Copying has been a productive paradigm for the study of cultural learning. Copying is about information transmission, the success of which is measured by the similarity of knowledge between models and learners. In this paper, we identify some shortcomings in the use of copying mechanisms (e.g., imitation, emulation) as explanations of cultural learning, emphasizing their focus on the flow of information (from expert to novice) instead of on the specific interactions involved during episodes of learning. We argue that the micro-interactions between models and learners and how they coordinate with one another better explain how knowledge is passed on between individuals. We propose to understand cultural learning as a form of interpersonal coordination, i.e., as the result of dynamic interactions involving mutual behavioral alignment between two interacting agents. We sketch how a coordination framework provides a richer picture of cultural learning, with more explanatory power than the copying paradigm.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
Acerbi, A., Charbonneau, M., Miton, H., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2021). Cultural stability without copying or selection. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 3(e50), 1–17.
Boyd, R., & Richerson, P. J. (1985). Culture and the Evolutionary Process. University of Chicago Press.
Boyette, A. H. (2016). Children’s play and the integration of social and individual learning: A cultural niche construction perspective. In Social learning and Innovation in contemporary hunter-gatherers (pp. 159–169). Springer.
Charbonneau, M. (2015). Mapping complex social transmission: Technical constraints on the evolution cultures. Biology & Philosophy, 30, 527–546.
Charbonneau, M. (2020). Understanding cultural fidelity. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 71(4), 1209–1233.
Charbonneau, M., & Bourrat, P. (2021). Fidelity and the grain problem in cultural evolution. Synthese, 199, 5815–5836.
Charbonneau, M., Curioni, A., McEllin, L., & Strachan, J. (2022). Flexible cultural learning through action coordination. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/ahrgs.
Claidière, N., Kodjo-kuma Amedon, G., André, J.-B., Kirby, S., Smith, K., Sperber, D., & Fagot, J. (2018). Convergent transformation and selection in cultural evolution. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(2), 191–202.
Flynn, E. (2022). ‘Imitation is the sincerest form of’ … cultural evolution, or is it? Journal of Cognition and Culture, 22(5), 436–450.
Gergely, G., Bekkering, H., & Király, I. (2002). Rational imitation in preverbal infants. Nature, 415(6873), 755.
Gweon, H. (2021). Inferential social learning: Cognitive foundations of human social learning and teaching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(10), 896–910.
Henrich, J. (2016). The Secret of Our Success. Princeton University Press.
Heyes, C. M. (1994). Imitation and Culture: Longevity, Fertility and Fidelity in Social Transmission. In B. G. Galef, M. Mainardi, & P. Valsecchi (Eds.), Behavioral Aspects of Feeding (pp. 271–287). Harwood Academic Publishers.
Hoehl, S., Keupp, S., Schleihauf, H., McGuigan, N., Buttelmann, D., & Whiten, A. (2019). ‘Over-imitation’: A review and appraisal of a decade of research. Developmental Review, 51, 90–108.
Hoppitt, W., & Laland, K. N. (2013). Social Learning: An Introduction to Mechanisms, Methods, and Models. Princeton University Press.
Jagiello, R., Heyes, C. M., & Whitehouse, H. (2022). Tradition and Invention: The Bifocal Stance Theory of Cultural Evolution. Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Lyons, D. E., Young, A. G., & Keil, F. C. (2007). The hidden structure of overimitation. PNAS, 104(50), 19751–19756.
Mesoudi, A. (2011). Cultural Evolution: How Darwinian Theory Can Explain Human Culture and Synthesize the Social Sciences. University of Chicago Press.
Mesoudi, A. (2023). Experimental studies of cultural evolution. In R. Kendal, J. Tehrani, & J. Kendal (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution. Oxford University Press.
Moll, H. (2020). How young children learn from others. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 54(2), 340–355.
Okazaki, S., Muraoka, Y., & Osu, R. (2019). Teacher-learner interaction quantifies scaffolding behaviour in imitation learning. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1–13.
Osiurak, F., & Reynaud, E. (2020). The elephant in the room: What matters cognitively in cumulative technological culture. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 43, 1–66.
Qiu, F. W., & Moll, H. (2022). Children’s pedagogical competence and child-to-child knowledge transmission: Forgotten factors in theories of cultural evolution. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 22(5), 421–435.
Richerson, P. J., & Boyd, R. (2005). Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution. University of Chicago Press.
Vesper, C., Abramova, E., Bütepage, J., Ciardo, F., Crossey, B., Effenberg, A., Hristova, D., Karlinsky, A., McEllin, L., & Nijssen, S. R. (2017). Joint action: Mental representations, shared information and general mechanisms for coordinating with others. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 2039.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 583 | 71 | 16 |
Full Text Views | 61 | 2 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 133 | 1 | 0 |
Copying has been a productive paradigm for the study of cultural learning. Copying is about information transmission, the success of which is measured by the similarity of knowledge between models and learners. In this paper, we identify some shortcomings in the use of copying mechanisms (e.g., imitation, emulation) as explanations of cultural learning, emphasizing their focus on the flow of information (from expert to novice) instead of on the specific interactions involved during episodes of learning. We argue that the micro-interactions between models and learners and how they coordinate with one another better explain how knowledge is passed on between individuals. We propose to understand cultural learning as a form of interpersonal coordination, i.e., as the result of dynamic interactions involving mutual behavioral alignment between two interacting agents. We sketch how a coordination framework provides a richer picture of cultural learning, with more explanatory power than the copying paradigm.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 583 | 71 | 16 |
Full Text Views | 61 | 2 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 133 | 1 | 0 |