is controversial and its rationale arguable. It is nevertheless not far, for many, from the reason behind joining social media and publishing and sharing details of their professional and private lives. Not only the personal details that may be revealed, but also the structure of the networks are sources of invaluable information for any organization wanting to understand and learn about social groups, their dynamics and members. These organizations may or may not be benevolent. It is important to devise, design and evaluate solutions that guarantee some privacy. One approach that reconciles the different stakeholders’ requirement is the publication of a modified graph. The perturbation is hoped to be sufficient to protect members’ privacy while it maintains sufficient utility for analysts wanting to study the social media as a whole. In this paper, the authors try to empirically quantify the inevitable trade-off between utility and privacy. They do so for two state-of-the-art graph anonymization algorithms that protect against most structural attacks, the k-automorphism algorithm and the k-degree anonymity algorithm. The authors measure several metrics for a series of real graphs from various social media before and after their anonymization under various settings.

Epigenetic and cultural evolution are non-Darwinian

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-371
Author(s):  
Liane Gabora
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Self Assembly ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Early Evolution ◽  
Epigenetic Change ◽  
Assembly Code ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Distinct Role

AbstractThe argument that heritable epigenetic change plays a distinct role in evolution would be strengthened through recognition that it is what bootstrapped the origin and early evolution of life, and that, like behavioral and symbolic change, it is non-Darwinian. The mathematics of natural selection, a population-level process, is limited to replication with negligible individual-level change that uses a self-assembly code.

scholarly journals Offspring social network structure predicts fitness in families

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1749) ◽  
pp. 4914-4922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick J. Royle ◽  
Thomas W. Pike ◽  
Philipp Heeb ◽  
Heinz Richner ◽  
Mathias Kölliker
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Social Network Structure ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Individual

Social structures such as families emerge as outcomes of behavioural interactions among individuals, and can evolve over time if families with particular types of social structures tend to leave more individuals in subsequent generations. The social behaviour of interacting individuals is typically analysed as a series of multiple dyadic (pair-wise) interactions, rather than a network of interactions among multiple individuals. However, in species where parents feed dependant young, interactions within families nearly always involve more than two individuals simultaneously. Such social networks of interactions at least partly reflect conflicts of interest over the provision of costly parental investment. Consequently, variation in family network structure reflects variation in how conflicts of interest are resolved among family members. Despite its importance in understanding the evolution of emergent properties of social organization such as family life and cooperation, nothing is currently known about how selection acts on the structure of social networks. Here, we show that the social network structure of broods of begging nestling great tits Parus major predicts fitness in families. Although selection at the level of the individual favours large nestlings, selection at the level of the kin-group primarily favours families that resolve conflicts most effectively.

Why Are Modern Families Small? Toward an Evolutionary and Cultural Explanation for the Demographic Transition

2005 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 360-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley Newson ◽  
Tom Postmes ◽  
S. E. G Lea ◽  
Paul Webley
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Social Control ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Reproductive Behavior ◽  
Demographic Transition ◽  
The Social ◽  
Large Families ◽  
Cultural Explanation

As societies modernize, they go through what has become known as “the demographic transition;” couples begin to limit the size of their families. Models to explain this change assume that reproductive behavior is either under individual control or under social control. The evidence that social influence plays a role in the control of reproduction is strong, but the models cannot adequately explain why the development of small family norms always accompanies modernization. We suggest that the widening of social networks, which has been found to occur with modernization, is sufficient to explain the change in reproductive norms if it is assumed that (a) advice and comment on reproduction that passes among kin is more likely to encourage the creation of families than that which passes among nonkin and (b) this advice and comment influence the social norms induced from the communications. This would, through a process of cultural evolution, lead to the development of norms that make it increasingly difficult to have large families.

scholarly journals Content bias in the cultural evolution of house finch song

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mason Youngblood ◽  
David Lahti
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Population Level ◽  
R Package ◽  
House Finch ◽  
Population Declines ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Transmission Mechanisms ◽  
Content Bias ◽  
Approximate Bayesian

In this study, we used a longitudinal dataset of house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) song recordings spanning four decades in the introduced eastern range to assess how individual-level cultural transmission mechanisms drive population-level changes in birdsong. First, we developed an agent-based model (available as a new R package called TransmissionBias) that simulates the cultural transmission of house finch song given different parameters related to transmission biases, or biases in social learning that modify the probability of adoption of particular cultural variants. Next, we used approximate Bayesian computation and machine learning to estimate what parameter values likely generated the temporal changes in diversity in our observed data. We found evidence that strong content bias, likely targeted towards syllable complexity, plays a central role in the cultural evolution of house finch song in western Long Island. Frequency and demonstrator biases appear to be neutral or absent. Additionally, we estimated that house finch song is transmitted with extremely high fidelity. Future studies should use our simulation framework to better understand how cultural transmission and population declines influence song diversity in wild populations.

Cultural evolution in more than two dimensions: Distinguishing social learning biases and identifying payoff structures

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-92
Author(s):  
Alex Mesoudi
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Learning Biases ◽  
Payoff Structure ◽  
Social Learning Biases

AbstractBentley et al.’s two-dimensional conceptual map is complementary to cultural evolution research that has sought to explain population-level cultural dynamics in terms of individual-level behavioral processes. Here, I qualify their scheme by arguing that different social learning biases should be treated distinctly, and that the transparency of decisions is sometimes conflated with the actual underlying payoff structure of those decisions.

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