Lecture 2 Flashcards
Prestige Bias (1)
- the tendency to imitate prestigious others more than less prestigious others
Theory of mind (3)
- allows us to learn and accumulate cultural information from eachother in precise ways
- the ability to understand that others have minds that are different to our own
- results in imitative rather than emulative learning
Imitative Learning (1)
- type of social learning in which the learner internalizes the aspects of the model’s goals and behavioural strategies
Emulative Learning (1)
- type of social learning focused on the environmental events involved in a model’s behaviour
Imitative vs Emulative Learning Study (5)
- children and chimpanzees are shown a model using a tool to get a desired object in 1 of 2 ways
- most effective way is when the tool is upside down (dragging)
- ineffective way is to use it with the teeth down
- children showed imitative which resulted in less effective use
- chimpanzees showed emulative and more effective use
-emulative learning can be more adaptive in some situations but it does not allow for accumulation of cultural info
Ratchet effect (2)
- human cultures are cumulative, after an idea is learned from others, it can be modified and improved by others, leading to a ratchet effect
-ratchet effect is process by which cultural info becomes more complex and useful over time
Innovation and Social Transmission (2)
- cultural evolution requires invention and high fidelity social transmission so that new info is repeated enough
- this requires precise imitative learning (theory of mind) and sophisticated communication (language)
Population size and interconnection (2)
-as population size increases, the more cultural accumulation is maintained and increased because there is a higher likelihood of having and encountering a successful model to copy and build upon
- losses in cultural info can occur if the size of a population of interconnected minds shrinks, leaving learners with less skilled models to copy from
Encephalization quotient (1)
- the ratio of brain weight of an animal to the brain weight predicted for a comparable animal of the same body size
Consequences of having big ass brains (3)
- they require much energy to operate
- this we have considerably less muscle mass to balance this
- we also have shorter guts
Cooking (1)
- our big brains and smaller guts were made possible by the invention of cooking as it does part of the digestion for us
Social Brain Hypothesis (2)
- theory that proposes that cognitive demands in inherent social living led to the evolution of large primate brains
-those that were most successful at handling the cognitive demands that come with complex social communities were more likely to attract mates, secure resources and protect offspring
Neocortex ratio (2)
- neocortex is the brain area where social computational processes take place
- the volume of the neocortex relative to the volume of the rest of the brain, comparisons of the neocortex ratio across primates showed that those living in larger social groups tended to have larger neocortex ratios
Proximal Causes (1)
- causes of cultural variation can be proximal: have a direct and immediate relationship with their effects
Distal Causes (1)
- causes of cultural variation can be distal: initial differences that lead to effects over longer periods, often through indirect relations
Spain and the Incans Case Study (7)
- Proximal cause: technology and diseases
- The Spanish had steel swords and ships while Incans had stone clubs, the Spanish also spread a smallpox epidemic
-Distal causes: geography and climate - Eurasia had a variety of plant species suitable for domestication -> agriculture -> sedentary lifestyle -> development of tools and technology
- Eurasia also had domesticated animals -> development of diseases -> immunity to said diseases over time
- A denser population in Eurasia and major continental axis permitted greater idea exchange -> more inventions -> widespread immunity
- minor geographical variations can result in large cultural differences
Ecology (2)
- Climate can influence cultural norms
- Harsher climates and scarcer resources result in more masculinity values
Evoked Culture (3)
- the notion that people have certain biologically based behavioural repertoires that are accessible, which are engaged when appropriate situational conditions arise
- norms will arise when certain behaviours are engaged often in the environment
- i.e. choosing a physically attractive partner is even more important in places with higher parasite prevalence as it is an index of health
Transmitted Culture (4)
- the notion that people learn about particular cultural practices through social learning or by modeling the behaviour of others who live near them
- most cultural differences can be explained by this, more important than evoked
- it can travel with people when they move to a new environment
- it is always involved in maintaining and spreading norms even when evoked culture is present
Natural Selection (3)
- evolutionary process which occurs when individual variability exists among members of species on certain traits
- these traits are often associated with different reproductive rates as these traits have a hereditary basis
- the proportion of advantageous traits will increase over time
Cultural Evolution (2)
- the process by which some cultural ideas are more likely to attract followers than others, thereby becoming more common in a population
- these ideas are not tied to genes so they can be passed to more people than offspring and do not have to be adaptive
What contributes to the spread of info? (4)
- communicability
- usefulness
-emotionality
-unexpectedness
Communicability (2)
- the idea is easy to remember and summarize, it is socially desirable and personally relevant
- it spreads because it is more likely to be talked about
Usefulness (2)
- the idea is relevant and useful
- the idea spreads because sharing useful info shows cooperation which increases chances of being helped in the future
Emotionality (2)
- the idea evokes a shared emotional reaction among people
- the idea spreads because sharing emotional ideas connects people with others
Unexpectedness (2)
- idea is minimally counterintuitive (it violates our expectations enough to be considered surprising and unusual but is not too bizarre)
- the idea spreads because it is more likely to be remembered
Dynamic Social Impact Theory (1)
- states that individuals influence each other through interacting, ultimately leading to cultures: norms develop between those that communicate regularly
Factors as to why and how cultures have been changing (3)
- Globalisation (and glocalization)
- Individualism
- Intelligence
Globalisation (4)
- with globalisation (internet, low-cost transport and increased social media), cultures have become more interconnected
- this leads to homogeneity at a global level
- there has also been increasing cultural diversity within borders of many cultures (glocalisation)
- leading to cultural heterogeneity at a local level
Individualism (3)
- increased individualism has lead to increased orientation toward money and materialism
- increase in unique baby names and the use of pronoun “I” instead of “We” in songs
- increasing financial and time pressures, suburbanisation, electronic entertainment, SES all contribute to this
Intelligence
- increase in IQ (Flynn effect)
- maybe due to increased nutrition but also improved nutrition does not parallel higher IQ scores
- maybe due to increased education needed to work, but IQ scores are rising independent of education level
- maybe due to pop culture becoming more complex but also pop culture may have become more complex because humans have become more intelligent
Raven’s Matrices (2)
- IQ test that does not require specific cultural knowledge or language skills so it claims to be culture free
- this IQ test shows largest IQ increase, with cultures of recent decades scoring higher, so it is not culture free
Cultural Persistence: Building on previous structures (2)
- innovations within cultures build on previous structures
- existing habits influence and constrain evolution of new ones
Economic Development in sub-Saharan Africa (4)
- from 1400 to 1900 there were numerous slave trades in Africa, that spread fear of capture in regions where people were most often captured
- this motivated people to acquire more weapons for self defence
- these could be acquired from Europeans in exchange for slaves, creating a gun-slave cycle
- people developed deep mistrust that persists until now, is responsible for low economic development in these regions
Cultural Persistence: Pluralistic Ignorance (3)
- the tendency for people to collectively misinterpret the thoughts that underlie people’s behaviour
- the difference between what people say and what they acc think
- norms can persist due to this if a majority of people endorse behaviours publicly but not privately
Alcohol Prohibition Case Study (4)
- alcohol was prohibited in early 20th century US
- the law never had majority support but it appeared like it did
- few people were willing to publicly argue to keep it legal since it was seen as a socially undesirable attitude
- one polls were conducted, evidence was collected on strength of anti-prohibition feelings and the law ended
Sensitive Periods (2)
- source of evidence that the human brain is preprogramed to learn cultural meaning systems is sensitive periods for acquiring language and cultures
- this is a period in time that allows for the relatively easy acquisition of a set of skills
Phoneme Discrimination (3)
- ability to distinguish between sounds
- at birth infants can discriminate among all phonemes we can produce
- within first year they begin to lose this and gain increased ability to discriminate between phonemes from their own language
Accents (2)
- after sensitive period it is much harder to master a language
- in immigrant families, older people often preserve a thick accent while younger children do not
Brain and Language (4)
- in early life the language centre of the brain is flexible at attuning itself to various kinds of input
- post-sensitive period, those regions cannot restructure themselves to accommodate the new language and a new area has to be occupied
- bilingual people who learned a language later in life show activation in different areas when hearing each language
- if learned both languages early, activation in same part of the brain regardless of which language was heard
Feral Children (1)
- children who were raised without language input during sensitive period have considerable difficulties in acquiring language
Acculturation (2)
- the process of cultural change when one culture interacts with another: second cultural learning
- immigrants who move to a new culture after the sensitive window is closed have a hard time adjusting to new cultur
Study: Identification with a second culture (5)
- HK immigrants to Canada at different ages were asked questions about their identification with Chinese and Canadian culture
- time spent in Canada predicted identification with Canadian culture
- before sensitive period (0-15): positive relationship with identification
- after sensitive period: no, or non-significant negative relationship with identification
- exposure to a second culture increased identification with that culture in those who immigrated before end of sensitive period
Personal Space (2)
- the early physical experience of infants, i.e. amount of bodily and face-to-face contact between mother and infant varies between cultures
- amount of personal space could influence development of individuality (recognition of oneself in the mirror)
Co-sleeping (2)
- children sharing the same bed with caretakers
- this also differs between cultures
Underlying Values (2)
- parenting decisions (i.e. co sleeping) and the ways that others in the culture respond to them, reflect underlying values of a culture
- i.e. while Asian, African and Latin-American parents worry about separation between parents and children, European and North-American parents fear for a lack of privacy for them and their child
Female Chastity Anxiety
- the value that unmarried post-pubescent women should be protected from engaging in any sexual activity that would be viewed as shameful
Authoritarian Parenting (6)
- strict rules, little open dialogue
- low responsiveness
- high demandingness
- respect for
hierarchy - perceived parental warmth, academic performance, family cohesion,
- less happy
Authoritative Parenting (5)
- child-centered, democratic, independence
-high responsiveness, - high demanding
- autonomy, self-reliance
- perceived parental warmth,
academic performance
Permissive Parenting (4)
- very involved
- few limits and controls
- high responsiveness
- low demanding
Uninvolved Parenting (3)
- neglectful, passive, uninterested
- low responsiveness
- low demanding
Outcomes of Parenting styles (2)
- authoritative: desirable outcomes in Western cultures, and positive outcomes in some other cultures
- too authoritarian relates to maladjustment and less happiness in children across cultures
Noun Bias
the tendency in young children to have a vocabulary with more nouns relative to the number of
verbs and other relational words
Nature of Language
in some languages, nouns tend to come in rather salient locations (more noun
bias; English), while in others this is the case for verbs (less noun bias; Japanese); moreover, in some
languages (pro)nouns can even be dropped (less noun bias; Japanese).
Communication about Objects
children learn to communicate about objects differently.
o Western: tend to perceive the world in analytic terms, seeing objects as discrete and separate.
o Eastern: tend to perceive the world in holistic terms, stressing the relations between objects.
Terrible Twos
a developmental transition characterized by obstinacy and stubbornness that is seen as a period in
which a young toddler begins to establish his/her individuality. This period is most pronounced in
Western toddlers and not that pronounced in cultures were the focus is less on independence and
more on interdependence (Japan).
Adolescence
a developmental transition often characterized by symptoms of rebellion and antisocial behavior in
the West. It is a universal developmental phase, but rebellion and antisocial behavior are more
prevalent in individualistic societies because there are more life choices available, which results in
delayed commitment (an extended period of adolescence) and thereby increased stress and confusion.
Taxonomic Categorization
= the ability to categorize items together based on what they have in common. It is reflective of one’s
ability to reason analytically, instead of holistically (which focusses on the relationships among items).
From these items, which one does not belong?: saw, hammer, log, hatchet. The correct answer based
on taxonomic categorization would be the log, but people without education (using holistic reasoning)
could provide all sorts of answers, such as: “The hammer, because the saw and the hatchet could be
used to cut the wood and the hammer cannot.”
Logical Reasoning
the ability to apply a rule on the basis of logical principles rather than on personal experience. It is
reflective of abstract thinking rather than concrete thinking.
Rice Theory
Modernization hypothesis: as societies become wealthier, more educated, and capitalistic, they
become more individualistic and analytical.
o But it is difficult to explain why Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong are persistently collectivistic
despite their per-capita gross domestic products being higher than that of the EU.
* Pathogen prevalence theory: a high prevalence of communicable diseases in some countries made
it more dangerous to deal with strangers, making those cultures more collectivistic.
o But pathogens are strongly correlated with heat, so they might confound with rice growing.
* Rice theory: rice-growing requires more functional interdependence than wheat-growing, which
makes rice-growing cultures more collectivistic.
Shibboleths
certain markers that make it possible to distinguish foreigners or those who do not belong to a
particular class or group of people
Levels of acculturation (Minoura)
Cognitive: knowledge of cultural norms and practices.
* Behavioral: mastering behavior and practicing the cultural norms.
* Affective: showing appropriate emotional reactions when a cultural norm is violated.
Developmental Niche theory
= a theoretical framework for understanding and analyzing how culture shapes a child’s development.
It assumes that there are multiple factors that are involved in the development of children:
* Physical & social settings: affordances that the physical space provides (nutrition, climate).
* Customs & practices of child rearing: inherited and adapted ways of nurturing, entertaining,
educating, and protecting the child.
* Caretaker’s psychology: parental ethnotheories (what is the meaning of childhood?).
§ Ethnotheories = beliefs and values about child development and parenting.
