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Hong Z. The Cultural Evolution of Games of Chance : A Historical Investigation of Chinese Gambling. HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2024; 35:89-113. [PMID: 38816642 PMCID: PMC11317449 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-024-09471-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024]
Abstract
Chance-based gambling has been a recurrent cultural activity throughout history and across many diverse human societies. In this paper, I combine quantitative and qualitative data and present a cultural evolutionary framework to explain why the odds in games of chance in premodern China appeared "designed" to ensure a moderate yet favorable house advantage. This is especially intriguing since extensive research in the history of probability has shown that, prior to the development of probability theory, people had very limited understanding of the nature of random events and were generally disinclined to think mathematically about the frequency of their occurrence. I argue that games of chance in the context of gambling may have culturally evolved into their documented forms via a process of selective imitation and retention, and neither the customers nor the gambling houses understood the probability calculus involved in these games.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ze Hong
- Department of Sociology, University of Macau, E21B Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, 999078, Macau, China.
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Singh M, Mehr SA. Universality, domain-specificity, and development of psychological responses to music. NATURE REVIEWS PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 2:333-346. [PMID: 38143935 PMCID: PMC10745197 DOI: 10.1038/s44159-023-00182-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023]
Abstract
Humans can find music happy, sad, fearful, or spiritual. They can be soothed by it or urged to dance. Whether these psychological responses reflect cognitive adaptations that evolved expressly for responding to music is an ongoing topic of study. In this Review, we examine three features of music-related psychological responses that help to elucidate whether the underlying cognitive systems are specialized adaptations: universality, domain-specificity, and early expression. Focusing on emotional and behavioural responses, we find evidence that the relevant psychological mechanisms are universal and arise early in development. However, the existing evidence cannot establish that these mechanisms are domain-specific. To the contrary, many findings suggest that universal psychological responses to music reflect more general properties of emotion, auditory perception, and other human cognitive capacities that evolved for non-musical purposes. Cultural evolution, driven by the tinkering of musical performers, evidently crafts music to compellingly appeal to shared psychological mechanisms, resulting in both universal patterns (such as form-function associations) and culturally idiosyncratic styles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manvir Singh
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, University of
Toulouse 1 Capitole, Toulouse, France
| | - Samuel A. Mehr
- Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT,
USA
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland,
New Zealand
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Hong Z. The Cultural Evolution of Medical Technologies : A Model of Sequential Treatments in the Medical Setting. HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2023; 34:64-87. [PMID: 36764999 PMCID: PMC9918401 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-023-09441-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
Abstract
When people get ill, they naturally want to restore health through medical interventions. Here I model a situation in which individuals can psychologically entertain multiple potential treatments at once: when illness occurs, individuals would attempt one treatment first, and if it fails to produce an observable effect within a particular time period, a second treatment is attempted, and the eventual recovery is attributed to the treatment that is temporally closer. This creates population dynamics wherein the therapeutic power of the superior/effective medical treatments is misattributed to inferior/ineffective treatments. Through both analytic formulation and agent-based simulation, I show that the equilibrium frequencies of different treatment variants depend on their natural variability in the effect timing, the level of individual patience, and the number of cultural models sampled by the naive individual. Both ineffective and effective medical treatments may stably coexist in the population under a range of parameter settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ze Hong
- Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University, Yuhangtang Road 866, 310058, Hangzhou, China.
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND Psychedelic use is anecdotally associated with belief changes, although few studies have tested these claims. AIM Characterize a broad range of psychedelic occasioned belief changes. SURVEY A survey was conducted in 2374 respondents who endorsed having had a belief changing psychedelic experience. Participants rated their agreement with belief statements Before and After the psychedelic experience as well as at the time of survey administration. RESULTS Factor analysis of 45 belief statements revealed five factors: "Dualism," "Paranormal/Spirituality," "Non-mammal consciousness," "Mammal consciousness," and "Superstition." Medium to large effect sizes from Before to After the experience were observed for increases in beliefs in "Dualism" (β = 0.72), "Paranormal/Spirituality" (β = 0.90), "Non-mammal consciousness" (β = 0.72), and "Mammal consciousness" (β = 0.74). In contrast, negligible changes were observed for "Superstition" (β = -0.18).). At the individual item level, increases in non-physicalist beliefs included belief in reincarnation, communication with the dead, existence of consciousness after death, telepathy, and consciousness of inanimate natural objects (e.g., rocks). The percentage of participants who identified as a "Believer (e.g., in Ultimate Reality, Higher Power, and/or God, etc.)" increased from 29% Before to 59% After." At both the factor and individual item level, higher ratings of mystical experience were associated with greater changes in beliefs. Belief changes assessed after the experience (an average 8.4 years) remained largely unchanged at the time of survey. CONCLUSIONS A single psychedelic experience increased a range of non-physicalist beliefs as well as beliefs about consciousness, meaning, and purpose. Further, the magnitude of belief change is associated with qualitative features of the experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandeep M Nayak
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Manvir Singh
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, University of Toulouse 1 Capitole, Toulouse, Occitanie, France
| | - David B Yaden
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Roland R Griffiths
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.,Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
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Hong Z. Ghosts, Divination, and Magic among the Nuosu: An Ethnographic Examination from Cognitive and Cultural Evolutionary Perspectives. HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2022; 33:349-379. [PMID: 36547861 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-022-09438-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/26/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
I present a detailed ethnographic study of magic and divination of the Nuosu people in southwest China and offer a cognitive account of the surprising prevalence of these objectively ineffective practices in a society that has ample access to modern technology and mainstream Han culture. I argue that in the belief system of the Nuosu, ghosts, divination, and magical healing rituals form a closely interconnected web that gives sense and meaning to otherwise puzzling practices, and such a belief system is importantly supported and reinforced by individual's everyday experiences. Contemporary Nuosu people overwhelmingly treat these practices as instruments for achieving specific ends and often entertain considerable uncertainty regarding their efficacy, which may be overestimated for a number of reasons, including the following: (1) the intuitive plausibility of divination for ghost identification and exorcist rituals is enhanced by the belief in the existence of ghosts as a result of abductive reasoning, (2) negative instances (divinatory or healing ritual failures) are underreported, and (3) people's misperception of the probability of uncertain events' occurrence often prevents them from realizing that the efficacies of magical/divinatory practices do not outperform chance. I conclude with some comments on the generalizability of the psychological and social mechanisms discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ze Hong
- Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, 310058, People's Republic of China.
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
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Combining Conformist and Payoff Bias in Cultural Evolution : An Integrated Model for Human Decision-Making. HUMAN NATURE (HAWTHORNE, N.Y.) 2022; 33:463-484. [PMID: 36515860 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-022-09435-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Most research on transmission biases in cultural evolution has treated different biases as distinct strategies. Here I present a model that combines both frequency dependent bias (including conformist bias) and payoff bias in a single decision-making calculus and show that such an integrated learning strategy may be superior to relying on either bias alone. Natural selection may operate on humans' relative dependence on frequency and payoff information, but both are likely to contribute to the spread of variants with high payoffs. Importantly, the magnitude of conformist bias affects the evolutionary dynamics, and I show that an intermediate level of conformity may be most adaptive and may spontaneously evolve as it resists the invasion of low-payoff variants yet enables the fixation of high-payoff variants in the population.
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Fitouchi L, André JB, Baumard N. Moral disciplining: The cognitive and evolutionary foundations of puritanical morality. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 46:e293. [PMID: 36111617 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22002047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Why do many societies moralize apparently harmless pleasures, such as lust, gluttony, alcohol, drugs, and even music and dance? Why do they erect temperance, asceticism, sobriety, modesty, and piety as cardinal moral virtues? According to existing theories, this puritanical morality cannot be reduced to concerns for harm and fairness: It must emerge from cognitive systems that did not evolve for cooperation (e.g., disgust-based "purity" concerns). Here, we argue that, despite appearances, puritanical morality is no exception to the cooperative function of moral cognition. It emerges in response to a key feature of cooperation, namely that cooperation is (ultimately) a long-term strategy, requiring (proximately) the self-control of appetites for immediate gratification. Puritanical moralizations condemn behaviors which, although inherently harmless, are perceived as indirectly facilitating uncooperative behaviors, by impairing the self-control required to refrain from cheating. Drinking, drugs, immodest clothing, and unruly music and dance are condemned as stimulating short-term impulses, thus facilitating uncooperative behaviors (e.g., violence, adultery, free-riding). Overindulgence in harmless bodily pleasures (e.g., masturbation, gluttony) is perceived as making people slave to their urges, thus altering abilities to resist future antisocial temptations. Daily self-discipline, ascetic temperance, and pious ritual observance are perceived as cultivating the self-control required to honor prosocial obligations. We review psychological, historical, and ethnographic evidence supporting this account. We use this theory to explain the fall of puritanism in western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies, and discuss the cultural evolution of puritanical norms. Explaining puritanical norms does not require adding mechanisms unrelated to cooperation in our models of the moral mind.
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Affiliation(s)
- Léo Fitouchi
- Département d'études cognitives, Institut Jean Nicod, ENS, EHESS, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France. ; https://sites.google.com/view/leofitouchi ; http://jb.homepage.free.fr/ ; https://nicolasbaumards.org/
| | - Jean-Baptiste André
- Département d'études cognitives, Institut Jean Nicod, ENS, EHESS, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France. ; https://sites.google.com/view/leofitouchi ; http://jb.homepage.free.fr/ ; https://nicolasbaumards.org/
| | - Nicolas Baumard
- Département d'études cognitives, Institut Jean Nicod, ENS, EHESS, PSL University, CNRS, Paris, France. ; https://sites.google.com/view/leofitouchi ; http://jb.homepage.free.fr/ ; https://nicolasbaumards.org/
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Hong Z. Dream Interpretation from a Cognitive and Cultural Evolutionary Perspective: The Case of Oneiromancy in Traditional China. Cogn Sci 2022; 46:e13088. [DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Revised: 10/24/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ze Hong
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology Harvard University
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When instrumental inference hides behind seemingly arbitrary conventions. Behav Brain Sci 2022; 45:e256. [DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22001340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
We review recent evidence that game rules, rules of etiquette, and supernatural beliefs, that the authors see as “ritualistic” conventions, are in fact shaped by instrumental inference. In line with such examples, we contend that cultural practices that may appear, from the outside, to be devoid of instrumental utility, could in fact be selectively acquired and preserved because of their perceived utility.
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Fitouchi L, Singh M. Supernatural punishment beliefs as cognitively compelling tools of social control. Curr Opin Psychol 2021; 44:252-257. [PMID: 34752999 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.09.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Revised: 09/24/2021] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Why do humans develop beliefs in supernatural entities that punish uncooperative behaviors? Leading hypotheses maintain that these beliefs are widespread because they facilitate cooperation, allowing their groups to outcompete others in intergroup competition. Focusing on within-group interactions, we present a model in which people strategically endorse supernatural punishment beliefs as intuitive tools of social control to manipulate others into cooperating. Others accept these beliefs, meanwhile, because they are made compelling by various cognitive biases: they appear to provide information about why misfortune occurs; they appeal to intuitions about immanent justice; they contain threatening information; and they allow believers to signal their trustworthiness. Explaining supernatural beliefs requires considering both motivations to invest in their endorsement and the reasons others adopt them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Léo Fitouchi
- Institut Jean Nicod, Départment D'études Cognitives, ENS, Paris, France.
| | - Manvir Singh
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse, France.
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Mermelstein S, German TC. Counterintuitive Pseudoscience Propagates by Exploiting the Mind's Communication Evaluation Mechanisms. Front Psychol 2021; 12:739070. [PMID: 34675845 PMCID: PMC8523830 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.739070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Epidemiological models of culture posit that the prevalence of a belief depends in part on the fit between that belief and intuitions generated by the mind's reliably developing architecture. Application of such models to pseudoscience suggests that one route via which these beliefs gain widespread appeal stems from their compatibility with these intuitions. For example, anti-vaccination beliefs are readily adopted because they cohere with intuitions about the threat of contagion. However, other varieties of popular pseudoscience such as astrology and parapsychology contain content that violates intuitions held about objects and people. Here, we propose a pathway by which "counterintuitive pseudoscience" may spread and receive endorsement. Drawing on recent empirical evidence, we suggest that counterintuitive pseudoscience triggers the mind's communication evaluation mechanisms. These mechanisms are hypothesized to quarantine epistemically-suspect information including counterintuitive pseudoscientific concepts. As a consequence, these beliefs may not immediately update conflicting intuitions and may be largely restricted from influencing behavior. Nonetheless, counterintuitive pseudoscientific concepts, when in combination with intuitively appealing content, may differentially draw attention and memory. People may also be motivated to seek further information about these concepts, including by asking others, in an attempt to reconcile them with prior beliefs. This in turn promotes the re-transmission of these ideas. We discuss how, during this information-search, support for counterintuitive pseudoscience may come from deference to apparently authoritative sources, reasoned arguments, and the functional outcomes of these beliefs. Ultimately, these factors promote the cultural success of counterintuitive pseudoscience but explicit endorsement of these concepts may not entail tacit commitment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Spencer Mermelstein
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
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