Cultural Psychology: chapter 2

Unique ways human differ in cultural learning

1. How

2. Whom

3. Humans are motivated to share their experiences and goals with others (essential)

Different kinds of bias

1. Prestige bias

2. Similarity bias

3. Conformist transmission

Prestige bias

a tendency to imitate, and learn from prestigious people, or those who have the respect and attention of others

Example of prestige bias

the children imitating choices that had been made by the model who got attention, rather than the one who had been ignored

Evolution origin of prestige bias

ancestors who did this were better equipped to acquire the highly useful cultural knowledge that gave them a survival advantage compared with those who did not

Side effect/negatives of prestige bias

fascination to obsession of famous people (i.e. weight, love life, ect.); imitating a celebrity’s destructive habits

Similarity Bias

a tendency to selectively imitate, and learn from, people how are similar to ourselves; copying similar others indicates that you are part of shared group

Examples of similarity bias

community college students are less likely to drop out of college and more likely to earn higher grades if the instructor has the same ethnicity as they do

Conformist transmission

a tendency to learn behaviors that are performed by a greater number of people

Example of conformist transmission

taking off your shoes

3 key cognitive capacities that cultural learning skills of humans rest upon

1. the ability to consider the perspective of others (theory of mind)

2. the ability to communicate using language

3. motivation to share their experiences

Mentalizing

• taking an interest in the mental state and perspective of others

  • their intentions, goals, preferences, and strategies

  • comes from living in a rich social environment

Imitative learning

• machine learning technique where an agent learns to perform a task by observing and mimicking expert demonstrations

  • less efficient in the short term: leads to copying of irrelevant behaviors

  • requires models to exist

  • BUT allows for reproduction of target behaviors and allows for cumulative cultural learning

emulative learning

• observes a model interacting with an object or the environment, focuses on the end-result or the environmental change

  • learner can directly figure out effectives ways of using a tool

  • does not allow for cumulative cultural learning

Why is language important for cultural learning

1. allows for the communication of ideas, even complicated ones, without need visual demonstration

2. unique in humans due to the complex grammar and syntax and rich vocabulary

3. necessary for the successful and precise transmission of cultural ideas

Importance of shared experiences

1. allow humans to engage in collaborative learning

2. allow for instructed learning—model is able to direct the actions of learners in order to guide them toward a desired behavior

Scaffolding

simplifying a task by directing the learner’s attention to the relevant steps in the process; providing temporary support

Ratchet effect

cultural information tends to grow in complexity and usefulness because people learn from others and add their own modifications which accumulate over time

Moore’s Law

• the data density (the number of transistors on integrated circuits) doubles every 18 months

Fishing net study

• reveals how the bigger group of people, the better the cultural information can be maintained and improved upon

  • stronger likelihood of having a successful model to copy and build on in a larger group than in a smaller group

• More opportunity to stumble upon a good idea—faster cultural evolution

Why is interconnectedness between members important in groups?

with more interactions, increased likelihood to reproduce the task (i.e internet)

Cultural worlds

worlds that contain cultural ideas that have accumulated overtime

Encephalization quotient

the ratio of an animal’s brain weight to the brain weight predicted for comparable animal of the same body size

What percentage of metabolic energy does the human brain require

16%

Humans v. chimpanzees in ways that accommodate our big brains

1.) less muscle mass, which allowed a larger portion of our energy to be consumed by our brain

2.) gut became smaller, less time to digest foods, more energy that enables to spend more time thinking about other things

How did we get enough energy with the smaller guts?

• Cooking-cultural invention partly responsible for our biological nature

  • reduces amount necessary chewing, smaller jaw and teeth

Gene-culture coevolution

the interaction of genes and culture, by which genetic evolution produces skills that enhance cultural learning, and by which cultural habits come to shape the evolution of genes

Social brain hypothesis

proposes that primates and other species evolved unusually large brains to manage the complex cognitive and social demands of living in large, cohesive groups

Neocortex ratio

• the ratio of the volume of the neocortex to the volume of the rest of the bran

• used as a proxy measure of intelligence; those living in larger social groups tended to have larger neocortex ratios

Possible reasons why group living would be beneficial to primates

living with others may have allowed more opportunities for social living

Primary way humans differ from other primates?

• In terms of their ability to learn from others

  • multiple experiments involving children and chimps with various tasks

What makes online content viral?

• High-arousal whether negative or positive emotion motivates social transmission—more viral

  • anger, anxiety, excitement, awe

• low-arousal emotion doesn’t motivate transmission

  • calmness, serenity, boredom