Culture Flashcards
(38 cards)
Who said the quote: “Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as humans”
Louis Leakey
How does cultural evolution proceed?
In a similar way as genetic/biological evolution, by a Darwinian process
Why does cultural evolution proceed like a Darwinian process?
It has all the requirements for natural selection:
1) Variance (in behaviour)
2) Inheritance (horizontal and vertical)
3) Competition
4) Differential success
What does cultural evolution rely on?
Social learning
What is cumulative cultural evolution (CCE)?
Adaptive modifications that accumulate over evolutionary time, leading to incremental improvement of material and symbolic artifact, as well as complexity
What is cross-domain prestige bias?
Copying the behaviour of others who are famous or of high status
What is conformity bias?
Copying the behaviour of the majority of group members
What does CCE rely on?
Faithful copying and cultural transmission
How can faithful copying and cultural transmission be dangerous?
Dangerous in the sense that copying others without critically thinking about one’s actions can lead to detrimental effects
How was culture defined in the 1870s?
It was defined as exclusive to humans: “complex whole…capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”
What was suggested by the human-centric definition of culture?
1) Culture is not necessarily essential (to survival)
2) Culture is acquired (no genetic roots)
3) Culture is characteristic of a social group
What is another definition of culture proposed which is unrestricted to human traits?
“A cultural behaviour is transmitted repeatedly through social or observational learning to become a population-level characteristic” (i.e., behavioural variation that cannot be explained by genetics or ecology)
What are 5 examples of cultural attributes in chimpanzees?
1) Tool use (e.g., sponging with leaves, hammering with a rock)
2) Inspecting wounds and “curing” ailments with plants
3) Throwing
4) Squashing and inspecting parasites
5) Leaf-clipping (biting leaves without consuming)
What is an example of ecology as a source of difference in behaviour between populations?
Termite fishing may only occur in wherever fishable termites occur
What is an example of culture as a source of difference in behaviour between populations?
1) Nut-cracking appears to only occur among West African chimpanzees despite nuts and stones being available through Africa
2) Overhead clasping during grooming (lots of variation in the way chimpanzees hold up each other’s arms)
Which is a better explanation for variation in behaviour: culture or ecology?
More likely that behaviours are cultural and differ in ways that are mostly arbitray
What is an example of why ecology cannot be completely discounted when analyzing differences in behaviour?
For nut cracking, perhaps variability in behaviour between West and East African chimpanzees is due to the quality of nuts varying throughout the area
What is the definition for cultural behaviour?
A non-ecological social tradition
Describe the experiment done to test for culture in 2 Chimpanzee populations living in Uganda
1) 2 Chimpanzee populations: leaf-using (Sonso community) and stick-using (Kanyawara community), otherwise sharing similar genetics/ecology
2) Objective was to determine if cultural knowledge biases the solution to a novel problem
3) The problem = obtaining honey that was not finger-accessible from a tree hole
4) If the behaviours were cultural = responses would be biased towards specific tool-use
5) If behaviours were not cultural = variability in responses
What were the results of the Sonso/Kanyawara community study with honey?
Individuals maintained the tool-behaviour of their community in the face of a novel problem, indicating cultural-bias (they rely on cultural knowledge to solve a novel task)
What are the evidence to suggest that tool-use can be beneficial?
1) Nuts cracked by chimpanzees account for 30% of their calories per month (seasonally) - particularly important during food-poor seasons
2) Capuchins select the heaviest/sturdiest rock to break pine nuts, improving the quality of their diet
What are the 3 possible causes for differences in behaviour?
1) Ecology
2) Genetics
3) Culture
Who were the first monkeys known for tool-use?
Capuchins
What are the data on how Capuchin tool-use can improve the quality of their diet?
1) Tool use increased net energy gain by 50% despite amount of food not differing between days of tool-use and no use
2) Less fiber is consumed which allows for higher absorption of nutrients
3) Increased intake of non-protein energy (carbs and fat)
4) Protein intake is maintained during days of tool-use and no use
