wk 9 Evolution

Question 1

culture is

Answer 1

information capable of affecting indivs behaviour that they acquire from other members of their species through teaching, imitation, and other forms of social transmission

Question 2

culture is

is not

Answer 2

socially transmitted

is not
info acquired genetically
info learned individually/asocially

Question 3

Franz Boas argued what about culture

Question 4

Margaret Mead argued what about culture

Question 5

cultural universals

Answer 5

• burial rituals
• sex role differentiation
• incest taboos
• food taboos
• dance
• metaphorical speech
• number system
• tool making
• colour classification …

Question 6

evoked culture

Answer 6

• cultural practices that arise due to environmentally contingent mental models

2 elements: universal underlying mechanism & environmental differences in activating these
e.g. family size

Question 7

Transmitted culture

Answer 7

imitation, modelling, idea diffusion
- Normal culture

Question 8

we are a cultural species

cultural adaptations

Answer 8

• other species adapt to new environments genetically, we adapt culturally

Question 9

do other species have cultural variations

Answer 9

maybe ?

monkeys shove fingers in eachother nose

Question 10

why is culture adaptive

Answer 10

if genetically predisposed to eat one thing, when it disapears they probably won’t try eat anything else. Whereas a learner would experiment.

social learning reduces cost of individual learning. e.g. eating poisonous mushrooms.

cheaper
easier
faster
safer

Culture is Cumulative. each generation builds upon and contributes to the populations knowlege and technology, rather than each generation/person sarting from scratch
- appears …
fini

(can gain thousands of years of knowlege in a lifespan).

Question 11

is cultural evolution Darwinian?

requires what :

Answer 11

• ## variability (is evidence e.g. 6,800 languages)

Question 12

difference in cultural and natrual evolution

Answer 12

• self reproduction …
  fini

Question 13

memes coined by who

Answer 13

Dawkins

hypothetical units of cultural transmission
a cultural replicator

(replicator = entity that has fidelity (accurated copied), fecundity ( ….

fini

Question 14

memes such as religious beleifs & superstitions are “mind parasites”

how can hey be adaptive

Answer 14

need not to be adaptive, but may be byproducts (spandrels) of credulity (believe others) and a need to learn from others.
- transmission is not perfect.

Question 15

can culture effect genes ?

Answer 15

yes. e.g.
lactose tolerance (cattle herd)
alcohol dehydrogenase (

or a cultiral trait is selected against and by coincedence, a certain genetic trait is lost.

Question 16

social learning … fini

Question 17

do apes ape (copy)

Answer 17

don’t seem to immitate.
But do emulation (copy outcome)

e.g .chimps will skip out on useless steps to solving “opaque box” whereas children will copy every step.

Question 18

Do non human animals teach?

Teaching defined as

Answer 18

chimps watching their child crack a nut, won’t help them.
They might give them necessary tools at best.

defined as …