scholarly journals Cultural stability without copying

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Acerbi ◽  
Mathieu Charbonneau ◽  
Helena Miton ◽  
Thom Scott-Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
Original Item ◽  
Evolving System ◽  
Productive Research ◽  
Empirical Record

What causes cultural stability? Culture can be studied as an evolving system, and the comparison between biological and cultural evolution has inspired a productive research agenda in which cultural stability is commonly attributed to the existence of mechanisms of high-fidelity cultural transmission. Other researchers have argued that no such copying processes are necessary to explain cultural stability, and that stability can also emerge as a by-product of convergent transformation (in which an item causes the production of another item whose form tends to deviate from that of the original item in a non random way). To investigate this issue, we present a series of stochastic simulation models of cultural evolution that make no prior assumptions about the type of processes by which cultural units propagate through a population. Results show that cultural stability can emerge and be maintained by convergent transformation alone, even in the absence of any form of copying or selection process. We also show that high-fidelity copying and convergent transformation are, contrary to some previous arguments, not opposing forces, and can in fact jointly contribute to cultural stability. Finally, we analyse how convergent transformation and high-fidelity copying can have different evolutionary signatures at the level of the population, and hence how their differing effects can be distinguished in the empirical record. Our models can be read as formalisations of Cultural Attraction Theory.

scholarly journals Culture without copying or selection

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Alberto Acerbi ◽  
Mathieu Charbonneau ◽  
Helena Miton ◽  
Thom Scott-Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Stochastic Models ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
Formal Support ◽  
Random Transformation ◽  
Degree Of Similarity

Abstract Typical examples of cultural phenomena all exhibit a degree of similarity across time and space at the level of the population. As such, a fundamental question for any science of culture is, what ensures this stability in the first place? Here we focus on the evolutionary and stabilizing role of ‘convergent transformation’, in which one item causes the production of another item whose form tends to deviate from the original in a directed, non-random way. We present a series of stochastic models of cultural evolution investigating its effects. Results show that cultural stability can emerge and be maintained by virtue of convergent transformation alone, in the absence of any form of copying or selection process. We show how high-fidelity copying and convergent transformation need not be opposing forces, and can jointly contribute to cultural stability. We finally analyse how non-random transformation and high-fidelity copying can have different evolutionary signatures at population level, and hence how their distinct effects can be distinguished in empirical records. Collectively, these results supplement existing approaches to cultural evolution based on the Darwinian analogy, while also providing formal support for other frameworks — such as Cultural Attraction Theory — that entail its further loosening.

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.

Adaptive response prediction for aerodynamic shape optimization

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 1485-1500
Author(s):  
Leifur Leifsson ◽  
Slawomir Koziel
Keyword(s):  
Shape Optimization ◽  
Adaptive Response ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Response Prediction ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
High Fidelity Simulation ◽  
Aerodynamic Shape Optimization ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Aerodynamic Shape ◽  
Fidelity Model

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reduce the overall computational time of aerodynamic shape optimization that involves accurate high-fidelity simulation models. Design/methodology/approach The proposed approach is based on the surrogate-based optimization paradigm. In particular, multi-fidelity surrogate models are used in the optimization process in place of the computationally expensive high-fidelity model. The multi-fidelity surrogate is constructed using physics-based low-fidelity models and a proper correction. This work introduces a novel correction methodology – referred to as the adaptive response prediction (ARP). The ARP technique corrects the low-fidelity model response, represented by the airfoil pressure distribution, through suitable horizontal and vertical adjustments. Findings Numerical investigations show the feasibility of solving real-world problems involving optimization of transonic airfoil shapes and accurate computational fluid dynamics simulation models of such surfaces. The results show that the proposed approach outperforms traditional surrogate-based approaches. Originality/value The proposed aerodynamic design optimization algorithm is novel and holistic. In particular, the ARP correction technique is original. The algorithm is useful for fast design of aerodynamic surfaces using high-fidelity simulation data in moderately sized search spaces, which is challenging using conventional methods because of excessive computational costs.

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.

scholarly journals Modelling cultural systems and selective filters

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fredrik Jansson ◽  
Elliot Aguilar ◽  
Alberto Acerbi ◽  
Magnus Enquist
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Change ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Change Models ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Modelling Framework ◽  
Structure Changes ◽  
Cultural Systems ◽  
Cultural Domain ◽  
The Individual

A specific goal of the field of cultural evolution is to understand how processes of transmission and selection at the individual level lead to population-wide patterns of cultural diversity and change. Models of cultural evolution have typically assumed that traits are independent of one another and essentially exchangeable. But culture has a structure: traits bear relationships to one another that affect the transmission and selection process itself. Here we introduce a modelling framework to explore the effect of cultural structure on the process of learning. Through simulations, we find that introducing this simple structure changes the cultural dynamics. Based on a basic filtering mechanism for parsing these relationships, more elaborate cultural filters emerge. In a mostly incompatible cultural domain of traits, these filters organise culture into mostly (but not fully) consistent and stable systems. Incompatible domains produce small homogeneous cultures, while more compatibility increases size, diversity, and group divergence. When individuals copy based on a trait's features (here, its compatibility relationships) they produce more homogeneous cultures than when they copy based on the agent carrying the cultural trait. We discuss the implications of considering cultural systems and filters in the dynamics of cultural change.

scholarly journals From storytelling to Facebook. Content biases when retelling or sharing a story

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Acerbi
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Oral Storytelling ◽  
Oral Transmission ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Transmission Chain ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Content Information

Cultural evolution researchers use transmission chain experiments to investigate which content is more likely to survive when transmitted from one individual to another. These experiments resemble oral storytelling, where individuals need to understand, memorise, and reproduce the content. However, prominent contemporary forms of cultural transmission—think an online sharing— only involve the willingness to transmit the content. Here I present two fully preregistered online experiments that explicitly investigated the differences between these two modalities of transmission. The first experiment (N=1080) examined whether negative content, information eliciting disgust, and threat-related information were better transmitted than their neutral counterpart in a traditional transmission chain set-up. The second experiment (N=1200), used the same material, but participants were asked whether they would share or not the content in two conditions: in a large anonymous social network, or with their friends, in their favourite social network. Negative content was both better transmitted in transmission chain experiments and shared more than its neutral counterpart. Threat-related information was successful in transmission chain experiments but not when sharing, and, finally, information eliciting disgust was not advantaged in either. Overall, the results present a composite picture, suggesting that the interactions between the specific content and the medium of transmission are important and, possibly, that content biases are stronger when memorisation and reproduction are involved in the transmission—like in oral transmission—than when they are not—like in online sharing.

‘No Ideas but in Things’: The Responsibility to Protect as Assemblage

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Jack Adam MacLennan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
North Atlantic Treaty Organization ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Extant Literature ◽  
Productive Research ◽  
Tools And Techniques ◽  
Organization Intervention

Abstract This article establishes the need to engage with the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as an assemblage in order to reckon with how material influences shape its politics. Through an analysis of the 2011 United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization intervention in Libya, the paper illustrates how particular tools and techniques influence R2P. The example shows how the original impetus of the intervention was mediated and translated by the particular collection of elements brought together to realise the intervention in Libya. Rather than argue this illustrates how R2P is defined by specific techniques, the article situates and then builds upon the extant literature by labelling R2P as an assemblage. In this way the article highlights how material influences and the importance of mediation are missed in the extant literature. Further, it concludes by arguing for a more productive research agenda that foregrounds empirical engagements with specific practices in order to develop the current literature.

Modeling Social Learning and Culture

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Hoppitt ◽  
Kevin N. Laland
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Model Building ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Reaction Diffusion ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Mathematical Expressions ◽  
Mathematical Techniques ◽  
Neutral Models

This chapter describes a variety of approaches to modeling social learning, cultural evolution, and gene-culture coevolution. The model-building exercise typically starts with a set of assumptions about the key processes to be explored, along with the nature of their relations. These assumptions are then translated into the mathematical expressions that constitute the model. The operation of the model is then investigated, normally using a combination of analytical mathematical techniques and simulation, to determine relevant outcomes, such as the equilibrium states or patterns of change over time. The chapter presents examples of the modeling of cultural transmission and considers parallels between cultural and biological evolution. It then discusses theoretical approaches to social learning and cultural evolution, including population-genetic style models of cultural evolution and gene-culture coevolution, neutral models and random copying, social foraging theory, spatially explicit models, reaction-diffusion models, agent-based models, and phylogenetic models.

Model-Based Simulation to Examine Command and Control Issues with Remotely Operated Vehicles

2008 ◽  
pp. 199-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sasanka Prabhala ◽  
Subhashini Ganapathy ◽  
S. Narayanan ◽  
Jennie J. Gallimore ◽  
Raymond R. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Command And Control ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
High Fidelity ◽  
Remotely Operated Vehicles ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Commercial Applications ◽  
And Control

With increased interest in the overall employment of pilotless vehicles functioning in the ground, air, and marine domains for both defense and commercial applications, the need for high-fidelity simulation models for testing and validating the operational concepts associated with these systems is very high. This chapter presents a model-based approach that we adopted for investigating the critical issues in the command and control of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) through an interactive model-based architecture. The domain of ROVs is highly dynamic and complex in nature. Hence, a proper understanding of the simulation tools, underlying system algorithms, and user needs is critical to realize advanced simulation system concepts. Our resulting simulation architecture integrates proven design concepts such as the model-view-controller paradigm, distributed computing, Web-based simulations, cognitive model-based high-fidelity interfaces and object-based modeling methods.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document