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Evolution
Cognition
Communication
Culture
Mark Schaller and Douglas T. Kenrick
Evolution
Cognition
Communication
Culture
Evolution
Cognition
Communication
Culture
Evolution
Cognition
Communication
Culture
Evolution
Cognition
Communication
Culture
(Other Stuff)
Evolution
Cognition
Communication
Culture
Evolution
Cognition
Communication
Culture
Evolution
Cognition
Communication
Culture
Impact of Evolution on Cultural Norms
• Step 1: Adaptive pressures in ancestral
environments shaped human cognition.
• Step 2: Evolved cognitive tendencies influence
the nature of interpersonal communication.
• Step 3: The specific contents and processes of
communication eventually shape the norms
that define human cultures.
Step 1: Evolution
Cognition
Evolved Cognitive Responses are:
• Functional
– Formerly functional anyway
• Fast
– Automatic activation
• Flexible
– Responsive to eliciting cues
• Flexible
– Moderated by background variables that
indicate costs / benefits
Example: Sex Differences in Social
Attention and Perception
• Evolved mechanisms of mate selection require
attention to perceptual cues connoting desirable
mate characteristics.
– These cues differ for men and women.
• Visual attention to faces (Maner et al., in press):
– For men, attention is drawn especially to physically
attractive women. (Among women, things are different.)
• Perception of emotion in faces (Maner et al.):
– Men misperceive sexual arousal in the faces of attractive
women, especially when romantic goals are temporarily
activated. (Among women, things are different.)
Example: Cognitive Consequences of
Disease-Avoidance Mechanism
• Evolved disease-avoidance mechanism requires
attention to perceptual cues connoting contagion.
– E.g.: body morphology, cultural foreignness.
• Cognitive link between morphology and disease.
– Individuals implicitly associate physical disability with
disease, especially when they feel more vulnerable to
disease (Park et al., 2003).
• Cognitive link between ‘foreignness’ and disease.
– Individuals express negative attitudes toward the
immigration of foreign peoples, especially when they feel
more vulnerable to disease (Faulkner et al.).
Step 2: Cognition
Communication
Selective Pressures on the
Contents of Communication
• Emphasis here is not on how we communicate,
but rather on what we communicate about:
The contents of communication.
• When we communicate with other people, we
communicate selectively: We talk more about
some things, and less about others.
• This selection process is non-random: It is
influenced by chronic cognitive constraints and
by temporarily activated cognitive structures.
Some Examples
• Cognitive capacity / Desire for simplicity:
– Scientific citations: Studies with complex conclusions
are less likely to be cited. (And complex findings are
often mis-represented as simpler than they are).
– Stereotypes: Maintenance of central tendency but loss
of variability information (e.g., Kashima and others).
• Self-presentation (Schaller and Conway, 1999):
– Stereotypes: Desire to make a positive impression
influences what people talk about when they talk about
groups – and this has unintended effects on emerging
group stereotypes
Step 3: Communication
Culture
Mere Communication and the
Coalescence of Cultural Norms
• Dynamic Social Impact Theory (Latane).
• Social influence inevitably occurs through the
mere act of communication.
• Repeated local acts of interpersonal
communication have eventual population-level
consequences that unfold dynamically over time:
– Emergence of distinct clusters of beliefs, behavior, and
other kinds of cultural norms.
– Emergence of overlap between previously uncorrelated
norms.
In the beginning…
Liberal attitudes
Conservative attitudes
Later, after lots of communication…
Liberal attitudes
Conservative attitudes
Selective Communication and the
Specific Contents of Culture
• Communication is selective. (We tend to
talk about some things more than others.)
• Communication processes impose selection
pressures on any belief that is, or might be,
culturally normative.
• More ‘communicable’ beliefs are more
likely to become culturally normative, and
to remain that way.
Example: Communicability Predicts
Contents of Shared Stereotypes
• (Schaller, Conway, & Tanchuk, 2002)
• Measure of the extent to which people are likely to
talk about the personal traits of individuals.
• Measure of the persistence of these traits in popular
stereotypes of U.S. Blacks across time.
• Ten different tests of the communicabilitypersistence correlation.
• The correlation was always positive: More
communicable beliefs were more likely persist in
culturally-shared stereotypes over time.
Putting It All Together
Evolution
Cognition
Communication
Culture
Disease, Disgust, and the
Transmission of Popular Beliefs
• Evolution: Disgust is an evolved emotional signal,
signaling potential threat of contagion.
• Cognition: Disgusting information grabs our
attention.
• Communication: We are especially inclined to
communicate disgusting information to others.
• Culture: Disgusting information is more likely to
become and remain part of cultural belief systems.
– E.g., Research on urban legends (Heath et al., 2001).
Threat, Prejudice, and Persistence of
Cultural Stereotypes
• Evolution: Beliefs linking ‘tribal’ outgroups to
danger protected individuals from the negative
consequences of unexpected intergroup contact.
• Cognition: These prejudicial beliefs are quickly
learned and easily activated, especially when
individuals feel vulnerable to harm
– E.g., Research on darkness (Schaller et al., 2003).
• Communication: Information connoting
danger/safety is especially communicable.
• Culture: Information connoting danger/safety is
especially persistent in cultural belief systems
– E.g., Research on contents of stereotypes of U.S. Blacks.
Evolved Preferences and
Construction of Sexual Subcultures
• Evolution: Differential parental investment.
• Cognition: Sex differences in preferences for
‘restricted’ or ‘unrestricted’ mating.
• Communication: Interpersonal negotiation of
socially acceptable sexual behavior (necessary in
order in order to attract and retain mates).
• Culture: Dynamical emergence of different sexual
subcultures, defined by collective tendencies toward
restricted or unrestricted mating behavior (Kenrick,
Butner, & Li, 2003)
Initial
Preferences:
Males
(Majority are
unrestricted)
Unrestricted
Females
(Majority are
restricted)
Restricted
Each individual must
consider the preferences
of available opposite-sex
neighbors, and possibly
modify behavior
accordingly
Males
Unrestricted
Females
Restricted
Males
Unrestricted
Females
Restricted
Initial
Tendencies:
Males
Unrestricted
Females
Restricted
Eventual Pattern
Of Behavior:
Males
Unrestricted
Females
Restricted
In Summary
• “Culture is the precipitate of cognition and
communication in a human population”
(Sperber, 1984).
• Communication is guided and constrained by
the cognitive residue of our evolutionary past.
• This set of relationships provides a useful
template for inquiry into some of the many
ways in which evolution influences culture.
Evolution
Cognition
Communication
Culture