Including Contingencies and Metacontingencies to a Coevolutionary Approach to Cultural Evolution

Transcription

1 Including Contingencies and Metacontingencies to a Coevolutionary Approach to Cultural Evolution Kalliu Couto Outline: Behavior analysis: a selectionist perspective Cultural analysis through behavioral contingencies Cultural analysis through metacontingencies Further thoughts Final remarks 1

2 Behavior analysis: a selectionist perspective Behavior analysis is grounded in the selectionist approach, which was first extensively used to explain evolution by Darwin. Skinner (1953) and Campbell (1956) were pioneers in comparing selection mechanisms in natural selection to the mechanisms involved with learning novel behavior. Skinner 1981: Three levels of selection Natural selection Contingencies of survival involved in natural selection Individual Selection The contingencies of reinforcement involved in the selection of individual behavior Cultural Selection Cultural practices? Conditional relations? Learning by consequences Learning during ontogenesis: there is a variation in samples of behavior within an organism Selection of the fittest behavioral class and recurrence or repetition of behavior over time (Baum, 2017). 2

3 Glenn (2004) Conditional relations S d R Consequence Selection of cultural practices (Baum, 2017) Variation, Recurrence (transmission), Selection. 1) Variation in patterns of behavior within a certain group 2) Selection of those favoring the adaptability of the group. 3) Practices will be transmitted generation to generation through rule following (i.e., instruction) and imitation. 3

4 S1 R1 C1 Increase of group calorie intake Selection of practices *Behavioral lineage Couto and Sandaker (2016) Selection of cultures S1 R1 C1 Increase of group calorie intake Conditional relation Cultural selection The third level of selection began when individuals were under control of the same sets of contingencies of reinforcement (Skinner, 1981). - Second level: Nut cracking practice - Third level: Sets of contingencies (Variation, selection and transmission of conditional relations, not practices) (Couto and Sandaker, 2016) 4

5 Cooperation and coordinated responses Cultural practices within a given group may emerge as: 1) Cumulative effects of members behavior 2) Cooperation 3) Coordinated responding Coordinated behavior involves the behavior of two or more organisms taking place in some specified order, resulting in the production or removal of environmental consequences (Keller & Schoenfeld, 1950). Thus, the behavior of persons in a group can be analyzed by looking at the effects of consequences on the cooperative responses; whether coordinated or not. Consequences Cooperative and coordinated patterns within a group will vary be selected and become recurrent, as function of their consequences 5

6 Metacontingency: a conceptual tool that describes a functional relation between: 1) Coordinated responses in the form of interlocking behavior contingencies (IBCs) 2) The product of this joint effort (aggregate product; AP) 3) A selecting environment Culturant AP selecting environment Metacontingency Dependent Variable Independent variable AP Aggregate product Selecting environment *DV is usually at the second level 6

7 Selection of cultures and cultural section within metacontingencies (Couto and Sandaker, 2016) Selection of cultures (sets of conditional relations) Cultural selection Further thoughts Phenotype SE Natural selection The genetic code is the set of rules by which information encoded Genetic instructions used in the growth, development, functioning and reproduction. Natural selection acts on the phenotype, the characteristics of the organism which interact with the environment ** The genetic (heritable) basis of any phenotype gives the phenotype a reproductive advantage 7

8 Selection of cultures IBCs are sets of conditional relations by which information is encoded Conditional relations are used when performing a group functions (e.g., internal stimuli control & production of AP) 1) Controlling IBCs (e-ibcs: Involved on the selection and maintenance of new and current members behavior 2) Efficacy IBCs (c-ibcs): directly involved on the production of APs Selection of cultures acts on AP, which interact with the selecting environment ** The sets of IBCs (heritable) are the basis of any AP and replicability (transmission) Selection of cultures and cultural section Due to their adaptive value, specific patterns of IBCs will become recurrent among populations of same or different species. Those sets of IBCs may have at least two functions; 2) Controlling IBCs (e-ibcs: Involved on the selection and maintenance of new and current members behavior. Members behavioral allocation is distributed according to the practicing group s fitness, even in cases in which individual fitness is at risk. For that to occur, sets of controlling contingencies are selected over time and are informally and formally established and transmitted (e.g., folktales and governmental legislation). 1) Efficacy IBCs (c-ibcs): directly involved on the production of APs Adoption of innovative strategies Decision-making processes related to the production of APs 8

9 Final remarks Contingencies and metacontingencies maybe enough to analyze cultural practices When investigate cultures, the sets of contingencies/ibcs as conditional relations maybe be considered an object selection Specific patterns of conditional relation maybe recurrent within and between cultures Facebook page: Cultural Selection and Behavioral Economics lab Blog: Thank you! 9