Critical Social Learning: A Solution to Rogers's Paradox of Nonadaptive Culture

• Published in: American anthropologist Vol. 109; no. 4; pp. 727 - 734
• Main Authors: Enquist, Magnus, Eriksson, Kimmo, Ghirlanda, Stefano
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK University of California Press 01.12.2007; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; American Anthropological Association
• Subjects: Adjustment; Animal behavior; Animal cognition; Biological evolution; biology; Computer simulation; Cultural anthropology; Cultural change; Cultural evolution; Cultural Transmission; culture; Ecological competition; Equilibrium; Ethnology; Etnologi; Evolution; Evolutionary genetics; Game Theory; Historisk-filosofiska ämnen; History and philosophy subjects; HUMANIORA och RELIGIONSVETENSKAP; HUMANITIES and RELIGION; Humans; Kulturantropologi; Learning; MATEMATIK; Mathematical analysis; mathematical modeling; Mathematical models; MATHEMATICS; Observational learning; origin of culture; Paradoxes; Population growth; Primates; Psychology; Psykologi; Rogers, Alan; SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP; Social Evolution; Social Learning; SOCIAL SCIENCES; Socialvetenskap; Sources and methods; Theoretical and systematic contributions; United States > US; Sweden; Chicago Illinois; Origin; Theoritical model; Social Learning; Cultural adaptation; Biology; Mathematical model; Culture
• ISSN: 0002-7294; 1548-1433; 1548-1433
• DOI: 10.1525/AA.2007.109.4.727

Alan Rogers (1988) presented a game theory model of the evolution of social learning, yielding the paradoxical conclusion that social learning does not increase the fitness of a population. We expand on this model, allowing for imperfections in individual and social learning as well as incorporating a "critical social learning" strategy that tries to solve an adaptive problem first by social learning, and then by individual learning if socially acquired behavior proves unsatisfactory. This strategy always proves superior to pure social learning and typically has higher fitness than pure individual learning, providing a solution to Rogers's paradox of nonadaptive culture. Critical social learning is an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS) unless cultural transmission is highly unfaithful, the environment is highly variable, or social learning is much more costly than individual learning. We compare the model to empirical data on social learning and on spatial variation in primate cultures and list three requirements for adaptive culture.