The Experts below are selected from a list of 360 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Alex Mesoudi - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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migration acculturation and the maintenance of between group Cultural Variation
PLOS ONE, 2018Co-Authors: Alex MesoudiAbstract:How do migration and acculturation (i.e. psychological or behavioral change resulting from migration) affect within- and between-group Cultural Variation? Here I address this question by drawing analogies between genetic and Cultural evolution. Population genetic models show that migration rapidly breaks down between-group genetic structure. In Cultural evolution, however, migrants or their descendants can acculturate to local behaviors via social learning processes such as conformity, potentially preventing migration from eliminating between-group Cultural Variation. An analysis of the empirical literature on migration suggests that acculturation is common, with second and subsequent migrant generations shifting, sometimes substantially, towards the Cultural values of the adopted society. Yet there is little understanding of the individual-level dynamics that underlie these population-level shifts. To explore this formally, I present models quantifying the effect of migration and acculturation on between-group Cultural Variation, for both neutral and costly cooperative traits. In the models, between-group Cultural Variation, measured using F statistics, is eliminated by migration and maintained by conformist acculturation. The extent of acculturation is determined by the strength of conformist bias and the number of demonstrators from whom individuals learn. Acculturation is countered by assortation, the tendency for individuals to preferentially interact with Culturally-similar others. Unlike neutral traits, cooperative traits can additionally be maintained by payoff-biased social learning, but only in the presence of strong sanctioning mechanisms (e.g. institutions). Overall, the models show that surprisingly little conformist acculturation is required to maintain realistic amounts of between-group Cultural diversity. While these models provide insight into the potential dynamics of acculturation and migration in Cultural evolution, they also highlight the need for more empirical research into the individual-level learning biases that underlie migrant acculturation.
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migration acculturation and the maintenance of between group Cultural Variation
bioRxiv, 2017Co-Authors: Alex MesoudiAbstract:How do migration and acculturation affect within- and between-group Cultural Variation? Classic models from population genetics show that migration rapidly breaks down between-group genetic structure. However, in the case of Cultural evolution, migrants (or their children) can acculturate to local Cultural behaviors via social learning processes such as conformity, potentially preventing migration from eliminating between-group Cultural Variation. To explore this verbal claim formally, here I present models that quantify the effect of migration and acculturation on between-group Cultural Variation, first for a neutral trait and then for an individually-costly cooperative trait. I also review the empirical literature on the strength of migrant acculturation. The models show that surprisingly little conformist acculturation is required to maintain plausible amounts of between-group Cultural diversity. Acculturation is countered by assortation, the tendency for individuals to preferentially interact with Culturally-similar others. Cooperative traits may also be maintained by payoff-biased social learning but only in the presence of strong sanctioning institutions. While these models provide insight into the potential dynamics of acculturation and migration in Cultural evolution, they also highlight the need for more empirical research into the individual-level learning biases that underlie migrant acculturation.
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the evolution of individual and Cultural Variation in social learning
Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 2016Co-Authors: Alex Mesoudi, Lei Chang, Sasha R X Dall, Alex ThorntonAbstract:It is often assumed in experiments and models that social learning abilities – how often individuals copy others, plus who and how they copy – are species-typical. Yet there is accruing evidence for systematic individual Variation in social learning within species. Here we review evidence for this individual Variation, placing it within a continuum of increasing phenotypic plasticity, from genetically polymorphic personality traits, to developmental plasticity via cues such as maternal stress, to the individual learning of social learning, and finally the social learning of social learning. The latter, possibly restricted to humans, can generate stable between-group Cultural Variation in social learning. More research is needed to understand the extent, causes, and consequences of this individual and Cultural Variation.
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higher frequency of social learning in china than in the west shows Cultural Variation in the dynamics of Cultural evolution
Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2015Co-Authors: Alex Mesoudi, Lei Chang, Keelin Margaret MurrayAbstract:Cultural evolutionary models have identified a range of conditions under which social learning (copying others) is predicted to be adaptive relative to asocial learning (learning on one's own), particularly in humans where socially learned information can accumulate over successive generations. However, Cultural evolution and behavioural economics experiments have consistently shown apparently maladaptive under-utilization of social information in Western populations. Here we provide experimental evidence of Cultural Variation in people's use of social learning, potentially explaining this mismatch. People in mainland China showed significantly more social learning than British people in an artefact-design task designed to assess the adaptiveness of social information use. People in Hong Kong, and Chinese immigrants in the UK, resembled British people in their social information use, suggesting a recent shift in these groups from social to asocial learning due to exposure to Western culture. Finally, Chinese mainland participants responded less than other participants to increased environmental change within the task. Our results suggest that learning strategies in humans are Culturally variable and not genetically fixed, necessitating the study of the ‘social learning of social learning strategies' whereby the dynamics of Cultural evolution are responsive to social processes, such as migration, education and globalization.
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using the methods of experimental social psychology to study Cultural evolution
The Journal of Social Evolutionary and Cultural Psychology, 2007Co-Authors: Alex MesoudiAbstract:Cultural psychology, and other social sciences (e.g. Cultural anthropology, sociology), seek to document Cultural Variation, yet have difficulty providing strong empirical tests of explanations for that Variation. It is argued here that an effective means of testing hypotheses regarding the origin of, and persistence and change in, Cultural Variation is by simulating Cultural transmission in the lab using certain methods from experimental social psychology. Three experimental methods are reviewed: the transmission chain method, the replacement method, and the constant-group method. Although very few studies have explicitly simulated specific cross-Cultural patterns, much potential exists for future investigations. This integration of small-scale experimental simulations and largescale observational or historical data is facilitated by an evolutionary framework for the study of culture, and has a precedent in the biological sciences, where experiments are used to simulate and explain the processes of biological evolution.
Daniel B. M. Haun - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Cultural Variation in young children s social motivation for peer collaboration and its relation to the ontogeny of theory of mind
PLOS ONE, 2020Co-Authors: Roman Stengelin, Robert Hepach, Daniel B. M. HaunAbstract:Children seek and like to engage in collaborative activities with their peers. This social motivation is hypothesized to facilitate their emerging social-cognitive skills and vice versa. Current evidence on the ontogeny of social motivation and its’ links to social cognition, however, is subject to a sampling bias toward participants from urban Western populations. Here, we show both cross-Cultural Variation and homogeneity in three- to eight-year-old children’s expressed positive emotions during and explicit preferences for peer collaboration across three diverse populations (urban German, rural Hai||om/Namibia, rural Ovambo/Namibia; n = 240). Children expressed more positive emotions during collaboration as compared to individual activity, but the extent varied across populations. Children’s preferences for collaboration differed markedly between populations and across ages: While German children across all ages sought collaboration, Hai||om children preferred to act individually throughout childhood. Ovambo children preferred individual play increasingly with age. Across populations, positive emotions expressed selectively during collaboration, predicted children’s social-cognitive skills. These findings provide evidence that culture shapes young children’s social motivation for dyadic peer collaboration. At the same time, the positive relation of social motivation and social cognition in early ontogeny appears cross-Culturally constant.
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cross Cultural Variation in how much but not whether children overimitate
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2020Co-Authors: Roman Stengelin, Robert Hepach, Daniel B. M. HaunAbstract:Children from Western industrialized populations tend to copy actions modeled by an adult with high fidelity even if these actions are functionally irrelevant. This so-called overimitation has been argued to be an important driver of cumulative Cultural learning. However, cross-Cultural and developmental evidence on overimitation is controversial, likely due to diverging task demands regarding children's attention and memory capabilities. Here, children from a recent hunter-gatherer population (Hai||om in Namibia) were compared with urban Western children (Germany) using an overimitation procedure with minimal cognitive task demands. Although the proportion of children engaging in any overimitation was similar across the two populations, German overimitators copied irrelevant actions more persistently across tasks. These results suggest that the influence of culture on children's overimitation may be one of degree, not kind.
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why cross Cultural psychology is incomplete without comparative and developmental perspectives
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 2018Co-Authors: Katja Liebal, Daniel B. M. HaunAbstract:We argue that comparing adult behavior and cognition across cultures is insufficient to capture the multifaceted complexity of Cultural Variation. We champion a multidisciplinary perspective that d...
Shagufa Kapadia - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Cultural Variation in communal versus exchange norms implications for social support
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2017Co-Authors: Joan G Miller, Hiroko Akiyama, Shagufa KapadiaAbstract:Whereas an interdependent Cultural view of self has been linked to communal norms and to socially supportive behavior, its relationship to social support has been called into question in research suggesting that discomfort in social support is associated with an interdependent Cultural view of self (e.g., Taylor et al., 2004). These contrasting claims were addressed in 2 studies conducted among Japanese, Indian, and American adults. Assessing everyday social support, Study 1 showed that Japanese and Americans rely on exchange norms more frequently than Indians among friends, whereas American rely on exchange norms more frequently than Indians and Japanese among siblings. Assessing responses to vignettes, Study 2 demonstrated that Japanese and Americans rely more frequently on exchange norms than Indians, with greatest relational concerns and most negative outlooks on social support observed among Japanese, less among Americans, and least among Indians. Results further indicated that relational concerns mediated the link between exchange norms and negative social support outlooks. Supporting past claims that relational concerns explain Cultural Variation in discomfort in social support (e.g., Kim, Sherman, & Taylor, 2008), the findings underscore the need to take into account as well the role of exchange norms in explaining such discomfort. The findings also highlight the existence of Culturally variable approaches to exchange and call into question claims that discomfort in social support can be explained in terms of the global concept of an interdependent Cultural view of self. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)
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Cultural Variation in communal versus exchange norms implications for social support
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2017Co-Authors: Joan G Miller, Hiroko Akiyama, Shagufa KapadiaAbstract:Whereas an interdependent Cultural view of self has been linked to communal norms and to socially supportive behavior, its relationship to social support has been called into question in research suggesting that discomfort in social support is associated with an interdependent Cultural view of self (e.g., Taylor et al., 2004). These contrasting claims were addressed in 2 studies conducted among Japanese, Indian, and American adults. Assessing everyday social support, Study 1 showed that Japanese and Americans rely on exchange norms more frequently than Indians among friends, whereas American rely on exchange norms more frequently than Indians and Japanese among siblings. Assessing responses to vignettes, Study 2 demonstrated that Japanese and Americans rely more frequently on exchange norms than Indians, with greatest relational concerns and most negative outlooks on social support observed among Japanese, less among Americans, and least among Indians. Results further indicated that relational concerns mediated the link between exchange norms and negative social support outlooks. Supporting past claims that relational concerns explain Cultural Variation in discomfort in social support (e.g., Kim, Sherman, & Taylor, 2008), the findings underscore the need to take into account as well the role of exchange norms in explaining such discomfort. The findings also highlight the existence of Culturally variable approaches to exchange and call into question claims that discomfort in social support can be explained in terms of the global concept of an interdependent Cultural view of self. (PsycINFO Database Record
Lisa M. Debruine - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Cross-Cultural Variation in women's preferences for cues to sex- and stress-hormones in the male face
Biology letters, 2013Co-Authors: Fhionna R. Moore, Vinet Coetzee, Jorge Contreras-garduño, Lisa M. Debruine, Karel Kleisner, Indrikis Krams, Urszula M. Marcinkowska, Andreas Nord, David I. Perrett, Markus J. RantalaAbstract:Women in the UK prefer the faces of men with low levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and the relationship is moderated by the sex hormone testosterone. In a Latvian sample, however, women's preferences were not affected by cortisol, and the interaction with testosterone differed from that of the UK. To further explore cross-Cultural Variation in preferences for facial cues to sex- and stress-hormones, we tested the preferences of women from 13 countries for facial composites constructed to differ in combinations of the hormones. We found significant relationships between a measure of societal development (the United Nations human development index 2011) and preferences for cues to testosterone in the face, and the interaction between preferences for cues to testosterone and cortisol. We also found a significant relationship between preferences for cues to testosterone and a societal-level measure of parasite stress. We conclude that societal-level ecological factors influence the relative value of traits revealed by combinations of sex- and stress-hormones.
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the health of a nation predicts their mate preferences cross Cultural Variation in women s preferences for masculinized male faces
Proceedings of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2010Co-Authors: Lisa M. Debruine, Benedict C Jones, John Robertson Crawford, Lisa L M Welling, Anthony C LittleAbstract:Recent formulations of sexual selection theory emphasize how mate choice can be affected by environmental factors, such as predation risk and resource quality. Women vary greatly in the extent to which they prefer male masculinity and this Variation is hypothesized to reflect differences in how women resolve the trade-off between the costs (e.g. low investment) and benefits (e.g. healthy offspring) associated with choosing a masculine partner. A strong prediction of this trade-off theory is that women's masculinity preferences will be stronger in cultures where poor health is particularly harmful to survival. We investigated the relationship between women's preferences for male facial masculinity and a health index derived from World Health Organization statistics for mortality rates, life expectancies and the impact of communicable disease. Across 30 countries, masculinity preference increased as health decreased. This relationship was independent of cross-Cultural differences in wealth or women's mating strategies. These findings show non-arbitrary cross-Cultural differences in facial attractiveness judgements and demonstrate the use of trade-off theory for investigating cross-Cultural Variation in women's mate preferences.
Roman Stengelin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Cultural Variation in young children s social motivation for peer collaboration and its relation to the ontogeny of theory of mind
PLOS ONE, 2020Co-Authors: Roman Stengelin, Robert Hepach, Daniel B. M. HaunAbstract:Children seek and like to engage in collaborative activities with their peers. This social motivation is hypothesized to facilitate their emerging social-cognitive skills and vice versa. Current evidence on the ontogeny of social motivation and its’ links to social cognition, however, is subject to a sampling bias toward participants from urban Western populations. Here, we show both cross-Cultural Variation and homogeneity in three- to eight-year-old children’s expressed positive emotions during and explicit preferences for peer collaboration across three diverse populations (urban German, rural Hai||om/Namibia, rural Ovambo/Namibia; n = 240). Children expressed more positive emotions during collaboration as compared to individual activity, but the extent varied across populations. Children’s preferences for collaboration differed markedly between populations and across ages: While German children across all ages sought collaboration, Hai||om children preferred to act individually throughout childhood. Ovambo children preferred individual play increasingly with age. Across populations, positive emotions expressed selectively during collaboration, predicted children’s social-cognitive skills. These findings provide evidence that culture shapes young children’s social motivation for dyadic peer collaboration. At the same time, the positive relation of social motivation and social cognition in early ontogeny appears cross-Culturally constant.
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cross Cultural Variation in how much but not whether children overimitate
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2020Co-Authors: Roman Stengelin, Robert Hepach, Daniel B. M. HaunAbstract:Children from Western industrialized populations tend to copy actions modeled by an adult with high fidelity even if these actions are functionally irrelevant. This so-called overimitation has been argued to be an important driver of cumulative Cultural learning. However, cross-Cultural and developmental evidence on overimitation is controversial, likely due to diverging task demands regarding children's attention and memory capabilities. Here, children from a recent hunter-gatherer population (Hai||om in Namibia) were compared with urban Western children (Germany) using an overimitation procedure with minimal cognitive task demands. Although the proportion of children engaging in any overimitation was similar across the two populations, German overimitators copied irrelevant actions more persistently across tasks. These results suggest that the influence of culture on children's overimitation may be one of degree, not kind.
