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Higher frequency of social learning in China than in the West shows cultural variation in the dynamics of cultural evolution

Mesoudi, A.; Chang, L.; Murray, K.; Lu, H.J.

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Authors

A. Mesoudi

L. Chang

K. Murray

H.J. Lu



Abstract

Cultural evolutionary models have identified a range of conditions under which social learning (copying others) is predicted to be adaptive relative to asocial learning (learning on one's own), particularly in humans where socially learned information can accumulate over successive generations. However, cultural evolution and behavioural economics experiments have consistently shown apparently maladaptive under-utilization of social information in Western populations. Here we provide experimental evidence of cultural variation in people's use of social learning, potentially explaining this mismatch. People in mainland China showed significantly more social learning than British people in an artefact-design task designed to assess the adaptiveness of social information use. People in Hong Kong, and Chinese immigrants in the UK, resembled British people in their social information use, suggesting a recent shift in these groups from social to asocial learning due to exposure to Western culture. Finally, Chinese mainland participants responded less than other participants to increased environmental change within the task. Our results suggest that learning strategies in humans are culturally variable and not genetically fixed, necessitating the study of the ‘social learning of social learning strategies' whereby the dynamics of cultural evolution are responsive to social processes, such as migration, education and globalization.

Citation

Mesoudi, A., Chang, L., Murray, K., & Lu, H. (2015). Higher frequency of social learning in China than in the West shows cultural variation in the dynamics of cultural evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1798), Article 20142209. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2209

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 9, 2014
Online Publication Date Jan 7, 2015
Publication Date Jan 7, 2015
Deposit Date May 22, 2014
Publicly Available Date Nov 14, 2014
Journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Print ISSN 0962-8452
Electronic ISSN 1471-2954
Publisher The Royal Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 282
Issue 1798
Article Number 20142209
DOI https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2209
Keywords Asocial learning, Cultural evolution, Cultural transmission, Innovation, Social learning.
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1432543

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