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Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology

Lecture 6

Exam Preparation Tips

• The upcoming midterm exam will include questions unique to the textbook content (~25%), questions unique to the lecture content (~40%), and questions that reflect overlap between the two sources of information (~35%). You are encouraged to study both sources of information thoroughly.

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Identify the primary points of each section with key words or phrases and use these to test yourself.

• With respect to the textbook content:

Familiarize yourself with all terms that are bolded or italicized.

Create questions with the titles and subtitles of sections. Use the content of each section to answer

the questions that you have generated.

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Study all figures and tables.

• With respect to the lecture content:

Use the learning objectives to guide your studying.

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• You need not memorize the names of researchers who conducted idiosyncratic studies or the dates of

those studies. However, you should familiarize yourself with the names of all major theorists (e.g., Berry, Diamond).

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• You need not study the methods associated with studies presented in the textbook. However, you should familiarize yourself with the results of the studies (e.g., cultural similarities and differences).

• The goal of the exam is to assess your mastery of the course content and “jargon” of cultural psychology.

• In order to demonstrate your mastery of the course content on the short answer questions, you should provide thorough and detailed responses to the questions asked. The instructions for the short answer section will read:

“Please respond to each of the questions below. Note that point form answers are acceptable. Your responses should be thorough and detailed. If necessary, you may write on the back side of the page.”

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• The exam questions will assess your ability to recall, synthesize, and apply course content. Examples:

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Recall:

A psychological process that is observed in all cultures, but varies in its accessibility and function across cultures is a(n): a) nonuniversal.b) existential universal.c) functional universal.d) accessibility universal.e) statistical universal.

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Synthesize:

Compare and contrast the epidemiological, cultural learning, and memetic theories of cultural evolution. (6 points)

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Distinguish between the concepts of evoked culture and transmitted culture. Generate an original example (i.e., an example that differs from the examples discussed in class) to illustrate each concept. (4 points)

Apply:

• In order to correctly respond to questions that require synthesis and application, recall of information is necessary. The correlation between recall questions and synthesis/application questions typically exceeds .70.

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Announcement

I will hold additional office hours in preparation for the midterm exam:

Friday, January 27th: 12:30 - 1:30 Tuesday, January 31st, 1:00 - 3:00Wednesday, February 1st: 11:30 - 1:30.

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1. What cognitive skills enable cultural transmission among humans? (continued)

2. What is cultural evolution?

Cultural Transmission and Cultural Evolution

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

1. review the stages of Tomasello’s Theory of Cultural Learning.

2. define the terms: cultural evolution, ratchet effect, and meme.

3. describe the epidemiological, cultural learning, and memetic views of cultural evolution.

4. compare and contrast genetic and memetic evolution.

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3. 4 – 6 Years of Age

Children begin to recognize others as mental agents (i.e., as individuals who have independent beliefs, which may or may not be correct).

What cognitive skills enable cultural transmission among humans? (continued)

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E.g., Wimmer and Perner (1983) found that 4- to 6-year-old children could predict where another child would look for a toy that had been “secretly” moved as part of a “location change” or “false-belief” task.

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Consistent with this change in cognition, children begin to refer to the mental states of others (e.g., “He thinks that ….”) and participate in deceptive acts.

Given this change in cognition, children acquire the ability to engage in instructed learning.

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E.g., A 5-year-old child receives explicit instructions from his mother with respect to how to behave while dining at a restaurant. The child internalizes the instructions and uses them to regulate his behaviour while dining at a restaurant with his family the following week.

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Thus, instructed learning allows for cultural transmission: Through explicit instruction, children learn how to regulate their behaviour in accordance

with collective practices when they confront a specific task. That is, children learn that “this is the

way ‘we’ behave when we confront this task.”

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4. 6 – 7 Years of Age

Children begin to recognize others as reflective agents (i.e., as individuals who can reflect upon the beliefs of others).

E.g., Kruger and Tomasello (1986) found that 7-year-old children who were presented with moral dilemmas would engage in discussions in which they would ask peers to evaluate their solutions (e.g., “Do you think my idea is good?).

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Consistent with this change in cognition, children begin to refer to the beliefs that others have about them (e.g., “She thinks that I think that ….”) and

simulate the point of view of a “hypothetical other” (e.g., “Another person would think that I ….”).

Given this change in cognition, children acquire the ability to engage in collaborative learning.

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E.g., A 6-year-old child has dropped her ring between two heavy rocks. After substantial planning and discussion, she and her friend devise a method by which to move one of the rocks: They will break a sturdy branch from a tree and use it to hoist the rock forward.

Thus, collaborative learning serves a unique function: cultural creation (i.e., construction).

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What is cultural evolution?

● Cultural evolution refers to the changes that occur to the traditions, practices, and artifacts of a cultural group across time.

● Cultural evolution is cumulative—the changes that occur to traditions, practices, and artifacts accumulate across time, building upon previous modifications.

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● The cumulative nature of changes to culture among humans is referred to as the “ratchet effect.”

● Through the ratchet effect, cultural traditions, practices, and tools increase in complexity across time, often becoming more adaptive.

E.g., The evolution of the knife

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● In contrast to biological evolution, cultural evolution is extremely rapid. The rapid nature of cultural evolution may be attributed to the ratchet effect.

● Several theories have been proposed to explain how cultural evolution occurs among humans:

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1. The Epidemiological View

Maintains that cultural evolution occurs through the modification of ideas as they are passed from one individual to another.

Ideas are modified as they are learned; individuals interpret ideas in their own idiosyncratic ways, thereby creating “new” ideas that they pass on to others.

Thus, ideas are never replicated; rather, learners “recreate” the ideas that they are exposed to.

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2. The Cultural Learning View

Based on Tomasello’s Theory of Cultural Learning.

Maintains that cultural evolution requires the ability to recognize others as intentional agents.

Recognition of others as intentional agents enables imitative learning. Imitative learning is the only

means by which pre-existing behavioural strategies can be accurately learned.

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Once pre-existing behavioural strategies are accurately learned (a) the goals associated with the

strategies can be further considered and (b) more adaptive strategies that build upon the original

strategies can be developed.

According to this view, imitative learning is the only form of learning that preserves behavioural

strategies within a group, thereby allowing those strategies to serve as “a platform for further innovations” (Tomasello, 2001, p. 139).

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3. The Memetic View

Based on Dawkins’ (1976) notion of the meme.

Dawkins defines a meme as “a unit of cultural transmission” which propagates itself “by … a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation.”

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A meme may be of any size, ranging from a single word to a complex behavioural pattern.

Examples of memes:

Advertising slogans and jingles.

Taekwondo.

Shaking hands or bowing to greet an individual.

Songs (e.g., “Give Peace a Chance,” John Lennon).

Fashion trends (e.g., “skinny” jeans).

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Dawkins argues that the processes involved in cultural evolution parallel those involved in genetic evolution:

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(a) Replication occurs when a meme is copied through imitation.

Because imitation allows for vertical, horizontal, and oblique transmission, meme replication is rapid. For this reason, memes are relatively high in “fecundity.”

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(b) Variation occurs through “mutation” and “recombination.” Mutation occurs when memes are

modified (e.g., through misinterpretation). Recombination occurs when two or more memes are combined. Mutation and recombination produce new memes (i.e., innovations.)

Mutation and recombination are common in the transmission of memes. For this reason, memes are relatively low in “fidelity.”

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1. What cognitive skills enable cultural transmission among humans? (continued)

2. What is cultural evolution?

Cultural Transmission and Cultural Evolution