culture learning Flashcards
(40 cards)
Is culture unique to humans?
If adopting psychological definition of culture, then not unique to humans
Other animals with culture:
humpback whales have gone through evolution through horizontal transmission by transferring songs to each other
Black rats have found ways to break down pinecones through vertical transmission (parent rats teach black rats by chewing or clawing the pine cone)
Indigo birds pass down songs through oblique transmission, by learning from other males
Humans vs other animals:
Humas not unique in having culture
Humans can learn cultural information much quicker than other animals
Humans do have cumulative cultural complexity
Humans not unique in engaging in cultural learning
Two types of cultural learning:
1)individual learning: figuring out cultural information by yourself
Have to figure out on your own what works, what doesn’t work, you need a lot of brainpower
Not good for survival
2)social learning: learning from others who have encountered the same problem/found the solution already
human brain is —% of body weight
2%
human brain takes up —-% of all basal metabolism
16%
Brains of other animals use 1 to 3% of basal metabolism
Cephalization factor (line of best fit
allows us to predict given the approx. weight of an animal species, how heavy the brain should the species have
Encephalization quotient (EQ)
actual brain weight/ expected brain weight based on body weight (>1 means brain is heavier than expected)
Greater EQ associated with:
~More social species
~Complex social systems
Humans have a uniquely high EQ (highest in all mammals) of 7.4
Fruit consumption theory
Primates eat a lot of fruits- but they’re seasonal and in patches
we needed to crate mental maps to keep track of where and when fruits grow
food extraction theory
Primates eat difficult foods requiring ingenuity to extract (ie we need to think about how to crack open a shell to eat the nut)
The more primates rely on these foods, the big
Social Brain Hypothesis
Larger group sizes tend to be associated with larger neocortex
When brains of mammals increase in size, it’s usually neocortex that gets bigger
neocortex (social brain hypothesis)
Neo cortex associated with higher order functions such as sensory perception, language, and conscious complex thought
Most newly evolved part of cerebral cortex
Most relevant for complex information such as culture
Neocortex ratio=
volume of neocortex/volume of the rest of brain(w/out neocortex)
Volume of human brain is much denser and voluminous
convolutions(folds in brain)
allow for a lot of space/volume
what theory is correct?
Fruit consumption doesnt seem to be related to brain evolution
Food extraction(using tools to extract food), neocortex ratio seems to be the same, doesnt relate to brain evolution
Social brain hypothesis that shows the most correlation to larger brain size
Across species brain size is predictive of —–, but within species it is not
inteligience
Social learning
Learners who learn after the teacher/model
Cultural brain hypothesis
states that social learning is a key factor of the correlation between group size and brain size
Large group sizes are more advantageous bc it provides protection from predation
Larger group of a member of species is advantageous allows for division of labor, coordination of behaviors
Larger groups needed for more cultural copmlexity
As brain size got bigger, facilitated development of social skills and us as a species to learn more effictively
Learning that we do as a social being is more effective and more efficient than relying on individual learning
Group size becomes larger, social learning becomes better bc there are more models to teach
As brain got bigger, there reached an equilibrium point where the brain can not be any larger
A lot of dangers of childbirth come from the big brain of the child bc the head is so big
Theory of mind
Understanding that others have different beliefs thoughts, and perspectives than oneself
Ratchet effect
tools increase in complexity over time (ie the hammer)
Closing land bridge of tasmania -> led to reduction of population size-> loss of models/teachers (loss of technology, loss of cultural information)-> loss of technology
Prestige bias
attending more to models who are better respected and garner more people’s attention (who are more respected)
Who do you copy in groups?
We get more benefits from more knowledgeable models
(prestige bias)
