scholarly journals Conspiracy Theories: A Cultural Evolution Theory approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Michael Stubbersfield
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Academic Fields ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Cultural Evolution Theory

Conspiracy theories have been part of human culture for hundreds of years, if not millennia, and have been the subject of research in academic fields such as Social Psychology, Political Science and Cultural Studies. At present, there has been little research examining conspiracy theories from a Cultural Evolution perspective. This chapter discusses the value of Cultural Evolution approaches to understanding the diffusion of conspiracy theories. Focusing on the role of biases in cultural transmission, it argues that a key advantage of applying a Cultural Evolution approach to this phenomenon is that it provides a strong theoretical and methodological framework to bridge the individual, inter-individual and population level factors that explain the cultural success of conspiracy theories, with potential for producing insights into how to limit their negative influence.

On Modeling Cognition and Culture: Why cultural evolution does not require replication of representations

2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Boyd ◽  
Joseph Henrich
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Cognition And Culture ◽  
The Individual

AbstractFormal models of cultural evolution analyze how cognitive processes combine with social interaction to generate the distributions and dynamics of 'representations.' Recently, cognitive anthropologists have criticized such models. They make three points: mental representations are non-discrete, cultural transmission is highly inaccurate, and mental representations are not replicated, but rather are 'reconstructed' through an inferential process that is strongly affected by cognitive 'attractors.' They argue that it follows from these three claims that: 1) models that assume replication or replicators are inappropriate, 2) selective cultural learning cannot account for stable traditions, and 3) selective cultural learning cannot generate cumulative adaptation. Here we use three formal models to show that even if the premises of this critique are correct, the deductions that have been drawn from them are false. In the first model, we assume continuously varying representations under the influence of weak selective transmission and strong attractors. We show that if the attractors are sufficiently strong relative to selective forces, the continuous representation model reduces to the standard discrete-trait replicator model, and the weak selective component determines the final equilibrium of the system. In the second model, we assume inaccurate replication and discrete traits. We show that very low fidelity replication of representations at the individual level does not preclude accurate replication at the population level, and therefore, accurate individual-level replication of representations is not necessary for either cultural inertia or cumulative cultural adaptation. In the third model, we derive plausible conditions for cumulative adaptive evolution, assuming continuous cultural representations, incomplete transmission and substantial inferential transformations.

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 Digital culture

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Acerbi
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Digital Culture ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Cumulative Culture ◽  
Future Directions

Cultural evolution can provide a useful framework to understand how information is produced, transmitted, and selected in contemporary online, digital, media. The diffusion of digital technologies triggered a radical departure from previous modalities of cultural transmission but, at the same time, general characteristics of human cultural evolution and cognition influence these developments. In this chapter, I will explore some areas where the links between cultural evolution research and digital media seem more promising. As cultural evolution-inspired research on internet phenomena is still in its infancy, these areas represent suggestions and links with works in other disciplines more than reviews of past research in cultural evolution. These include topics such as how to characterise the online effects of social influence and the spread of information; the possibility that digital, online, media could enhance cumulative culture; and the differences between online and offline cultural transmission. In the last section I will consider other possible future directions: the influences of different affordances in different media supporting cultural transmission; the role of producers of cultural traits; and, finally, some considerations on the effects on cultural dynamics of algorithms selecting information.

Dilemmas of Distrust: Conspiracy Beliefs, Elite Rhetoric, and Motivated Reasoning

2021 ◽  
pp. 106591292110345
Author(s):  
Scott Radnitz
Keyword(s):  
Relative Weight ◽  
State Level ◽  
Motivated Reasoning ◽  
Political Rhetoric ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Conspiracy Beliefs ◽  
The Individual

Conspiracy theories are playing an increasingly prominent role worldwide in both political rhetoric and popular belief. Previous research has emphasized the individual-level factors behind conspiracy belief but paid less attention to the role of elite framing, while focusing mostly on domestic political contexts. This study assesses the relative weight of official conspiracy claims and motivated biases in producing conspiracy beliefs, in two countries where identities other than partisanship are salient: Georgia and Kazakhstan. I report the results of a survey experiment that depicts a possible conspiracy and varies the content of official claims and relevant contextual details. The results show that motivated reasoning stemming from state-level geopolitical identities is strongly associated with higher conspiracy belief, whereas official claims have little effect on people’s perceptions of conspiracy. Respondents who exhibit higher conspiracy ideation are more likely to perceive a conspiracy but do not weight motivated biases or official claims differently from people with lower conspiratorial predispositions. The findings indicate the importance of (geopolitical) identities in shaping conspiracy beliefs and highlight some of the constraints facing elites who seek to benefit from the use of conspiracy claims.

Environment

2013 ◽  
pp. 290-295
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Holroyd ◽  
Nicholas C. Harvey ◽  
Mark H. Edwards ◽  
Cyrus Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Disease Pattern ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Life Course

Musculoskeletal disease covers a broad spectrum of conditions whose aetiology comprises variable genetic and environmental contributions. More recently it has become clear that, particularly early in life, the interaction of gene and environment is critical to the development of later disease. Additionally, only a small proportion of the variation in adult traits such as bone mineral density has been explained by specific genes in genome-wide association studies, suggesting that gene-environment interaction may explain a much larger part of the inheritance of disease risk than previously thought. It is therefore critically important to evaluate the environmental factors which may predispose to diseases such as osteorthritis, osteoporosis, and rheumatoid arthritis both at the individual and at the population level. In this chapter we describe the environmental contributors, across the whole life course, to osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis, as exemplar conditions. We consider factors such as age, gender, nutrition (including the role of vitamin D), geography, occupation, and the clues that secular changes of disease pattern may yield. We describe the accumulating evidence that conditions such as osteoporosis may be partly determined by the early interplay of environment and genotype, through aetiological mechanisms such as DNA methylation and other epigenetic phenomena. Such studies, and those examining the role of environmental influences across other stages of the life course, suggest that these issues should be addressed at all ages, starting from before conception, in order to optimally reduce the burden of musculoskeletal disorders in future generations.

scholarly journals Language As a Memory Carrier Of Perceptually-Based Knowledge. Selected Aspects Of Imagery In Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale And Troilus And Criseyde

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-141
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Stadnik
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Human Interaction ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Troilus And Criseyde ◽  
Language And Culture ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cumulative Cultural Evolution

AbstractIn the paper, we address the question of the relation between language and culture from a Cognitive Linguistic perspective. While accounting for the role of language as an aid to cultural transmission in maintaining the community’s conceptual order, we address the question of whether the concept of a linguistic worldview aptly captures the interplay between language and culture. We suggest that, due to cumulative cultural evolution spurred by the incessant development of human knowledge, layers of conceptualisations accumulate over time. It is proposed that this palimpsest of conceptualisations results from human interaction that transcends the constraints of the present moment, encompassing the past and present, as well as delineating possible developments of the community’s future conceptual order.

scholarly journals Identifying innovation in laboratory studies of cultural evolution: rates of retention and measures of adaptation

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1690) ◽  
pp. 20150193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine A. Caldwell ◽  
Hannah Cornish ◽  
Anne Kandler
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Adaptation ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
Task Success

In recent years, laboratory studies of cultural evolution have become increasingly prevalent as a means of identifying and understanding the effects of cultural transmission on the form and functionality of transmitted material. The datasets generated by these studies may provide insights into the conditions encouraging, or inhibiting, high rates of innovation, as well as the effect that this has on measures of adaptive cultural change. Here we review recent experimental studies of cultural evolution with a view to elucidating the role of innovation in generating observed trends. We first consider how tasks are presented to participants, and how the corresponding conceptualization of task success is likely to influence the degree of intent underlying any deviations from perfect reproduction. We then consider the measures of interest used by the researchers to track the changes that occur as a result of transmission, and how these are likely to be affected by differing rates of retention. We conclude that considering studies of cultural evolution from the perspective of innovation provides us with valuable insights that help to clarify important differences in research designs, which have implications for the likely effects of variation in retention rates on measures of cultural adaptation.

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.

Technology Integration: The Role of the Diabetes Care and Education Specialist in Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Isaacs ◽  
Carla Cox ◽  
Kathy Schwab ◽  
Tamara K. Oser ◽  
Joanne Rinker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Diabetes Care ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Technology Implementation ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Patient Centered ◽  
Diabetes Technology ◽  
Centered Care ◽  
Continuous Glucose Monitors ◽  
The Individual

Purpose Technology is rapidly evolving and has become an integral component of diabetes care. People with diabetes and clinicians are harnessing a variety of technologies, including connected blood glucose meters, continuous glucose monitors, insulin pumps, automated insulin delivery systems, data-sharing platforms, telehealth, remote monitoring, and smartphone mobile applications to improve clinical outcomes and quality of life. Although diabetes technology use is associated with improved outcomes, this is enhanced when the person using it is knowledgeable and actively engaged; simply wearing the device or downloading an app may not automatically translate into health benefits. The diabetes care and education specialist (DCES) has a central role in defining and establishing a technology-enabled practice setting that is efficient and sustainable. The purpose of this article is to describe the role of the DCES in technology implementation and to demonstrate the value of diabetes technology in both the care of the individual and as a tool to support population-level health improvements. Conclusion By following the recommendations in this article, DCESs can serve as technology champions in their respective practices and work to reduce therapeutic inertia while improving health outcomes and providing patient-centered care for the populations they serve.

scholarly journals Naturalizing Institutions: Evolutionary Principles and Application on the Case of Money

2014 ◽  
Vol 234 (2-3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Herrmann-Pillath
Keyword(s):  
Social Exchange ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Physical Realization ◽  
Rule Following ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Naturalistic Approach ◽  
The Individual

SummaryIn recent extensions of Darwinism into economics, the replicator-interactor duality looms large. I propose a naturalistic approach to this duality in the context of the theory of institutions, which means that its use is necessarily dependent on identifying a physical realization. I introduce a general framework, which synthesizes Searle’s and Aoki’s theories, especially with regard to the role of public representations (signs) in the coordination of actions, and the function of cognitive processes that underlie rule-following as a behavioural disposition. Institutions are causal circuits that connect the population-level dynamics of interactions with cognitive phenomena on the individual level which ultimately root in neuronal structures. I propose a new conceptualization of the replicator in the context of institutions: the replicator is a causal conjunction between (physical) signs and neuronal structures which undergirds the dispositions that generate rule-following actions. Signs, in turn, are outcomes of population-level interactions. I apply this framework on the case of money, analysing the emotions that go along with the use of money, and presenting a stylized account of the emergence of money in terms of the naturalized Searle-Aoki model. In this view, money is a neuronally anchored sign for emotions relating with social exchange and reciprocity. The money replicator is physically realized in a causal conjunction of money artefacts and money emotions.

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