Applying evolutionary models to the laboratory study of social learning

McElreath, Richard; Lubell, Mark; Richerson, Peter J.; Waring, Timothy M.; Baum, William M.; Edsten, Edward; Efferson, Charles; Paciotti, Brian

doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.04.003

Cited by 249 publications

(278 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…This is in line with earlier findings in the experimental and theoretical literature that social learning can increase an individual's performance in non-social contexts 3,9,26 . The way in which social information was used in this context substantially differed between individuals, which is in agreement with earlier experimental evidence 24,26 . Our experimental results indicate that individual variation in social learning strategies is even more pronounced in social contexts, where payoffs depend on the behaviour of others.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…The results of such investigations are corroborated by evidence from controlled laboratory studies, which indicate that people attend to the frequencies of their peers' behaviour, as well as to the payoffs associated with it [23][24][25][26][27][28][29] . In addition, there are indications that the extent to which people resort to social information depends on factors like task difficulty, confidence in their own information 30 and environmental variability 31 .…”

supporting

confidence: 64%

“…In addition, there are indications that the extent to which people resort to social information depends on factors like task difficulty, confidence in their own information 30 and environmental variability 31 . Experimental results suggest that individuals differ in the extent to which they rely on social information when making decisions under uncertainty 24,28 , and vary in their tendency to conform to behaviour of the majority 26 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Consistent individual differences in human social learning strategies

2014

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

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confidence: 64%

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confidence: 99%

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Consistent individual differences in human social learning strategies

2014

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“…Theoretical models and experimental evidence show that the transmission of cultural variants is strongly influenced not just by their content, but also by the local social context of their transmission: Conformity and prestige biases lead people to adopt, respectively, cultural variants common among their peers, and variants adopted by prestigious members of their culture (Boyd & Richerson 1985;. In much of that work, conformity and prestige are characterized behaviorally, and little is yet known about the nature of the psychological mechanisms underlying conformity and prestige biases (though see Henrich & Gil-White 2001;McElreath et al 2005). Discovering more about those mechanisms' internal structure, the observable cues in the social environment to which they are sensitive, and the manner in which they process information about those cues promises to shed light on the cultural evolutionary dynamics that they influence.…”

Section: Agustín Fuentesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other studies have tracked the transmission of text along linear chains of participants (Bangerter 2000;Kashima 2000;Mesoudi et al, 2006). Finally, studies have demonstrated the cultural transmission of behavioural strategies within small groups of participants (Baum et al 2004;Insko et al 1980;McElreath et al 2005).…”

Section: R35 Mechanisms Of Cultural Transmissionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a unified science of cultural evolution

2006

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We suggest that human culture exhibits key Darwinian evolutionary properties, and argue that the structure of a science of cultural evolution should share fundamental features with the structure of the science of biological evolution. This latter claim is tested by outlining the methods and approaches employed by the principal subdisciplines of evolutionary biology and assessing whether there is an existing or potential corresponding approach to the study of cultural evolution. Existing approaches within anthropology and archaeology demonstrate a good match with the macroevolutionary methods of systematics, paleobiology, and biogeography, whereas mathematical models derived from population genetics have been successfully developed to study cultural microevolution. Much potential exists for experimental simulations and field studies of cultural microevolution, where there are opportunities to borrow further methods and hypotheses from biology. Potential also exists for the cultural equivalent of molecular genetics in "social cognitive neuroscience," although many fundamental issues have yet to be resolved. It is argued that studying culture within a unifying evolutionary framework has the potential to integrate a number of separate disciplines within the social sciences.

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Cultural Evolution

Mesoudi

2018

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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Cultural evolution is the idea that cultural change, that is changes in socially acquired information such as knowledge or beliefs, constitutes a Darwinian evolutionary process that shares fundamental similarities with (but also some differences to) genetic evolution. While parallels between cultural and biological change have been drawn ever since Darwin provided his theory of evolution, it is only in the last few decades that this parallel has been fully pursued. Models, experiments and fieldwork has probed the details of how individuals learn from one another within societies (cultural microevolution), while comparative phylogenetic methods have been used to reconstruct long‐term cultural change and diversity over long timescales (cultural macroevolution). Key topics include language, cooperation, technology, innovation, migration and religion. The theory and field of cultural evolution can link the biological and social sciences by providing an evolutionarily based theory of cultural change and diversity. Key Concepts Culture is defined as information that is passed from individual to individual nongenetically, via social learning processes such as teaching or imitation. Cultural evolution is the idea that cultural change constitutes an evolutionary process. Cultural change constitutes an evolutionary process because cultural traits vary, they are inherited via social learning from individual to individual, and some cultural traits are more likely to be passed on than others. Many species possess culture in the form of social learning, but few (perhaps only humans) have cumulative cultural evolution where the body of culturally evolving knowledge exceeds that which a single individual could invent or discover. Cultural microevolution describes the ways in which cultural traits change within groups or societies, such as via different social learning biases. Social learning biases include tendencies to learn from specific classes of individuals (e.g. one's parents, knowledgeable teachers, prestigious celebrities), learn particular kinds of things (e.g. about disgust‐inducing stimuli), or learn from others in particular situations (e.g. when uncertain). Cultural macroevolution describes long‐term changes in culture at or above the level of the society and can be studied using phylogenetic methods similar to those used to reconstruct past genetic evolution. Gene‐culture coevolution describes cases where culturally evolving traits alter selection pressures on genes and vice versa. Common topics of study in the field of cultural evolution include language, cooperation, technology, innovation, migration and religion. The theory of cultural evolution can link the biological or natural sciences with the social sciences and humanities, by providing an evolutionarily‐based theory of cultural change.

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Applying evolutionary models to the laboratory study of social learning

Cited by 249 publications

References 21 publications

Consistent individual differences in human social learning strategies

Consistent individual differences in human social learning strategies

Towards a unified science of cultural evolution

Cultural Evolution

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