Culture & Cognition: Cultural Evolution

When we talk about human cognition, one ongoing question that has been asked by psychologists, anthropologists, and philosophers is: what makes human cognition so special, relative to all of the other animals that we know of?

One potential answer is, “culture.” The argument goes like this: Culture (whatever it is!) acts as a sort of societal-level learning mechanism that enables us to transfer knowledge, tools, techniques, etc., from one generation to another. And, it is the gradual accumulation of these bits of knowledge (cultural evolution) that has resulted in the kinds of societies, technologies, and capabilities that we see today. The cultural accumulation of knowledge is why humans (but no other animals) know how to do open heart surgery, and have sent rockets to the moon, and so on.

If we take this view of culture, then we might wonder, what has enabled humans to do this? Tomasello’s article proposes some hypotheses about the cognitive mechanisms that might underlie cultural evolution.

A lot of research has looked at cultural evolution specifically in the context of language learning. How has language evolved? The Kirby et al. paper looks at cognitive mechanisms that might underlie language evolution.

Primary Readings

Everyone should read these and be prepared to discuss.

• Tomasello, M. (1999). The human adaptation for culture. Annual Review of Anthropology, 28, 509-529.
• Kirby, S., Cornish, H., & Smith, K. (2008). Cumulative cultural evolution in the laboratory: An experimental approach to the origins of structure in human language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(31), 10681-10686.

Questions under discussion

• Do non-human primates exhibit “culture?” What do we mean by “culture” anyway?
• What is a ratchet, and how is it relevant to this discussion?
• In what ways is cultural evolution similar to genetic evolution? In what ways is it different?
• How is the evolution of language similar to the evolution of other things, like tool use? How is it different?

Culture & Cognition: Modern Cultures

People from different cultures think similarly in some ways and differently in other ways. This creates a strange problem when we try to study different cultures, because we are going in with our own cultural views and ways of thinking. How can cognitive science handle this complexity? Shore (Intro & Chapter 1) talks about how views about culture and cognition have shifted over time in both cognitive science and anthropology, and how there is often a tension between thinking about “psychic unity” on the one hand—the fundamentals that all humans share—and thinking about cultural diversity on the other hand—fundamental differences across cultures.

One way that culture affects how we think is the idea of metaphor: we often think about abstract things (like arguments, or justice, or time, or education) in terms of other things (like wars, or balance scales, or straight lines, or shopping). Most of these metaphors are not explicitly taught, but we seem to just absorb them as we grow up. Moreover, these metaphors are often culture-specific, which also partially explains why two people from different cultures might disagree or misunderstand each other in confusing ways, even if they can speak the same language. Lakoff & Johnson write about metaphors, how we can identify them, and what roles they might play in everyday life. Shore (Chapter 2) talks about similar ideas but cast as “schemas” or “models” that underlie our cognitive processes and the ways in which we view the world.

Primary Readings I

Everyone should read these and be prepared to discuss.

• Shore, B. (1998). Culture in mind: Cognition, culture, and the problem of meaning. Oxford University Press. Introduction and Chapter 1: The Psychic Unity Muddle, p. 3-41.

Primary Readings II

Everyone should read these and be prepared to discuss.

• Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago press. Chapters 1-3, p. 3-13.
• Shore, B. (1998). Culture in mind: Cognition, culture, and the problem of meaning. Oxford University Press. Chapter 2: Rethinking Culture as Models, p. 42-71.

Questions under discussion

• How does language structure thought? How does thought structure language?
• Where do metaphors come from? How might they evolve via cultural evolution?
• Why might different cultures end up with different metaphors for the same concept? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?