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Outputs (20)

The selectivity of social learning and the tempo of cultural evolution (2011)
Journal Article
Bentley, R., & O’Brien, M. (2011). The selectivity of social learning and the tempo of cultural evolution. Journal of cultural and evolutionary psychology, 9(2), 125-141. https://doi.org/10.1556/jep.9.2011.18.1

Many modern studies of cultural innovation and demographic change rest on the proposition that social learning is a key process in the spread of novel variants. We agree with this proposition, but we also suggest that the selectivity of social learni... Read More about The selectivity of social learning and the tempo of cultural evolution.

Evolving social influence in large populations (2011)
Journal Article
Bentley, R., Ormerod, P., & Batty, M. (2011). Evolving social influence in large populations. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 65(3), 537-546. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-1102-1

Darwinian studies of collective human behaviour, which deal fluently with change and are grounded in the details of social influence among individuals, have much to offer “social” models from the physical sciences which have elegant statistical regul... Read More about Evolving social influence in large populations.

Independent cultural evolution of two song traditions in the chestnut-sided warbler (2010)
Journal Article
Byers, B., Belinsky, K., & Bentley, R. (2010). Independent cultural evolution of two song traditions in the chestnut-sided warbler. The American Naturalist, 176(4), 476-489. https://doi.org/10.1086/656268

In oscine songbirds, song phenotypes arise via gene‐culture coevolution, in which genetically transmitted learning predispositions and culturally transmitted song forms influence one another's evolution. To assess the outcome of this process in a pop... Read More about Independent cultural evolution of two song traditions in the chestnut-sided warbler.

A rapid method for assessing social versus independent interest in health issues: A case study of 'bird flu' And 'swine flu' (2010)
Journal Article
Bentley, R., & Ormerod, P. (2010). A rapid method for assessing social versus independent interest in health issues: A case study of 'bird flu' And 'swine flu'. Social Science & Medicine, 71(3), 482-485. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.03.042

Effective communication strategies regarding health issues are affected by the way in which the public obtain their knowledge, particularly whether people become interested independently, or through their social networks. This is often investigated t... Read More about A rapid method for assessing social versus independent interest in health issues: A case study of 'bird flu' And 'swine flu'.

Fashion versus reason in the creative industries (2009)
Book Chapter
Bentley, R. (2009). Fashion versus reason in the creative industries. In M. O'Brien, & S. Shennan (Eds.), Innovation in cultural systems : contributions from evolutionary anthropology (121-136). Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press

Traditional models already explain adoption-abandonment pattern (2009)
Journal Article
Bentley, R., & Ormerod, P. (2009). Traditional models already explain adoption-abandonment pattern. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(39), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0908721106

Berger and Le Mens (1) analyze US records of baby-name popularity in the 20th century and nicely demonstrate the symmetry in the rise and decline of patterns of adoption over time. They suggest that this result negates traditional diffusion models “d... Read More about Traditional models already explain adoption-abandonment pattern.

Kinship, marriage, and the genetics of past human dispersals. (2009)
Journal Article
Bentley, R., Layton, R., & Tehrani, J. (2009). Kinship, marriage, and the genetics of past human dispersals. Human Biology: The Official Publication of the American Association of Anthropological Genetics, 81(2-3), 159-179. https://doi.org/10.3378/027.081.0304

The extent to which colonizing farmer populations have overwhelmed or “replaced” indigenous forager populations, as opposed to having intermarried with them, has been widely debated. Indigenous-colonist “admixture” is often represented in genetic mod... Read More about Kinship, marriage, and the genetics of past human dispersals..

Community diversity at Ban Lum Khao, Thailand: Isotopic evidence from the skeletons (2009)
Journal Article
Bentley, R., Cox, K., Tayles, N., Higham, C., Macpherson, C., Nowell, G., …Hayes, T. (2009). Community diversity at Ban Lum Khao, Thailand: Isotopic evidence from the skeletons. Asian Perspectives: The Journal of Archaeology for Asia and the Pacific, 48(1), 79-97. https://doi.org/10.1353/asi.0.0017

Isotopes of strontium, carbon, and oxygen were analyzed in human tooth enamel from the Bronze Age site of Ban Lum Khao (c. 1400 B.C.–500 B.C.) in Thailand. The strontium and oxygen isotopes, which generally reflect place of origin, delimit discrete g... Read More about Community diversity at Ban Lum Khao, Thailand: Isotopic evidence from the skeletons.

Random drift versus selection in academic vocabulary: an evolutionary analysis of published keywords (2008)
Journal Article
Bentley, R. (2008). Random drift versus selection in academic vocabulary: an evolutionary analysis of published keywords. PLoS ONE, 3(8), Article e3057. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003057

The evolution of vocabulary in academic publishing is characterized via keyword frequencies recorded in the ISI Web of Science citations database. In four distinct case-studies, evolutionary analysis of keyword frequency change through time is compar... Read More about Random drift versus selection in academic vocabulary: an evolutionary analysis of published keywords.

Increasing the relevance of mathematical approaches to demographic history (2008)
Journal Article
Riede, F., & Bentley, R. (2008). Increasing the relevance of mathematical approaches to demographic history. Quality and Quantity, 42(2), 275-281. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-007-9144-9

In this short paper we comment on recent efforts at formally modelling the interplay between demography and cultural evolution. We draw attention to the fact that, although these efforts are to be applauded, much work has already been done in this ar... Read More about Increasing the relevance of mathematical approaches to demographic history.

Darwinian Archaeologies (2007)
Book Chapter
Bentley, R., Lipo, C., Maschner, H., & Marler, B. (2007). Darwinian Archaeologies. In R. Bentley, H. Maschner, & C. Chippendale (Eds.), Handbook of archaeological theories (109-132). AltaMira Press

Regular rates of popular culture change reflect random copying (2007)
Journal Article
Bentley, A., Lipo, C., Herzog, H., & Hahn, M. (2007). Regular rates of popular culture change reflect random copying. Evolution and Human Behavior, 28(3), 151-158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2006.10.002

Almost by definition, “popular culture” reflects the effects of most people imitating those around them. At the same time, trends and fashions are constantly changing, with future outcomes potentially irrational and nearly impossible to predict. A si... Read More about Regular rates of popular culture change reflect random copying.

Shifting gender relations at Khok Phanom Di, Thailand: Isotopic evidence from the skeletons (2007)
Journal Article
Bentley, R., Tayles, N., Higham, C., Macpherson, C., & Atkinson, T. (2007). Shifting gender relations at Khok Phanom Di, Thailand: Isotopic evidence from the skeletons. Current Anthropology, 48(2), 301-314. https://doi.org/10.1086/512987

The values for isotopes of strontium, carbon, and oxygen in human tooth enamel from the prehistoric site of Khok Phanom Di (ca. 2100–1500 BC) in Thailand shed light on human mobility and marital residence during a crucial period of subsistence change... Read More about Shifting gender relations at Khok Phanom Di, Thailand: Isotopic evidence from the skeletons.

Matrilocality during the prehistoric transition to agriculture in Thailand? (2005)
Journal Article
Bentley, R., Pietrusewsky, M., Douglas, M., & Atkinson, T. (2005). Matrilocality during the prehistoric transition to agriculture in Thailand?. Antiquity, 79(306), 865-881. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00115005

Stable isotopes in teeth are providing important correlations between ancient people and the geographical location of their childhood homes. In an exciting new application, the authors measured the varying signatures of strontium, oxygen and carbon i... Read More about Matrilocality during the prehistoric transition to agriculture in Thailand?.

Random drift and culture change (2004)
Journal Article
Bentley, A., Hahn, M., & Shennan, S. (2004). Random drift and culture change. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 271(1547), 1443-1450. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.2746

We show that the frequency distributions of cultural variants, in three different real-world examples--first names, archaeological pottery and applications for technology patents--follow power laws that can be explained by a simple model of random dr... Read More about Random drift and culture change.

Complexity Theory
Book Chapter
Bentley, R., & Maschner, H. Complexity Theory. In R. Bentley, H. Maschner, & C. Chippendale (Eds.), Handbook of Archaeological Theories (245-272). AltaMira Press