Cultural evolution in laboratory microsocieties including traditions of rule giving and rule following

@article{citeulike:1111684, abstract = {Experiments may contribute to understanding the basic processes of cultural evolution. We drew features from previous laboratory research with small groups in which traditions arose during several generations. Groups of four participants chose by consensus between solving anagrams printed on red cards and on blue cards. Payoffs for the choices differed. After 12 min, the participant who had been in the experiment the longest was removed and replaced with a naive person. These replacements, each of which marked the end of a generation, continued for 10-15 generations, at which time the day's session ended. Time-out duration, which determined whether the group earned more by choosing red or blue, and which was fixed for a day's session, was varied across three conditions to equal 1, 2, or 3 min. The groups developed choice traditions that tended toward maximizing earnings. The stronger the dependence between choice and earnings, the stronger was the tradition. Once a choice tradition evolved, groups passed it on by instructing newcomers, using some combination of accurate information, mythology, and coercion. Among verbal traditions, frequency of mythology varied directly with strength of the choice tradition. These methods may be applied to a variety of research questions.}, author = {Baum, William M. and Richerson, Peter J. and Efferson, Charles M. and Paciotti, Brian M. }, citeulike-article-id = {1119529}, doi = {10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.05.003}, journal = {Evolution and Human Behavior}, keywords = {\_d\_core-references, convention, culture, emergence}, month = {September}, number = {5}, pages = {305--326}, posted-at = {2007-02-23 23:45:12}, priority = {5}, title = {Cultural evolution in laboratory microsocieties including traditions of rule giving and rule following}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6T6H-4D9VC7F-4/2/4c5928dec31f59893ba88aed17e94081}, volume = {25}, year = {2004} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1111684 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1119529 TI - Cultural evolution in laboratory microsocieties including traditions of rule giving and rule following JF - Evolution and Human Behavior VL - 25 IS - 5 SP - 305 EP - 326 N2 - Experiments may contribute to understanding the basic processes of cultural evolution. We drew features from previous laboratory research with small groups in which traditions arose during several generations. Groups of four participants chose by consensus between solving anagrams printed on red cards and on blue cards. Payoffs for the choices differed. After 12 min, the participant who had been in the experiment the longest was removed and replaced with a naive person. These replacements, each of which marked the end of a generation, continued for 10-15 generations, at which time the day's session ended. Time-out duration, which determined whether the group earned more by choosing red or blue, and which was fixed for a day's session, was varied across three conditions to equal 1, 2, or 3 min. The groups developed choice traditions that tended toward maximizing earnings. The stronger the dependence between choice and earnings, the stronger was the tradition. Once a choice tradition evolved, groups passed it on by instructing newcomers, using some combination of accurate information, mythology, and coercion. Among verbal traditions, frequency of mythology varied directly with strength of the choice tradition. These methods may be applied to a variety of research questions. KW - _d_core-references KW - convention KW - culture KW - emergence AU - Baum, William AU - Richerson, Peter AU - Efferson, Charles AU - Paciotti, Brian PY - 2004/September// UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6T6H-4D9VC7F-4/2/4c5928dec31f59893ba88aed17e94081 ER -