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Summary week 2 - cultural development and evolution
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Week 2: Cultural Evolution &Development
Prerecorded lecture
Part 1: acquisition and evolution of culture. How do we acquire/learn cultures? Where
does it come from? To approach this question we compare humans and other species. How does cultures evolve?
Is culture unique to humans? There is evidence of culture in all kinds of different species. Bottlenose dolphins use sponges
as foraging tools. Different populations of killer whales speak different dialects. Even guppies and octopus show cultural
learning. So humans are not the only ones who have culture.
Cultural learning NO!
However, the way humans learn culture is unique because: they are faster in cultural learning. Imitation is targeted (i.e.,
prestige bias) we don’t just imitate anyone, we only imitate the best available prototype. We pick the best available example
to learn from. For example, we learn golf by imitating Tiger Woods rather than Steve Heine, whereas other animals would
not distinguish the two learning prototypes. Saves the cost of individual learning, the ability to identify models who likely
stand-out, try to increase frequency and intimacy.
Chimps versus human learning. Video: we see a video of an experiment in
which students learn chimps to do a puzzle. Children copy the actions as much
as the chimps did in the first experiment. It is shown that the children follow
the steps identical, while the chimp is more efficient.
Imitative learning: a type of social learning in which the learner internalizes
aspects of the model’s goals and behavioural strategies. Learners copy precisely
what they think the model is trying to do. May be less effective in terms of
getting the treat in the experiment, but very precise. Focused on the mental
state.
Emulative learning: a type of social learning focused on the environmental
events involved with a model’s behaviour, such as how the use of one object could potentially affect changes in the state of
the environment. Focussed on the outcome.
The main difference between an imitative learner and an emulative learner is that the latter does not care about the models
intentions, he or she will try to figure things out for themselves. The different types of social learning have implications for
the accumulation of cultural information (i.e. high-fidelity social transmission).
How is cultural learning possible? How did humans become so good at this targeted cultural learning and high-fidelity
imitation?
1. Theory of mind (understand others’ intentions): allows for imitative learning because we can understand others’
intentions.
2. Language (communicate ideas and intentions): allows dot more sophisticated ways of communicating our ideas
and intentions but also to coordinate with others.
accumulation of cultural information (high-fidelity social transmission) + innovation (modification and improvement of
the transmitted cultural information) = !!! If we only accumulate, there would be no progression. We need innovation to
evolve, finding creative solutions.
Ratchet effect: once an initial idea has been learned from others, it can be modified and improved by other individuals. The
cultural information thus grows in complexity and utility over time. So, we need two things: very precise imitation and
innovation (e.g. the evolution of hammer in 14 stages). If there is no innovation, we would still have stone tools, and no cell-
phones. So every once in a while there needs to be an innovator who is also prestigious, so we can copy from this person.
And if there is a shortage of role-models, as was the case in Tasmania (4000 scattered people), you have not enough
innovators to copy from, so that over the course of generations, cultural knowledge disappears.
What facilitates cultural learning? Our brain, of course.
,Our relative big brains: our encephalization quotient (the ration of our brain size to our body size) is bigger than any other
mammal. Our brain is so big that we need 16% of out metabolism (our general energy) for its functioning. This has some
implications for our body: the trade-off is that we have weaker muscles. Luckily, we also have shorter guts (about 60%
smaller than what would be expected in a primate of our body weight). This was made possible by cooking our food
(therefore much of the digestion of our food happens outside our body.
Given this huge operating cost of our brains where must have been an evolutionary advantage of having big brain. The
advantage was that we could function well in our social communities: attract mates, secure resources, protect ourselves and
offspring from danger, understand power hierarchies and manage power struggles… So we actually developed a social brain
that enables us to properly function in social groups, which in turn facilitates cultural learning.
And this is the main thesis of the social brain hypothesis: most of the primate brain expansion happened in the neocortex1,
which is here social computational processes take place (e.g. voluntary inhibitory control, which results in social harmony),
as opposed to subcortical structures where more ecological processing takes place (e.g., cognitive mapping).
Section review:
1. Can you think of an example that demonstrates the rachet effect?
2. According to Jared Diamond, why did the Spaniards dominate the Incas?
Where does culture come from?
Jared Diamond, the writer of a known book. Cultural norms are adaptive responses to features of the ecology (e.g.,
geography & climate).
At birth, the human brain is similar across the
world. Then how do humans developed so
different cultural norms? Where does culture
come from?
Cultural differences can originate in ecological
differences (thesis proposed by Jared Diamond,
author of Guns, Germs and Steel). We see a video on Guns, Germs and Steel (Jared Diamond). He though geographical good
luck caused the successfulness of Eurasia. Different climate zones require adaptation, north south axis on land have to deal
with this, like the America’s. The ways through which ecology may influence the development of culture can be describes in
terms of:
A. Proximal causes: those that have direct and immediate relations with their effects (e.g., technology: Spaniards had
steel swords, guns, and ships while the Incas has stone clubs, slingshots and quilt armour).
B. Distal causes: those initial differences that lead to effects over long periods, often through indirect relations (e.g.,
geography/climate: Spanish culture was developed in Eurasia, whereas Incan culture was developed in the
Americas. Each of these ecological environments affords the development of certain culture.
Let’s look back at how the first civilization started in Eurasia. It all
started in the Fertile Crescent2 (which includes Mesopotamia, the land
in and around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers: and the Levant, the
eastern coast of the Mediterranean sea). This land was special
because:
- Domesticated plant species development of agriculture
sedentary lifestyle development of tools and technology.
- Domesticated animal species development of diseases
resistance to them in the course of time, immunity.
The domesticated species quickly spread east and west because many
populated areas shared a climate similar to that of the fertile Crescent.
Furthermore, the rivers in this area provided not only for a fertile
1
The neocortex ratio of a species is the ratio of the neocortex to the rest of the brain. A high neocortex ratio is
thought to correlate with a number of social variables such as group size and the complexity of social mating
behaviours.
2
Alternative name: the cradle of civilization.
, ground for the development of agriculture, but also for an efficient means to transport goods (and eventually other cultural
ideas) to other communities.
Geography and climate.
Distal causes: the major continental axis of Eurasia runs east to west, whereas the major continental axis of the Americas
and Africa run north to south.
- Greater exchange of ideas permitted by the denser population in Eurasia, allowed for interventions (steel, wheel,
ships, and writing systems).
- Same for food and diseases: domesticated livestock food producers villages expansion and growth (food
storage) diseases immune wide-spread immunity.
All this was far less or not at all in Americas, Australia, and Africa: vertical axis obstacles (deserts, severe climate
differences. Climate is far more similar along the horizontal axis! The same goes for latitude 3 and other geographical barriers
(oceans, deserts). So you can imagine how certain crops can easily travel all the way from China to Spain (horizontal axis),
while they cannot do so from Alaska to Brazil (vertical axis).
Cultural variation and the development of cultural norms can be explained in two ways:
1. Evoked culture: cultural norms are a direct response to ecological factors. All people, regardless of where they are
from, have certain biologically encoded behavioural repertoires that are potentially accessible to them, and these
repertoires are engaged when the appropriate environmental conditions are present. When one moves to a new
environment, new cultural responses should be evoked. For example: parasite prevalence physical
attractiveness (index of health like e.g., symmetry of face) is important in mate selection.
2. Transmitted culture: cultural norms are learned from other individuals (spreading of the norms that have been
developed). People come to learn about particular cultural practices through social learning or by modelling
others who live near them. For example: watch neighbour plant wheat seeds and enjoy the benefits plan wheat
seed myself.
Transmitted culture > evoked culture. The vast majority of cultural differences/variance can be explained in terms of
transmitted, rather than evoked culture because:
a. Transmitted culture can travel with people when they move to new environments.
b. Transmitted culture is always involved in maintaining and spreading cultural norms, even when evoked cultural
responses are also present.
Therefore, distinction between evoked and transmitted culture is not always straightforward: a behavioural script may be
triggered by ecology, then passed on via social interaction, to become a cultural norm.
Which cultural ideas spread? To become culture, any information has to be shared and retained. Culture starts with ideas,
that, if picked up, they become norms. So what are the characteristics fo successful ideas?
1. Usefulness: share useful information show cooperation valuable as relationship partner & increased chance
to be helped in the future.
2. Communicable: easy to summarize and socially desirable; norms develop among those who communicate with
each other regularly; people are more likely to communicate information that is personally relevant to them.
3. Minimally counterintuitive: violating expectations more memorable; but at large, ideas should be
intuitive/plausible. Ideas that are intuitive are easy to pass on, however, minimally counterintuitive are even more
easy to pass on. Think about the research on Hans Anderson fairytale research.
3
Latitude = distance from the equator.
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