Cultural Evolutionary Perspectives on Creativity and Human Innovation

Fogarty, Laurel; Creanza, Nicole; Feldman, Marcus W.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2015.10.004

Cited by 79 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 128 publications

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“…Finally, we demonstrate that a fluctuating environment can lead to largescale cultural losses and select for generalist tools that are useful in multiple conditions. rate of creative invention: as the existing repertoire becomes larger, they allow an increase (47,57) or decrease (e.g., ref. 54) in the invention rate, or more subtle dependencies among particular traits (49,52); other models allow cultural traits to influence the dynamics of cultural transmission and homophily (58)(59)(60)(61)(62)(63).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many represent cultural loss as a Poisson process (47,49,51,52,57), but, as with cultural accumulation, this assumption of a constant rate may be an oversimplification. In reality, factors such as population size (taken into account in some of these models) and environmental change (7) likely affect the rate and nature of cultural loss.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Few models show an exponential increase in the number of cultural traits (47,49,57) or large-scale cultural losses (14,45,46), and we are unaware of any that reproduce a pattern of cultural accumulation with punctuated bursts of innovation separated by periods of relative stasis (although ref. 45 suggests the possibility of bistability: a sudden shift between two levels of cultural diversity).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, researchers in fields such as psychology and cognitive science often divide creativity into multiple types or processes, such as everyday and genius-level creativity (65-67, see also ref. 57). Other categorizations reflect properties of the underlying cognitive processes (68,69).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The model allows the stepwise accumulation of cultural traits as well as other dynamics, depending on parameter values. We take into account insights from recent theoretical and empirical work on cognitive processes that might underlie creativity (57,70), ideas from developmental psychology and cognitive science (68)(69)(70)(71), and a detailed view of how technological innovations develop (influenced by refs. [72][73][74].…”

Section: The Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evolution in leaps: The punctuated accumulation and loss of cultural innovations

Kolodny

Creanza

Feldman

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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130

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Archaeological accounts of cultural change reveal a fundamental conflict: Some suggest that change is gradual, accelerating over time, whereas others indicate that it is punctuated, with long periods of stasis interspersed by sudden gains or losses of multiple traits. Existing models of cultural evolution, inspired by models of genetic evolution, lend support to the former and do not generate trajectories that include large-scale punctuated change. We propose a simple model that can give rise to both exponential and punctuated patterns of gain and loss of cultural traits. In it, cultural innovation comprises several realistic interdependent processes that occur at different rates. The model also takes into account two properties intrinsic to cultural evolution: the differential distribution of traits among social groups and the impact of environmental change. In our model, a population may be subdivided into groups with different cultural repertoires leading to increased susceptibility to cultural loss, whereas environmental change may lead to rapid loss of traits that are not useful in a new environment. Taken together, our results suggest the usefulness of a concept of an effective cultural population size.T he breadth and diversity of cultural traits and their rates of accumulation have received a great deal of scholarly attention. Scientific knowledge in many fields appears to accumulate exponentially (1, 2). However, although the number of tool types in the archaeological record also seems to fit this pattern of exponential increase broadly (3), the number of tools and other cultural traits does not increase steadily and monotonically over time. Depending on the timescale studied, change in tool repertoire may appear punctuated and stepwise. Long, seemingly static, periods are interspersed between "cultural explosions," periods of sudden cultural accumulation (3-13). Further, in some populations, there is evidence that whole suites of cultural traits, such as the ability to make tools, clothing, and fire (14-16), may be lost, defying the general trend of cultural accumulation over time (4,7,8).Reasons for the sudden changes in hominid material culture in the archaeological record continue to be debated; they could be related to demographic factors (17), rapid cognitive change (18-21), relatively sudden changes in hand morphology (22, 23), or dramatic climatic shifts (10,(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). Further, intermediate-scale environmental change or migration to a new environment also could affect the accumulation and loss of traits that are primarily useful in specific environments (29-33). In addition, the relationship between the number of cultural traits in a population and population size has been debated (4,14,29,(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41); this relationship also might depend on the social learning strategies of the population (42, 43). Further, there could be a feedback process between the number of tools in a population and the population size: A larger population might be able to invent and retain m...

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Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Evolution in leaps: The punctuated accumulation and loss of cultural innovations

Kolodny

Creanza

Feldman

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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130

185

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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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Want climate‐change adaptation? Evolutionary theory can help

Jones

Ready

Pisor

2020

American J Hum Biol

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The idea of adaptation, in which an organism or population becomes better suited to its environment, is used in a variety of disciplines. Originating in evolutionary biology, adaptation has been a central theme in biological anthropology and human ecology. More recently, the study of adaptation in the context of climate change has become an important topic of research in the social sciences. While there are clearly commonalities in the different uses of the concept of adaptation in these fields, there are also substantial differences. We describe these differences and suggest that the study of climate-change adaptation could benefit from a re-integration with biological and evolutionary conceptions of human adaptation. This integration would allow us to employ the substantial theoretical tools of evolutionary biology and anthropology to understand what promotes or impedes adaptation. The evolutionary perspective on adaptation focuses on diversity because diversity drives adaptive evolution. Population structures are also critical in facilitating or preventing adaptation to local environmental conditions. This suggests that climatechange adaptation should focus on the sources of innovation and social structures that nurture innovations and allow them to spread. Truly innovative ideas are likely to arise on the periphery of cohesive social groups and spread inward. The evolutionary perspective also suggests that we pay careful attention to correlated traits, which can distort adaptive trajectories, as well as to the importance of risk management in adaptations to variable or uncertain environments. Finally, we suggest that climate-change adaptation could benefit from a broader study of how local groups adapt to their dynamic environments, a process we call "autochthonous adaptation."

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Cultural Evolutionary Perspectives on Creativity and Human Innovation

Cited by 79 publications

References 128 publications

Evolution in leaps: The punctuated accumulation and loss of cultural innovations

Evolution in leaps: The punctuated accumulation and loss of cultural innovations

Cultural Evolution

Want climate‐change adaptation? Evolutionary theory can help

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