L22 - Cultural Evolution Flashcards
What is culture?
The inheritance of acquired behaviour
What type of culture is unique to humans?
Cumulative
What is cultural evolution?
A process of change in the traits manifested within a population that is explained by various forms of social learning among species members
What is horizontal transmission?
Transmission within a generation, sometimes also used to refer to transmission from any nonparent
What is a meme?
A cultural entity, intended to be analogous to a gene, capable of being replicated and transmitted between individuals.
What is a replicator?
An entity capable of being replicated and capable of influencing its own chances of being replicated through its effects on the world
What is vertical transmission?
Transmission from parent to offspring, usually of genetic material
Which spreads quicker - cultural or biological evolution?
Cultural
Within animals where does the most evidence for culture come from?
Ethnographic descriptions of population differences
Give an example of culture in animals
Study was done on chimpanzees
Looked at 39 variable behaviours
Evidence for culture or for environmental variation
What is the main difficulty in identifying culture in animals?
Ensuring that environment and genetics don’t play a part
Give two examples in human history of when cultural evolution has led to biological evolution
Cooking food -> smaller teeth and digestive tracts, bigger brains
Wearing clothes -> less bodily hair, less lice
What is cumulative culture?
The idea that the culture is constantly built upon by the transmission of information with some ‘error’ or improvement leading to modification
Describe the relationship between evolution of a word compared to its frequency of use and length
Less frequently used words evolve quicker
Longer words evolve quicker
