The Evolution of Culture

“Culture” has had 150 different definitions Four major classes of cultural definitions  Rules for behaviour or conduct  Ideas or concepts (e.g., myths)  Material artefacts (e.g., tools)  Literature, art, music Distinction between imitation and individual learning Defining Culture

Defining the Problem Why study culture? How is culture transmitted?  Vertically, obliquely, horizontally Why is culture transmitted?  More efficient means of transmitting knowledge across generations  Memetic parasitization  Unique, acquired fitness indicators

Assumptions of Cultural Research Brown (1991) outlines several misleading propositions encountered in cultural anthropology:  Nature and culture are distinct phenomena  Nature is manifested in instincts whereas culture is manifested in learning  The mind at birth is tabula rasa  There are few universals, and they are unimportant

Cultural Transmission (1) The paradox of conformity Imitators Learners Frequency of Imitation Fitness

If basic “imitators” and “learners” cannot reach a mutual equilibrium, how is this behaviour maintained in the population?  Extra privileges given to learners by imitators  Selective imitation Payoff-biased imitation Conformist transmission Cultural Transmission (2)

Memes and Neutral Mutations Kimura (1979) proposed that if a genetic trait has a neutral effect on selection, it is relatively free to vary randomly (genetic drift)  Perhaps random variation in neutral memes accounts for cultural variability What about cases when memes increase biological fitness costs?  Under certain conditions, memetic evolution can still take place

The Adaptiveness of Culture Although there is considerable debate on the matter, it does appear that some cultural phenomena enhance fitness  Is culture adaptive? Example: the Rendille & the Honey-guide (Indicator indicator)

Do genetic predispositions have an effect on cultural evolution? Example: the evolution of the teddy bear  Originally, teddy bears were quite “bear- like”  Over history, however, bear snouts have become less pronounced and foreheads larger, an outcome of adult predispositions for neoteny Guided Cultural Evolution

Do non-human animals have culture? Exchange between researchers:  “There is cultural transmission of information in fish and it is clear that the choice of mating behavior and mating partner are of cultural derivation”  “Can you define ‘culture’? My sociological understanding of the term probably excludes fish.” Culture in Non-Human Animals

“Economic Man” Across Cultures A recent cross-cultural study of 15 societies demonstrates cultural variation in game playing  At the group, rather than individual, level  Predicted by market integration and higher cooperative payoffs in social life (66% of variation among societies) These differences are not obtained when comparing university students across cultures

The Universal People Brown (1991) has proposed the concept of the Universal people  A “description of every people or of people in general”  They share in common Sophisticated language Basic emotions Recognition of individuals

The Wrap-Up Defining culture Misleading assumptions of cross-cultural research Cultural transmission Neutral mutations Adaptiveness of culture Culture in non-human animals

Things to Come The evolution of  Art  Music  Morality