Nothing in Human Behavior Makes Sense Except in the Light of Culture: Shared Interests of Social Psychology and Cultural Evolution

Abstract

Over the past few decades, evolutionary approaches to understanding human behavior have become more widespread. Here we describe one such approach: cultural evolution. Cultural evolution can be distinguished from other related fields in that it treats culture as a shared body of knowledge that evolves at least partially independently of genes. This creates the opportunity for a variety of interesting dynamics between culture and genetics, referred to as “gene–culture coevolution,” including cultural practices creating selection for particular alleles. As culture is sustained by social transmission of information between individuals, cultural evolutionists are greatly interested in understanding the psychological mechanisms that affect how information flows through groups of individuals, referred to as “social learning strategies,” and it is here that we suggest there is an opportunity for crossovers between social psychology and cultural evolution. Across the rest of the chapter, we review the current state of knowledge concerning social learning strategies, including biases to copy when uncertain, to copy majorities, and to copy successful, prestigious, older, or related individuals. We also discuss maladaptive culture and comparative work with nonhuman animals. Finally, we end the chapter by discussing outstanding questions that could be targeted by both cultural evolutionists and social psychologists.