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Hamilton MJ, Walker RS, Buchanan B. Institutional complexity emerges from socioecological complexity in small-scale human societies. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20240246. [PMID: 38714211 PMCID: PMC11095818 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Revised: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Human lifestyles vary enormously over time and space and so understanding the origins of this diversity has always been a central focus of anthropology. A major source of this cultural variation is the variation in institutional complexity: the cultural packages of rules, norms, ontologies and expectations passed down through societies across generations. In this article, we study the emergence of institutions in small-scale societies. There are two primary schools of thought. The first is that institutions emerge top-down as rules are imposed by elites on their societies in order to gain asymmetrical access to power, resources and influence over others through coercion. The second is that institutions emerge bottom-up to facilitate interactions within populations as they seek collective solutions to adaptive problems. Here, we use Bayesian networks to infer the causal structure of institutional complexity in 172 small-scale societies across ethnohistoric western North America reflecting the wide diversity of indigenous lifestyles across this vast region immediately prior to European colonization. Our results suggest that institutional complexity emerges from underlying socioecological complexity because institutions are solutions to coordination problems in more complex environments where human-environment interactions require increased management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus J. Hamilton
- Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX78249, USA
- School of Data Science, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX78207, USA
| | - Robert S. Walker
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65201, USA
| | - Briggs Buchanan
- Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK, 74104, USA
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2
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Cultural transmission of traditional songs in the Ryukyu Archipelago. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0270354. [PMID: 35749479 PMCID: PMC9231793 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 06/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Geographic patterns of cultural variations are affected by how cultural traits are transmitted within and between populations. It has been argued that cultural traits are transmitted in different manners depending on their characteristics; for example, words for basic concepts are less liable to horizontal transmission between populations (i.e., borrowing) than other words. Here we examine the geographic variation of traditional songs in the Ryukyu Archipelago, southwestern islands of Japan, to explore cultural evolution of music with a focus on different social contexts in which songs are sung. Published scores of 1,342 traditional songs are coded using the CantoCore song classification scheme and distances between the songs are calculated from the codings. Neighbor-Net graphs of regions/islands are generated on the basis of the musical distances, and delta scores are obtained to examine the treelikeness of the networks. We also perform analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) to evaluate the extent of musical diversification among regions/islands. Our results suggest that horizontal transmission between populations has played a greater role in the formation of musical diversity than that of linguistic diversity in the Ryukyu Archipelago and that the social context in which songs are sung has an effect on how they are transmitted within and between populations. In addition, we compare the observed patterns of song diversity among regions/islands with those of lexical and mitochondrial-DNA (mtDNA) diversity, showing that the variation of songs sung in the "work" context are associated with the linguistic variation, whereas no association is found between the musical and genetic variation.
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3
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Ranacher P, Neureiter N, van Gijn R, Sonnenhauser B, Escher A, Weibel R, Muysken P, Bickel B. Contact-tracing in cultural evolution: a Bayesian mixture model to detect geographic areas of language contact. J R Soc Interface 2021; 18:20201031. [PMID: 34376092 PMCID: PMC8355670 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2020.1031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
When speakers of different languages interact, they are likely to influence each other: contact leaves traces in the linguistic record, which in turn can reveal geographical areas of past human interaction and migration. However, other factors may contribute to similarities between languages. Inheritance from a shared ancestral language and universal preference for a linguistic property may both overshadow contact signals. How can we find geographical contact areas in language data, while accounting for the confounding effects of inheritance and universal preference? We present sBayes, an algorithm for Bayesian clustering in the presence of confounding effects. The algorithm learns which similarities are better explained by confounders, and which are due to contact effects. Contact areas are free to take any shape or size, but an explicit geographical prior ensures their spatial coherence. We test sBayes on simulated data and apply it in two case studies to reveal language contact in South America and the Balkans. Our results are supported by findings from previous studies. While we focus on detecting language contact, the method can also be used to uncover other traces of shared history in cultural evolution, and more generally, to reveal latent spatial clusters in the presence of confounders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Ranacher
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Nico Neureiter
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Rik van Gijn
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Barbara Sonnenhauser
- Department of Slavonic Languages and Literatures, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Anastasia Escher
- Department of Slavonic Languages and Literatures, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Robert Weibel
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Pieter Muysken
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.,Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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4
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Lukas D, Towner M, Borgerhoff Mulder M. The potential to infer the historical pattern of cultural macroevolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200057. [PMID: 33993769 PMCID: PMC8126461 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Phylogenetic analyses increasingly take centre-stage in our understanding of the processes shaping patterns of cultural diversity and cultural evolution over time. Just as biologists explain the origins and maintenance of trait differences among organisms using phylogenetic methods, so anthropologists studying cultural macroevolutionary processes use phylogenetic methods to uncover the history of human populations and the dynamics of culturally transmitted traits. In this paper, we revisit concerns with the validity of these methods. Specifically, we use simulations to reveal how properties of the sample (size, missing data), properties of the tree (shape) and properties of the traits (rate of change, number of variants, transmission mode) might influence the inferences that can be drawn about trait distributions across a given phylogeny and the power to discern alternative histories. Our approach shows that in two example datasets specific combinations of properties of the sample, of the tree and of the trait can lead to potentially high rates of Type I and Type II errors. We offer this simulation tool to help assess the potential impact of this list of persistent perils in future cultural macroevolutionary work. This article is part of the theme issue 'Foundations of cultural evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dieter Lukas
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Mary Towner
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
| | - Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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5
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Evans CL, Greenhill SJ, Watts J, List JM, Botero CA, Gray RD, Kirby KR. The uses and abuses of tree thinking in cultural evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200056. [PMID: 33993767 PMCID: PMC8126464 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Modern phylogenetic methods are increasingly being used to address questions about macro-level patterns in cultural evolution. These methods can illuminate the unobservable histories of cultural traits and identify the evolutionary drivers of trait change over time, but their application is not without pitfalls. Here, we outline the current scope of research in cultural tree thinking, highlighting a toolkit of best practices to navigate and avoid the pitfalls and 'abuses' associated with their application. We emphasize two principles that support the appropriate application of phylogenetic methodologies in cross-cultural research: researchers should (1) draw on multiple lines of evidence when deciding if and which types of phylogenetic methods and models are suitable for their cross-cultural data, and (2) carefully consider how different cultural traits might have different evolutionary histories across space and time. When used appropriately phylogenetic methods can provide powerful insights into the processes of evolutionary change that have shaped the broad patterns of human history. This article is part of the theme issue 'Foundations of cultural evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cara L. Evans
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra 2700, Australia
| | - Joseph Watts
- Religion Programme, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
- Centre for Research on Evolution, Belief and Behaviour, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
| | - Johann-Mattis List
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Carlos A. Botero
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Kathryn R. Kirby
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3B2
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6
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Ecological variation and institutionalized inequality in hunter-gatherer societies. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:2016134118. [PMID: 33758100 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2016134118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Research examining institutionalized hierarchy tends to focus on chiefdoms and states, while its emergence among small-scale societies remains poorly understood. Here, we test multiple hypotheses for institutionalized hierarchy, using environmental and social data on 89 hunter-gatherer societies along the Pacific coast of North America. We utilize statistical models capable of identifying the main correlates of sustained political and economic inequality, while controlling for historical and spatial dependence. Our results indicate that the most important predictors relate to spatiotemporal distribution of resources. Specifically, higher reliance on and ownership of clumped aquatic (primarily salmon) versus wild plant resources is associated with greater political-economic inequality, measuring the latter as a composite of internal social ranking, unequal access to food resources, and presence of slavery. Variables indexing population pressure, scalar stress, and intergroup conflict exhibit little or no correlation with variation in inequality. These results are consistent with models positing that hierarchy will emerge when individuals or coalitions (e.g., kin groups) control access to economically defensible, highly clumped resource patches, and use this control to extract benefits from subordinates, such as productive labor and political allegiance in a patron-client system. This evolutionary ecological explanation might illuminate how and why institutionalized hierarchy emerges among many small-scale societies.
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7
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Takahashi T, Ihara Y. Quantifying the spatial pattern of dialect words spreading from a central population. J R Soc Interface 2020; 17:20200335. [PMID: 32634364 PMCID: PMC7423420 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2020.0335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Some dialect words are shared among geographically distant groups of people without close interaction. Such a pattern may indicate the current or past presence of a cultural centre exerting a strong influence on peripheries. For example, concentric distributions of dialect variants in Japan may be explicable by repeated inventions of new variants at Kyoto, the ancient capital, with subsequent outward diffusion. Here we develop a model of linguistic diffusion within a population network to quantify the distribution of variants created at the central population. Equilibrium distributions of word ages are obtained for idealized networks and for a realistic network of Japanese prefectures. Our model successfully replicates the observed pattern, supporting the notion that a centre–periphery social structure underlies the emergence of concentric patterns. Unlike what has previously been claimed, our model indicates that a novelty bias in linguistic transmission is not always necessary to account for the concentric pattern, whereas some bias in the direction of transmission between populations is needed to be consistent with the observed absence of old words near the central population. Our analysis on the realistic network also suggests that the process of linguistic transmission was not much affected by between-prefecture differences in population size.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takuya Takahashi
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Yasuo Ihara
- Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
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8
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Talas L, Baddeley RJ, Cuthill IC. Cultural evolution of military camouflage. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018; 372:rstb.2016.0351. [PMID: 28533466 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
While one has evolved and the other been consciously created, animal and military camouflage are expected to show many similar design principles. Using a unique database of calibrated photographs of camouflage uniform patterns, processed using texture and colour analysis methods from computer vision, we show that the parallels with biology are deeper than design for effective concealment. Using two case studies we show that, like many animal colour patterns, military camouflage can serve multiple functions. Following the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, countries that became more Western-facing in political terms converged on NATO patterns in camouflage texture and colour. Following the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, the resulting states diverged in design, becoming more similar to neighbouring countries than the ancestral design. None of these insights would have been obtained using extant military approaches to camouflage design, which focus solely on concealment. Moreover, our computational techniques for quantifying pattern offer new tools for comparative biologists studying animal coloration.This article is part of the themed issue 'Animal coloration: production, perception, function and application'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laszlo Talas
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK .,School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, 12A Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TN, UK
| | - Roland J Baddeley
- School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, 12A Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TN, UK
| | - Innes C Cuthill
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, 24 Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
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9
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Ross CT, Strimling P, Ericksen KP, Lindenfors P, Mulder MB. The Origins and Maintenance of Female Genital Modification across Africa : Bayesian Phylogenetic Modeling of Cultural Evolution under the Influence of Selection. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2017; 27:173-200. [PMID: 26846688 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-015-9244-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
We present formal evolutionary models for the origins and persistence of the practice of Female Genital Modification (FGMo). We then test the implications of these models using normative cross-cultural data on FGMo in Africa and Bayesian phylogenetic methods that explicitly model adaptive evolution. Empirical evidence provides some support for the findings of our evolutionary models that the de novo origins of the FGMo practice should be associated with social stratification, and that social stratification should place selective pressures on the adoption of FGMo; these results, however, are tempered by the finding that FGMo has arisen in many cultures that have no social stratification, and that forces operating orthogonally to stratification appear to play a more important role in the cross-cultural distribution of FGMo. To explain these cases, one must consider cultural evolutionary explanations in conjunction with behavioral ecological ones. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our study for policies designed to end the practice of FGMo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cody T Ross
- Behavioral Sciences Program, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA
| | - Pontus Strimling
- Centre for Studies of Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Patrik Lindenfors
- Centre for Studies of Cultural Evolution, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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10
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Tamura K, Ihara Y. Quantifying cultural macro-evolution: a case study of the hinoeuma fertility drop. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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11
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Towner MC, Grote MN, Borgerhoff Mulder M. Problems modelling behavioural variation across Western North American Indian societies. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 283:20152184. [PMID: 26984619 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.2184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Mary C Towner
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
| | - Mark N Grote
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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12
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Moya C, Boyd R. The Evolution and Development of Inferential Reasoning about Ethnic Markers. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2016. [DOI: 10.1086/685939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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13
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Mathew S, Perreault C. Behavioural variation in 172 small-scale societies indicates that social learning is the main mode of human adaptation. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 282:rspb.2015.0061. [PMID: 26085589 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.0061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The behavioural variation among human societies is vast and unmatched in the animal world. It is unclear whether this variation is due to variation in the ecological environment or to differences in cultural traditions. Underlying this debate is a more fundamental question: is the richness of humans' behavioural repertoire due to non-cultural mechanisms, such as causal reasoning, inventiveness, reaction norms, trial-and-error learning and evoked culture, or is it due to the population-level dynamics of cultural transmission? Here, we measure the relative contribution of environment and cultural history in explaining the behavioural variation of 172 Native American tribes at the time of European contact. We find that the effect of cultural history is typically larger than that of environment. Behaviours also persist over millennia within cultural lineages. This indicates that human behaviour is not predominantly determined by single-generation adaptive responses, contra theories that emphasize non-cultural mechanisms as determinants of human behaviour. Rather, the main mode of human adaptation is social learning mechanisms that operate over multiple generations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Mathew
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Charles Perreault
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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14
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Ross RM, Atkinson QD. Folktale transmission in the Arctic provides evidence for high bandwidth social learning among hunter–gatherer groups. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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15
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da Silva SG, Tehrani JJ. Comparative phylogenetic analyses uncover the ancient roots of Indo-European folktales. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2016; 3:150645. [PMID: 26909191 PMCID: PMC4736946 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2015] [Accepted: 12/10/2015] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Ancient population expansions and dispersals often leave enduring signatures in the cultural traditions of their descendants, as well as in their genes and languages. The international folktale record has long been regarded as a rich context in which to explore these legacies. To date, investigations in this area have been complicated by a lack of historical data and the impact of more recent waves of diffusion. In this study, we introduce new methods for tackling these problems by applying comparative phylogenetic methods and autologistic modelling to analyse the relationships between folktales, population histories and geographical distances in Indo-European-speaking societies. We find strong correlations between the distributions of a number of folktales and phylogenetic, but not spatial, associations among populations that are consistent with vertical processes of cultural inheritance. Moreover, we show that these oral traditions probably originated long before the emergence of the literary record, and find evidence that one tale ('The Smith and the Devil') can be traced back to the Bronze Age. On a broader level, the kinds of stories told in ancestral societies can provide important insights into their culture, furnishing new perspectives on linguistic, genetic and archaeological reconstructions of human prehistory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Graça da Silva
- Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Institute for the Study of Literature and Tradition, New University of Lisbon, Avenida de Berna, 26-C, Lisboa 1069-061, Portugal
| | - Jamshid J. Tehrani
- Department of Anthropology and Centre for the Coevolution of Biology and Culture, Durham University, Durham DH1 1LE, UK
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16
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What can cross-cultural correlations teach us about human nature? HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2015; 25:410-29. [PMID: 25092392 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-014-9206-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Many recent evolutionary psychology and human behavioral ecology studies have tested hypotheses by examining correlations between variables measured at a group level (e.g., state, country, continent). In such analyses, variables collected for each aggregation are often taken to be representative of the individuals present within them, and relationships between such variables are presumed to reflect individual-level processes. There are multiple reasons to exercise caution when doing so, including: (1) the ecological fallacy, whereby relationships observed at the aggregate level do not accurately represent individual-level processes; (2) non-independence of data points, which violates assumptions of the inferential techniques used in null hypothesis testing; and (3) cross-cultural non-equivalence of measurement (differences in construct validity between groups). We provide examples of how each of these gives rise to problems in the context of testing evolutionary hypotheses about human behavior, and we offer some suggestions for future research.
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17
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Lycett SJ. Dynamics of cultural transmission in Native Americans of the high Great Plains. PLoS One 2014; 9:e112244. [PMID: 25372277 PMCID: PMC4221622 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2014] [Accepted: 10/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Culture is a phenomenon shared by all humans. Attempts to understand how dynamic factors affect the origin and distribution of cultural elements are, therefore, of interest to all humanity. As case studies go, understanding the distribution of cultural elements in Native American communities during the historical period of the Great Plains would seem a most challenging one. Famously, there is a mixture of powerful internal and external factors, creating-for a relatively brief period in time-a seemingly distinctive set of shared elements from a linguistically diverse set of peoples. This is known across the world as the “Great Plains culture.” Here, quantitative analyses show how different processes operated on two sets of cultural traits among nine High Plains groups. Moccasin decorations exhibit a pattern consistent with geographically-mediated between-group interaction. However, group variations in the religious ceremony of the Sun Dance also reveal evidence of purifying cultural selection associated with historical biases, dividing down ancient linguistic lines. The latter shows that while the conglomeration of “Plains culture” may have been a product of merging new ideas with old, combined with cultural interchange between groups, the details of what was accepted, rejected or elaborated in each case reflected preexisting ideological biases. Although culture may sometimes be a “melting pot,” the analyses show that even in highly fluid situations, cultural mosaics may be indirectly shaped by historical factors that are not always obvious.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen J. Lycett
- Department of Anthropology, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Amherst, New York, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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18
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O’Brien MJ, Collard M, Buchanan B, Boulanger MT. Trees, thickets, or something in between? Recent theoretical and empirical work in cultural phylogeny. Isr J Ecol Evol 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/15659801.2013.825431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Anthropology has always had as one of its goals the explanation of human cultural diversity across space and through time. Over the past several decades, there has been a growing appreciation among anthropologists and other social scientists that the phylogenetic approaches that biologists have developed to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships of species are useful tools for building and explaining patterns of human diversity. Phylogenetic methods offer a means of creating testable propositions of heritable continuity – how one thing is related to another in terms of descent. Such methods have now been applied to a wide range of cultural phenomena, including languages, projectile points, textiles, marital customs, and political organization. Here we discuss several cultural phylogenies and demonstrate how they were used to address long-standing anthropological issues. Even keeping in mind that phylogenetic trees are nothing more than hypotheses about evolutionary relationships, some researchers have argued that when it comes to cultural behaviors and their products, tree building is theoretically unwarranted. We examine the issues that critics raise and find that they in no way sound the death knell for cultural phylogenetic work.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mark Collard
- Human Evolutionary Studies Program and Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University
| | - Briggs Buchanan
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri
- Human Evolutionary Studies Program and Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University
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