Cultural evolution

Question 1

What is culture?

Answer 1

socially transmitted information

The info is capable of affecting individual’s behaviour that are acquire from other members of their species

Question 2

What did Franz Boas challenge in the Victorian era?

Answer 2

Challenged the view that genes and evolution solely determined population differences

Question 3

What is the SSSM, Margaret Mead.

But what cultural universals are there?

Answer 3

Cultures are infinitely variable and lacking universals.

Examples: religion, language, punishment, emotions, family, sex role differentiation, incest taboo, burial rituals

Question 4

What is evoked culture

Answer 4

cultural practices arising from environmental constraints

Question 5

What is transmitted culture

Answer 5

normalised culture through imitation, cutlure

Question 6

Genetic evolution as non-Lamarckian

Answer 6

Genetic evolution passes on biological information via sex cells, can’t inherit acquired characteristics (i.e. kids will still be born with 2 legs even if you lose one)

Question 7

Culture as Lamarckian

Answer 7

Inheritance of acquired characteristics

Question 8

Why is culture adaptive?

Learning advantageous?

Answer 8

We are able to adapt to new environments in a fast and flexible way (we adapt culturally to environments otherwise not meant for us, those animals must physically adapt but we dont need to)

> learning tracks environmental changes faster than genetic adaptation (i.e. learning from others through observation is easier and less costly, genetic adaptation takes transmittance through generation first before the adaptation comes into effect)

Question 9

Human’s have cumulative culture, what does this mean?

Answer 9

building up of knowledge and modifying successive generations culture .
Social learners can acquire behaviours/knowledge that they couldnt have invented alone
We teach skill/knowledge (education system) in order they were developed I.e. algebra in school, relativity at uni
> we can learn powerful amounts of knowledge in a relatively short space of time

Question 10

Criteria that cultural evolution must meet to be Darwinian

Answer 10

Criteria is:
variability, heritability, selection (surplus offspring & non random survival and reproduction)

selection example- words in language (irregular and regular verbs- can select out complicated irregulars)

Question 11

Expand on O’Brien et al’s construction of inheritance trees

Answer 11

He drew parallels of inheritance trees (i.e. for an animal i.e. he did it for finches) as well as cultural products i.e. portable music players - walkmans selected out when iPod came around)

Question 12

What did Wilson (1978) propose about our gene pool?

Answer 12

Our gene pool sets genetic constraints (sets limitations a ‘leash’) on what we can physically do i.e cant hold breath for 2 days

Question 13

Defintion of memes according to Dawkins

Answer 13

hypothetical units of cultural transmission.
Many copies made
Unclear what determines what a meme is, is it a word, phonemes etc

Question 14

A ‘replicator’ is an entity that has what two F’s and longevity.
Mind parasites?

Answer 14

Fidelity (accurately copies), fecundity (makes many copies)

Biological replicator- gene
Cultural replicator- meme

Certain memes are like ‘mind parasites/viruses’ i.e. earworms from a song, religion, superstitions

Transmission is largely inaccurate compared to genetics

Question 15

What’s gene-cutlure coevolution?

(other name for it?

Answer 15

dual inheritance theory, proposes that human behaviour is product of genetic and cultural inheritance

Question 16

Give an example of how they work in tandem- human and one non-human

Answer 16

Lactose tolerance due to domestication of cattle for milk, selection for lactose tolerance
(example of culture affecting genes)

Sperm whales- specific strategy (tails in or out when protecting (head out most effective- those traits get selected for)/circling around

Either can effect the other-
genes affect culture through producing social learners
culture affects genes by changing gene frequency in a population

Question 17

Pace of cultural change

Answer 17

If environment changes too rapidly, cultural transmission would be of less use
If it changes too slowly, genetic evolution could take over

example of right pace- climate change in Pleistocene (ice age) led to huge climate changes
Human culture proved highly adaptive to live in the new environment

Question 18

Niche construction is what? examples?

Answer 18

Species can alter their environment, feedback loop with natural selection.
Changing the selective pressures for their living conditions i.e. beavers build and are well adapted to the dams they build, humans create processed food (easier to consume, takes less energy)

Question 19

Social learning and imitation

Answer 19

Social learners can out perform individual learners through imitation and copying, adaptive for you but not the person you’re copying from.
But we dont copy all behaviours we see others do, its not adaptive

Question 20

What is content biases

Answer 20

Some traits are more likely to be learnt/remembered than other traits i.e. its catchier, more adaptive, succcesful actions that work

Question 21

What are model-based biases

Answer 21

traits preferentially coped form people who are succesfu/prestigious/old

Question 22

Frequency-dependent biases

Answer 22

copying traits that are commonly seen (conformity) or rare (anti-conformity)

Question 23

No bias- random copying/cultural drift

Answer 23

sometimes copying is completely random, but there is usually reason for it

Question 24

Copying via social learning can happen in which 3 ways, in whch society is either favoured?

Answer 24

Obliquely- from unrelated elders, favoured in rapidly changing environments where natural selection is weak (i.e.industrialised societies)
Vertical- transmission from family/genetic inheritance
(favoured in stable environments where natural selection is strong i.e. hunter-gatherers
Horizontal- transmission from peers (especially fro modern/new ideas that family/elders may not know)

Question 25

Name mechanisms for learning from each other:

Answer 25

1) social influence- contagion (A’s act is a stimulus), can be either from exposure similar learning env) or social support (B motivates A)
2) Social learning-
stimulus enhacement- orienting behaviour to location/object
observational conditioning- learning circumstance for a behaviour
3) goal emulation- learning the goal
4) imitation- learning the actual form of a behaviour

Question 26

Do apes ape? What did they do with a puzzle box that young kids didnt?

Answer 26

Apes were able to imitate where necessary but distinguished goal emulation later (unnecessary action dropped), which kids failed to do

Question 27

Functional definition of learning.

chimps dont teach well

Answer 27

A modifies their behaviour in the presence of a naive individual with no immediate benefit but the intent of changing their behaviour

Question 28

Cultural intelligence hypothesis (Hermann 2007)

Answer 28

Cognitive differences between humans, chimps and orangutans which led to the hypothesis.

Humans have socio-cultural cognitive skills (i.e. social learning, theory of mind) distinguish humans from their primates significantly. Greatly outperformed primates in the social domain