Beyond social learning

Manvir Singh, Alberto Acerbi, Christine A. Caldwell, Etienne Danchin, Guillaume Isabel, Lucas Molleman, Thom Scott-Phillips, Monica Tamariz, Pieter van den Berg, Edwin J. C. van Leeuwen, Maxime Derex

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)
77 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Cultural evolution requires the social transmission of information. For this reason, scholars have emphasized social learning when explaining how and why culture evolves. Yet cultural evolution results from many mechanisms operating in concert. Here, we argue that the emphasis on social learning has distracted scholars from appreciating both the full range of mechanisms contributing to cultural evolution and how interactions among those mechanisms and other factors affect the output of cultural evolution. We examine understudied mechanisms and other factors and call for a more inclusive programme of investigation that probes multiple levels of the organization, spanning the neural, cognitive-behavioural and populational levels. To guide our discussion, we focus on factors involved in three core topics of cultural evolution: the emergence of culture, the emergence of cumulative cultural evolution and the design of cultural traits. Studying mechanisms across levels can add explanatory power while revealing gaps and misconceptions in our knowledge.
Original languageEnglish
Article number20200050
JournalPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume376
Issue number1828
Early online date17 May 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jul 2021

Keywords

  • adaptation
  • cultural evolution
  • culture
  • cumulative culture
  • mechanism
  • social learning

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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