Pursuing Darwin’s curious parallel: Prospects for a science of cultural evolution

Mesoudi, Alex

doi:10.1073/pnas.1620741114

Cited by 99 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 129 publications

(120 reference statements)

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“…For example, we do not expect cultural transmission to follow the rules of genetic transmission strictly. Indeed, cultural traits are likely to deviate from all three laws of Mendelian inheritance: segregation, independent assortment, and dominance (13).…”

Section: Population Genetics and Cultural Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural evolutionary theory: How culture evolves and why it matters

Creanza

Kolodny

Feldman

2017

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

337

203

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Human cultural traits-behaviors, ideas, and technologies that can be learned from other individuals-can exhibit complex patterns of transmission and evolution, and researchers have developed theoretical models, both verbal and mathematical, to facilitate our understanding of these patterns. Many of the first quantitative models of cultural evolution were modified from existing concepts in theoretical population genetics because cultural evolution has many parallels with, as well as clear differences from, genetic evolution. Furthermore, cultural and genetic evolution can interact with one another and influence both transmission and selection. This interaction requires theoretical treatments of gene-culture coevolution and dual inheritance, in addition to purely cultural evolution. In addition, cultural evolutionary theory is a natural component of studies in demography, human ecology, and many other disciplines. Here, we review the core concepts in cultural evolutionary theory as they pertain to the extension of biology through culture, focusing on cultural evolutionary applications in population genetics, ecology, and demography. For each of these disciplines, we review the theoretical literature and highlight relevant empirical studies. We also discuss the societal implications of the study of cultural evolution and of the interactions of humans with one another and with their environment. cultural evolution | mathematical models | gene-culture coevolution | niche construction | demography H uman culture encompasses ideas, behaviors, and artifacts that can be learned and transmitted between individuals and can change over time (1). This process of transmission and change is reminiscent of Darwin's principle of descent with modification through natural selection, and Darwin himself drew this explicit link in the case of languages: "The formation of different languages and of distinct species, and the proofs that both have been developed through a gradual process, are curiously parallel" (2, 3). Theory underpins most scientific endeavors, and, in the 1970s, researchers began to lay the groundwork for cultural evolutionary theory, building on the neo-Darwinian synthesis of genetics and evolution by using verbal, diagrammatic, and mathematical models (4-8). These models are, by necessity, approximations of reality (9), but because they require researchers to specify their assumptions and extract the most important features from complex processes, they have proven exceedingly useful in advancing the study of cultural evolution (10). Here, we review the field of cultural evolutionary theory as it pertains to the extension of biology through culture. We focus on human culture because the bulk of cultural evolutionary models are human-centric and certain processes such as cumulative culture seem to be unique to humans. However, numerous nonhuman species also exhibit cultural transmission, and we consider the areas of overlap between models of human and animal culture in Discussion.The study of cultural evolution is im...

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Section: Population Genetics and Cultural Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural evolutionary theory: How culture evolves and why it matters

Creanza

Kolodny

Feldman

2017

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

337

203

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In contrast to common approaches in cultural anthropology, those working within the field of cultural evolution have created an array of different approaches and methods that are often more conventionally scientific. These include a greater emphasis on such elements as formal and mathematical modeling, quantification and statistical analysis of numerical data, hypothesis testing, and systematic experimentation (18,25,56,(60)(61)(62)(63). There is not the space here to offer anything like a comprehensive review of the resulting discoveries, but we can outline something of their range, with selected illustrations.…”

Section: Human Culture Is Specialmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Empirical evidence in support of these contentions has accumulated over recent decades, reviewed for example in refs. 61, 62, 78, 83, and 84, and is pursued further in the present collection (18,63).…”

Section: How Culture Extends Biologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Papers in the earlier parts of the collection have a predominant focus on studies of animals, and the remainder a focus on the human case. These are sandwiched between an opening paper coauthored by one of the founders of the subject of cultural evolution, that offers an overview of core cultural evolution theory and empirical findings across human demography, population dynamics, and ecology (18), and a final complementary overview appraising progress made and prospects for the future of these endeavors (63).…”

Section: The Present Issue: the Extension Of Biology Through Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

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The extension of biology through culture

Whiten

Ayala

Feldman

et al. 2017

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

118

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“…In this way, developmental plasticity enables heritable modification of behavior through learning, with the result that culture may extend biology (3,4). Traditions appear to be widespread in the animal kingdom (5)(6)(7), leading theorists to propose that cultural evolution, rather than being restricted to recent human history, has general evolutionary significance (8,9). Apes (6,10) and monkeys provide several examples of traditions.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Synchronized practice helps bearded capuchin monkeys learn to extend attention while learning a tradition

Fragaszy

Eshchar

Visalberghi

et al. 2017

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

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Culture extends biology in that the setting of development shapes the traditions that individuals learn, and over time, traditions evolve as occasional variations are learned by others. In humans, interactions with others impact the development of cognitive processes, such as sustained attention, that shape how individuals learn as well as what they learn. Thus, learning itself is impacted by culture. Here, we explore how social partners might shape the development of psychological processes impacting learning a tradition. We studied bearded capuchin monkeys learning a traditional tool-using skill, cracking nuts using stone hammers. Young monkeys practice components of cracking nuts with stones for years before achieving proficiency. We examined the time course of young monkeys' activity with nuts before, during, and following others' cracking nuts. Results demonstrate that the onset of others' cracking nuts immediately prompts young monkeys to start handling and percussing nuts, and they continue these activities while others are cracking. When others stop cracking nuts, young monkeys sustain the uncommon actions of percussing and striking nuts for shorter periods than the more common actions of handling nuts. We conclude that nut-cracking by adults can promote the development of sustained attention for the critical but less common actions that young monkeys must practice to learn this traditional skill. This work suggests that in nonhuman species, as in humans, socially specified settings of development impact learning processes as well as learning outcomes. Nonhumans, like humans, may be culturally variable learners.T raditions are behaviors shared among members of a group that are reliably learned by new individuals, in part, with social support (1). The concept of tradition highlights behavioral consistency over time and across individuals. Here, we emphasize the origin of traditions in learning. Learned behavior is one manifestation of developmental plasticity, and generation of novel behavior is another. Novel behavioral variants may be learned by others, thus modifying existing traditions or leading to new ones (2). In this way, developmental plasticity enables heritable modification of behavior through learning, with the result that culture may extend biology (3, 4). Traditions appear to be widespread in the animal kingdom (5-7), leading theorists to propose that cultural evolution, rather than being restricted to recent human history, has general evolutionary significance (8, 9). Apes (6, 10) and monkeys provide several examples of traditions. Among monkeys, for example, vervet monkeys learn their mothers' food-processing techniques (11) and white-faced capuchin monkeys learn odd social games, such as poking a finger in another monkey's eye, that become established intermittently in groups (2, 12).Given the essential role of learning in traditions, cognitive processes associated with learning that show developmental plasticity themselves, should be incorporated into our understanding of how culture can...

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Pursuing Darwin’s curious parallel: Prospects for a science of cultural evolution

Cited by 99 publications

References 129 publications

Cultural evolutionary theory: How culture evolves and why it matters

Cultural evolutionary theory: How culture evolves and why it matters

The extension of biology through culture

Synchronized practice helps bearded capuchin monkeys learn to extend attention while learning a tradition

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