Runaway cultural niche construction

Rendell, Luke; Fogarty, Laurel; Laland, Kevin N.

doi:10.1098/rstb.2010.0256

Cited by 85 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(78 reference statements)

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“…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%

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

Kolodny

Creanza

Feldman

2015

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

130

185

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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%

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

Kolodny

Creanza

Feldman

2015

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

130

185

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“…In the current issue Rendell et al [46] use a cellular automaton model to explore local and global spatial effects of cultural niche construction on gene -culture coevolutionary dynamics. Similar to runaway sexual selection, they explore coevolution through 'hitchhiking' between cultural transmission of a behaviour (equivalent to the mate preference) that modifies the local selective environment of a genetic trait (equivalent to the preferred trait), even when there is an inherent cost associated with either the cultural trait or the genetic trait.…”

Section: Evolutionary Consequences Of Niche Constructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human niche construction in interdisciplinary focus

Kendal

Tehrani

Odling‐Smee

2011

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

281

156

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Niche construction is an endogenous causal process in evolution, reciprocal to the causal process of natural selection. It works by adding ecological inheritance, comprising the inheritance of natural selection pressures previously modified by niche construction, to genetic inheritance in evolution. Human niche construction modifies selection pressures in environments in ways that affect both human evolution, and the evolution of other species. Human ecological inheritance is exceptionally potent because it includes the social transmission and inheritance of cultural knowledge, and material culture. Human genetic inheritance in combination with human cultural inheritance thus provides a basis for gene -culture coevolution, and multivariate dynamics in cultural evolution. Niche construction theory potentially integrates the biological and social aspects of the human sciences. We elaborate on these processes, and provide brief introductions to each of the papers published in this theme issue.

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“…In this model, separate culturally transmitted traits alter the strength of selection and level of assorting on the focal trait through cultural niche construction. Earlier models of cultural transmission and cultural niche construction have generally incorporated either assortative mating or selection, but not both (10,(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26). Through niche construction, organisms alter evolutionary pressures that are exerted via ecological, or cultural, changes (1, 2, 4, 27-30).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Complexity in models of cultural niche construction with selection and homophily

Creanza

Feldman

2014

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

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Niche construction is the process by which organisms can alter the ecological environment for themselves, their descendants, and other species. As a result of niche construction, differences in selection pressures may be inherited across generations. Homophily, the tendency of like phenotypes to mate or preferentially associate, influences the evolutionary dynamics of these systems. Here we develop a model that includes selection and homophily as independent culturally transmitted traits that influence the fitness and mate choice determined by another focal cultural trait. We study the joint dynamics of a focal set of beliefs, a behavior that can differentially influence the fitness of those with certain beliefs, and a preference for partnering based on similar beliefs. Cultural transmission, selection, and homophily interact to produce complex evolutionary dynamics, including oscillations, stable polymorphisms of all cultural phenotypes, and simultaneous stability of oscillation and fixation, which have not previously been observed in models of cultural evolution or gene-culture interactions. We discuss applications of this model to the interaction of beliefs and behaviors regarding education, contraception, and animal domestication. T hroughout history, humans have dramatically modified their ecological niche, for example by constructing densely populated settlements, using agriculture, and domesticating animals. This niche construction, which has involved major cultural changes, has influenced our own evolution and that of other species (1-4) by affecting the selective forces that act on human populations. A classic example of this gene-culture coevolution is the spread of dairy farming through Europe and the corresponding increase in the allele frequency of the lactase persistence gene, which enables humans to digest milk into adulthood (5-9). Less widely studied is the evolutionary pressure that one culturally transmitted behavior can exert on another cultural trait, either by altering the rate of transmission or the fitnesses of variants of the latter; this has been called cultural niche construction (4, 10).Assortative mating (homophily), where individuals that share a trait are more likely to mate with one another (11-14), and fitness differences may both affect the evolutionary trajectory of a population. In a previous model of cultural niche construction (15), we considered two dichotomous cultural traits, one that determined a cultural phenotype and one niche-constructing trait that controlled the level of selection and assorting on the other trait. In that model, assorting and selection could induce complex evolutionary dynamics, including stable polymorphisms and multiple simultaneously stable equilibria. Polymorphisms were only possible when the three evolutionary forces in the model interacted: fitness differences between phenotypes, assortative mating, and non-Mendelian transmission of at least one trait. The two elements of cultural niche construction in that model-the levels of selection and as...

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Runaway cultural niche construction

Cited by 85 publications

References 45 publications

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

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

Human niche construction in interdisciplinary focus

Complexity in models of cultural niche construction with selection and homophily

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