Social Information Transmission and Human Biology (Society for the Study of Human Biology Symposium Series (Sshb))

Recent research has emphasized that socially transmitted information may affect both the gene pool and the phenotypes of individuals and populations, and that an improved understanding of evolutionary issues is beneficial to those working towards the improvement of human health. Equally, an improved awareness of how human behavior influences health and reproductive fitness is starting to shed new light on the processes that shape the evolution of human behavior and the human mind. Focusing directly on these emerging trends, Social Information Transmission and Human Biology bridges the gap between primarily theoretical work undertaken by those with evolutionary interests and biomedical work undertaken by those dealing with practical issues in human health and demographics. Incorporating papers from a symposium organized under the auspices of the UK Society for the Study of Human Biology, this volume merges the perspectives of internationally renowned evolutionary and theoretical biologists, zoologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, psychologists, and medical researchers whose work is linked by common themes addressing how information is transmitted socially and how its transmission influences both immediate and evolutionary biological outcomes. Emphasizes the diverse ways in which socially transmitted information impacts on human biology To illustrate these themes, the chapters draw on models and data ranging from observations on chimpanzee populations in the wild and on the human archaeological record, to studies of contemporary humans in both developing and industrialized countries. Taking a broad approach, many of the chapters address areas of behavior that are familiar to scientists in particular fields, but do so using a variety of cross-disciplinary perspectives, which will prove stimulating for researchers in a range of academic subject areas, while helping to facilitate closer collaboration between biological and social scientists. Front Cover ......Page 1 Title Page ......Page 6 Copyright ......Page 7 Acknowledgments......Page 8 Editors......Page 10 Contributors......Page 11 Abstract......Page 13 Contents......Page 15 1.1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW......Page 17 1.2 CULTURE AND MEMETICS......Page 20 1.3 THE AIMS OF THIS SYMPOSIUM VOLUME......Page 21 1.4 THE STRUCTURE OF THIS BOOK......Page 22 1.5 CONCLUSION......Page 31 REFERENCES......Page 32 UMAN......Page 35 2.2 SOCIAL TRANSMISSION AND THE ROLE OF CULTURE......Page 47 REFERENCES......Page 50 ABSTRACT......Page 55 3.2 NICHE CONSTRUCTION......Page 56 3.3 THE LIMITATIONS OF THE STANDARD THEORY......Page 59 3.5 IMPLICATIONS FOR THE HUMAN SCIENCES......Page 60 3.6 EXTENDED GENE-CULTURE COEVOLUTIONARY THEORY......Page 63 3.7 POSSIBLE ORIGINS OF CULTURAL INHERITANCE......Page 64 3.8 BETWEEN PROCESS INTERACTIONS......Page 68 3.9 CONCLUSION......Page 70 REFERENCES......Page 71 ABSTRACT......Page 75 4.2 STRATEGIES AS ADAPTATIONS......Page 76 4.3 EVOLUTIONARY STABILITY......Page 79 4.4 FITNESS AND REPRODUCTIVE VALUE OF A RARE MUTANT STRATEGY......Page 81 4.5 MAXIMIZATION OF REPRODUCTIVE VALUE AT EVOLUTIONARY STABILITY......Page 83 4.6 INTERGENERATIONAL EFFECTS......Page 85 4.7 COMBINING FEEDBACK AND INTERGENERATIONAL EFFECTS......Page 90 4.8 DISCUSSION......Page 98 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 100 REFERENCES......Page 101 ABSTRACT......Page 105 REFERENCES......Page 112 ABSTRACT......Page 113 6.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 114 6.2 GENE-BASED MODELS OF BEHAVIOR......Page 115 6.3 SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION......Page 116 6.4 REPLICATORS, DUAL INHERITANCE THEORY, AND MEMETICS......Page 117 6.6 BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION PROCESSING......Page 119 6.7 INFORMATION IN REPLICATORS......Page 121 6.8 CONSTRUCTION OF THE SELF......Page 122 6.9 DIFFERENTIAL REPLICATORY ABILITIES OF GENETIC AND NONGENETIC INFORMATION......Page 123 6.10 THE SOUL AND AFTERLIFE STATUS......Page 125 6.11 REPUTATION AND FAME......Page 127 6.13 SUMMARY......Page 129 REFERENCES......Page 131 ABSTRACT......Page 135 7.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 136 7.2 CULTURE IN THE GREAT APES......Page 137 7.3 CONCLUSION......Page 148 REFERENCES......Page 150 ABSTRACT......Page 153 8.1 THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD?......Page 154 8.2 COSTS AND BENEFITS OF LANGUAGE 8.2.1 B......Page 155 8.3 EVOLUTION OF VERBAL TRANSMISSION: A FORMAL MODEL......Page 161 8.4 LANGUAGE AND COMPLEX CULTURAL ADAPTATIONS......Page 165 8.5 CONCLUSION: WHY LANGUAGE IS RARE......Page 166 REFERENCES......Page 167 ABSTRACT......Page 169 9.1 THREE MODES OF INFORMATION TRANSMISSION......Page 170 9.2 THE FOSSIL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD......Page 171 9.3 BIPEDALISM AND BODY LANGUAGE......Page 173 9.4 INFORMATION TRANSMISSION BY VOCALIZATION: WHAT WAS THE NATURE OF PROTOLANGUAGE?......Page 176 9.5 ORIGINS OF THE MODERN MIND AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR INFORMATION TRANSMISSION......Page 179 9.6 MATERIAL CULTURE AND THE LONG-TERM TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION......Page 182 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 184 REFERENCES......Page 185 10.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 189 10.2 EVOLUTIONARY PROCESSES AND CULTURAL TRADITIONS......Page 191 10.3 IDENTIFYING SOCIAL INFORMATION TRANSMISSION IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD......Page 193 10.4 ARCHAEOLOGICAL CASE STUDIES......Page 196 10.5 CONCLUSION......Page 203 REFERENCES......Page 204 ABSTRACT......Page 207 11.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 208 11.2 METHODS......Page 210 11.3 RESULTS......Page 211 11.4 DISCUSSION......Page 217 REFERENCES......Page 220 ABSTRACT......Page 223 12.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 224 12.2 CREATING INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL AGENDAS......Page 225 12.3 THE FAMILY PLANNING STORY: 1960–2000......Page 227 12.4 PARALLELS WITH THE AIDS MOVEMENT......Page 231 12.5 CONCLUSIONS......Page 233 NOTES......Page 236 REFERENCES......Page 237 13.1 INTRODUCTION......Page 241 13.3 THE 1950S: LOW KEY RESPONSES AND LOCALIZED HEALTH EDUCATION......Page 242 13.4 HEALTH EDUCATION BEGINS TO CHANGE IN THE 1960S......Page 246 13.5 THE 1970S: MEDIA PERSUASION......Page 248 NOTES......Page 254 REFERENCES......Page 255 ABSTRACT......Page 259 14.3 HOW DOES THE POLICY WORK?......Page 260 14.4 THE IMPACT OF THE POLICY ON POPULATION GROWTH......Page 262 14.5 IMPACT ON THE SEX RATIO......Page 263 14.7 THE IMPACT ON WOMEN’S HEALTH......Page 265 14.8 HEALTH OF CHILDREN......Page 267 14.9 THE FUTURE......Page 269 REFERENCES......Page 271 ABSTRACT......Page 275 REFERENCES......Page 282 16.2 MEMORY AND RECOLLECTION......Page 285 16.3 TRADITION AND THE HERITABILITY OF CULTURE......Page 288 16.4 TELEOLOGY AND HUMAN PURPOSE......Page 292 16.5 CONCLUSION......Page 294 REFERENCES......Page 295 Index......Page 299 An Introduction To Evolutionary Models Of Human Social Behavior / Kevin Laland And Gillian Brown -- How Niche Construction Contributes To Human Gene-culture Coevolution / John Odling-smee -- State And Value : A Perspective From Behavioral Ecology / John M. Mcnamara And Alasdair I. Houston -- An Agnostic View Of Memes / Robert Aunger -- Biological Ends And Human Social Information Transmission / Jonathan Wells And Simon Strickland -- The Significance Of Socially Transmitted Information For Nutrition And Health In The Great Ape Clade / Andrew Whiten -- Language : Costs And Benefits Of A Specialized System For Social Information Transmission / Daniel Nettle -- The Evolution Of Social Information Transmission In Homo / Steven Mithen -- From Cultural History To Cultural Evolution : An Archaeological Perspective On Social Information Transmission / Stephen Shennan -- The Uptake Of Modern Contraception In A Gambian Community : The Diffusion Of An Innovation Over 25 Years / Ruth Mace ... [et Al.] -- Sex Without Birth Or Death : A Comparison Of Two International Humanitarian Movements / John Cleland And Susan Watkins -- Smoking And The New Health Education In Britain, 1950s-1970s / Virginia Berridge And Kelly Loughlin -- The Demographic And Health Impact Of The One Child Family Policy / Therese Hesketh -- Social Trends And Psychopathology / Roland Littlewood -- Epilogue : Memory, Tradition, And Teleology / Simon Strickland. Edited By Jonathan C.k. Wells, Simon Strickland, And Kevin Laland. Outgrowth Of A Symposium. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Recent research has emphasized that socially transmitted information may affect both the gene pool and the phenotypes of individuals and populations, and that an improved understanding of evolutionary issues is beneficial to those working towards the improvement of human health. In response to a growing interest across disciplines for information regarding the contribution of social behavior to a range of biological outcomes, Social Information Transmission and Human Biology connects the work of evolutionary theorists and those dealing with practical issues in human health and demographics. Combining evolutionary models with biomedical research, authors from various disciplines look at how human behavior influences health, and how reproductive fitness sheds light on the processes that shaped the evolution of human behavior. Both academic and medical researchers will find much useful insight in this text. In response to a growing interest across disciplines for information regarding the contribution of social behavior to a range of biological outcomes, this book connects the work of evolutionary theorists and those dealing with practical issues in human health and demographics. It is suitable for academic and medical researchers.