culture learning

Question 1

Is culture unique to humans?

Answer 1

If adopting psychological definition of culture, then not unique to humans

Question 2

Other animals with culture:

Answer 2

humpback whales have gone through evolution through horizontal transmission by transferring songs to each other

Black rats have found ways to break down pinecones through vertical transmission (parent rats teach black rats by chewing or clawing the pine cone)

Indigo birds pass down songs through oblique transmission, by learning from other males

Question 3

Humans vs other animals:

Answer 3

Humas not unique in having culture

Humans can learn cultural information much quicker than other animals

Humans do have cumulative cultural complexity

Humans not unique in engaging in cultural learning

Question 4

Two types of cultural learning:

Answer 4

1)individual learning: figuring out cultural information by yourself
Have to figure out on your own what works, what doesn’t work, you need a lot of brainpower
Not good for survival

2)social learning: learning from others who have encountered the same problem/found the solution already

Question 5

human brain is —% of body weight

Answer 5

2%

Question 6

human brain takes up —-% of all basal metabolism

Answer 6

16%

Brains of other animals use 1 to 3% of basal metabolism

Question 7

Cephalization factor (line of best fit

Answer 7

allows us to predict given the approx. weight of an animal species, how heavy the brain should the species have

Question 8

Encephalization quotient (EQ)

Answer 8

actual brain weight/ expected brain weight based on body weight (>1 means brain is heavier than expected)

Question 9

Greater EQ associated with:

Answer 9

~More social species
~Complex social systems

Humans have a uniquely high EQ (highest in all mammals) of 7.4

Question 10

Fruit consumption theory

Answer 10

Primates eat a lot of fruits- but they’re seasonal and in patches

we needed to crate mental maps to keep track of where and when fruits grow

Question 11

food extraction theory

Answer 11

Primates eat difficult foods requiring ingenuity to extract (ie we need to think about how to crack open a shell to eat the nut)

The more primates rely on these foods, the big

Question 12

Social Brain Hypothesis

Answer 12

Larger group sizes tend to be associated with larger neocortex

When brains of mammals increase in size, it’s usually neocortex that gets bigger

Question 13

neocortex (social brain hypothesis)

Answer 13

Neo cortex associated with higher order functions such as sensory perception, language, and conscious complex thought

Most newly evolved part of cerebral cortex

Most relevant for complex information such as culture

Question 14

Neocortex ratio=

Answer 14

volume of neocortex/volume of the rest of brain(w/out neocortex)

Volume of human brain is much denser and voluminous

Question 15

convolutions(folds in brain)

Answer 15

allow for a lot of space/volume

Question 16

what theory is correct?

Answer 16

Fruit consumption doesnt seem to be related to brain evolution

Food extraction(using tools to extract food), neocortex ratio seems to be the same, doesnt relate to brain evolution

Social brain hypothesis that shows the most correlation to larger brain size

Question 17

Across species brain size is predictive of —–, but within species it is not

Answer 17

inteligience

Question 18

Social learning

Answer 18

Learners who learn after the teacher/model

Question 19

Cultural brain hypothesis

Answer 19

states that social learning is a key factor of the correlation between group size and brain size

Answer 20

Large group sizes are more advantageous bc it provides protection from predation

Larger group of a member of species is advantageous allows for division of labor, coordination of behaviors

Larger groups needed for more cultural copmlexity

As brain size got bigger, facilitated development of social skills and us as a species to learn more effictively

Learning that we do as a social being is more effective and more efficient than relying on individual learning

Group size becomes larger, social learning becomes better bc there are more models to teach

As brain got bigger, there reached an equilibrium point where the brain can not be any larger

A lot of dangers of childbirth come from the big brain of the child bc the head is so big

Question 21

Theory of mind

Answer 21

Understanding that others have different beliefs thoughts, and perspectives than oneself

Question 22

Ratchet effect

Answer 22

tools increase in complexity over time (ie the hammer)

Closing land bridge of tasmania -> led to reduction of population size-> loss of models/teachers (loss of technology, loss of cultural information)-> loss of technology

Question 23

Prestige bias

Answer 23

attending more to models who are better respected and garner more people’s attention (who are more respected)

Question 24

Who do you copy in groups?

Answer 24

We get more benefits from more knowledgeable models
(prestige bias)

Question 25

Video on memorizing numbers: chimps are tested to remember the pattern of the numbers displayed on the screen from 1-9

Answer 25

Because humans evolve to focus on social learning, our brains have evolved to develop skills that primates don’t have, but primates have skills that we don’t have

Question 26

Gun, Germs, and Steel:
Why is it white people had so much cargo (commondities) brought over to papa new guinea but black people dont have that much cargo

Answer 26

It comes down to intelligence (white people were able to create more tools)

Question 27

Causes that lead to cultural variation

Answer 27

proximal vs distal

Question 28

Proximal causes

Answer 28

something that has direct and immediate effects

Example:european colonizers easily overwhelm people in new guinea (they had weapons and more advanced tools), people in papa new guinea were still using stone tools

Question 29

Distal causes

Answer 29

initial difference that lead to effects over long periods of time

Question 30

Cultural evolution uses principles of biological evolution to explain cultural variability/similarities around the world

Answer 30

Example: mandu (korean dumplings) also seen as manti in turkey, mantu in saudi arabia

Dumplings are adapted to according to the culture in that region

Ie vegetarian dumplings for religious cultures that don’t eat meat

If people follow biological and evolutionary methods to model and study culture evolution, they will often use mathematical models (dont need to know formula)

Question 31

Different types of papers

Answer 31

empirical and review papers (meta analyses and literature review)

Question 32

Empirical papers

Answer 32

Based on new studies, new data
Provide new information to the field

Question 33

meta analyses(Review Papers)

Answer 33

Arrive at avg effect size

Best estimate of what the true size of the effect should be

Very powerful form of analysis in psychology

Purpose:summarize current knowledge

Question 34

Literature review (review paper)

Answer 34

summarize previous work in qualitative way

Reorganize all information more cohesively

Purpose: clarify structure of existing knowledge

Information reorganized into novel framework

Question 35

phylogeny trees

Answer 35

Based on biological evolutionary models

Reconstructed ancestry tree

Visually represents cultural evolution and diversity

Based on shared characteristics, applied to different aspects of culture (most common for language)

Question 36

factors that affect acculturation

Answer 36

person, group, context

Question 37

2 outcomes of acculturation

Answer 37

1)cultural competence: how well are they able to speak the new language, how well can they make friends with people from the dominant culture

2)psychological outcomes: mental well being in the new culture

Question 38

Person

Answer 38

variable about the personality of an individual (ie if you’re open)

Question 39

Group

Answer 39

some groups are very insular (like to stay within their group)(ie arabic speaking groups are more insular, but japanese people are not)

Question 40

Context

Answer 40

how welcoming is that society to newcomers