WEEK 2 - 3 Where does culture come from. How is it transmitted. Is it unique to humans? Evoked culture: humans have biologically encoded database of behaviours that are activated in certain environments Transmitted culture: people copy other people Berry's Ecocultural model Background variables: population level · Ecological context: physical context · Sociopolitical context: type of political environment you are in . Both lead to biological and cultural adaptation which lead to Process variables: population and individual level · Ecological influences · Genetic transmission · Cultural transmission · Acculturation All lead to Psychological variables: individual level · Observable behaviours · Inferred characteristics 0 lead back to influence background variables Ex. Sky burial . In Tibet, body is not buried or burned . They will cut up the body feed it to vultures · Why? Not enough trees for a fire, ground not good for burying taken on cultural/religious significance now has
Cultural Transmission . The transfer and acquisition of cultural information through social learning · Can be vertical, horizontal, or oblique · Relative importance of these depends on the size and degree of indus- trialization by the society · Vertical transmission . Parent to child: teaching cultural information · Primary form especially in hunter gather/small scale societies; particu- larly in young children · Horizontal transmission · Passing on information within the same generation; between peers · Very common in large scale societies · Oblique transmission · Cultural information transferred from someone from an older genera- tion other than parents to a younger generation Hunter Gatherer societies · Raising children is more work; children cling to their parents until about age 5 . After age 5, a lot of horizontal transmission and a lot of oblique transmission Modern societies . Still a lot of vertical transmission · Early on we outsource some education at very young age - daycare, preschool · A lot of media consumption as they age - greater quantity of oblique trans- mission Cultural transmission rests on two key skills · Considering the perspectives of others
Humans have theory of mind: we understand that people aren't having the same thoughts as us and so we feel compelled to communicate with them · Developed through social interaction Imitative learning: If one can observe a behaviour and internalize that person's intentions, they are more able to reproduce the same be- haviour successfully Other species do not do this More likely to imitate warm and nurturing models; authority fig- ures; or similar to the child (mostly gender) More likely to imitate if the model has been rewarded for the be- haviour or if they have been rewarded for imitating More likely if the situation is ambiguous or unfamiliar Emulative learning: observational learning that focusses on the ob- ject being used. An individual learns that something has certain char- acteristics but must try it for themselves to determine the actual strat- egy Chimpanzees tend to use emulative learning whereas children use imitative learning Chimps will only replicate those behaviours which directly achieve