Five Clarifications about Cultural Evolution
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12823136 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Liane Gabora (0000-0002-0382-7711, University of British Columbia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 61-83 |
| Publication date | 2011-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Cognition and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1567-7095 • E-ISSN: 1568-5373 |
| Publisher | Brill (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1163/156853711x568699 |
| OpenAlex | W2014115998 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 27 |
This paper reviews and clarifies five misunderstandings about cultural evolution identified by Henrich et al. (2008). First, cultural representations are neither discrete nor continuous; they are distributed across neurons that respond to microfeatures. This enables associations to be made, and cultural change to be generated. Second, ‘replicator dynamics’ do not ensure natural selection. The replicator notion does not capture the distinction between actively interpreted self-assembly code and passively copied self-description, which leads to a fundamental principle of natural selection: inherited information is transmitted, whereas acquired information is not. Third, this principle is violated in culture by the ubiquity of acquired change. Moreover, biased transmission is less important to culture than the creative processes by which novelty is generated. Fourth, there is no objective basis for determining cultural fitness. Fifth, the necessity of randomness is discussed. It is concluded that natural selection inappropriate is an explanatory framework for culture
Biology · Cognitive science · Cultural transmission in animals · Epistemology · Evolutionary biology · Natural (archaeology · Natural selection · Novelty · Randomness · Selection (genetic algorithm · Sociology · Computer Science · Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation · Language and cultural evolution · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
A popular misapplication of evolutionary modeling to the study of human cooperation
Dissecting Discrimination
Evolutionary and Interpretive Archaeologies
Rethinking the Evolution of Culture and Cognitive Structure
What Anthropologists Should Know About the New Evolutionary Synthesis
Cultural Evolutionary Theory and the Significance of the Biology-Culture Analogy
Is Cultural Fitness Hopelessly Confused
What Are Group Level Traits and How Do They Evolve
Identity, Kinship, and the Evolution of Cooperation
The Computational Brain
Dual-inheritance theory
Models of Working Memory
Origins of Genius
Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems
The Origins of Order
Towards a unified science of cultural evolution
On the proper treatment of connectionism
Perspective
Explaining culture
The Origin and Evolution of Cultures
Cultural Transmission and Evolution
Cultural transmission and evolution
Not By Genes Alone
Exploring a Tripartite Relationship Between Rebelliousness, Openness to Experience and Creativity
The role of attraction in cultural evolution
What is a Species, and What is Not
Bright Air, Brilliant Fire
Blind variation and selective retentions in creative thought as in other knowledge processes
The trouble with memes
Five Misunderstandings About Cultural Evolution
Structural Cohesion and Embeddedness
Co-Evolution
Evolutionary Perspectives on Religion
| Citations per year | 0.6 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2011 - 2023 (13) |
| Highly cited | No |