Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Transmission Mechanisms of Cumulative Cultural Evolution

罗格斯大学博士生海伦·瓦西列夫斯基将在Lee Cronk博士的指导下，研究社会学习对累积社会变化的影响。研究人员将特别关注比较模仿(行为复制)和模仿(复制行为产品)的效果。使用实验微社会设计，这是一种模拟文化世代的实验室方法，研究将(1)提高对不同社会学习机制如何有助于累积文化进化的理解；(2)开发研究累积文化的新方法；(3)有助于更好地理解人类认知进化。研究人员将通过在实验室环境中拍摄社会信息传递来收集数据。受试者将被要求使用简单的材料建造一个承重装置，并将通过测量每个建造的装置能够支撑的最大重量来评估他们的成功。受试者在工作时将被拍摄下来，并对录像带进行仔细的分析，以确定在不同的社会学习条件下信息传递的数量和成功程度。研究人员将关注(1)学习类型和文化变化累积速度之间的相互作用，(2)不同社会学习机制对信息传输保真度的影响，以及(3)在没有直接接触行为本身的情况下，通过模拟来实现行为信息传输的有效性(即，只观察成功的设备示例，而不能观察产生它们的行为)。这项研究很重要，因为它将帮助社会科学家更好地理解人类进化中的认知变化，这些变化对于人们发展和传承复杂的文化实践是必要的。它还将有助于理解文化信息是如何在个人之间传递的，这是那些关注文化差异和变化过程的人感兴趣的。资助这项研究还支持社会科学家的教育。

Rutgers University doctoral student, Helen Wasielewski, under the direction of Dr. Lee Cronk, will investigate the effects of social learning on accumulative social change. The researcher will focus specifically on comparing the effects of imitation (behavior copying) with emulation (copying of products of behavior). Using an experimental micro-society design, which is a laboratory method for simulating cultural generations, the research will (1) improve understanding of how different social learning mechanisms contribute to the evolution of cumulative culture; (2) develop new methods for studying cumulative culture; and (3) contribute to better understanding of human cognitive evolution.The researcher will collect data by videotaping social information transfer in a laboratory setting. Subjects will be asked to construct a weight-supporting device using simple materials and their success will be evaluated by measuring the maximum weight that each constructed device is capable of supporting. The subjects will be videotaped as they work and the tapes subjected to a close analysis to determine the amount and success of information transfer under different social learning conditions. The researcher will focus on (1) the interactions between the type of learning used and the rate of accumulation of changes to culture, (2) the effects of different social learning mechanisms on the fidelity of information transmission, and (3) the efficacy of behavioral information transmission by emulation in the absence of direct access to the behavior itself (that is, by looking solely at successful device examples without being able to observe the behaviors that produced them). This research is important because it will help social scientists to better understand the cognitive changes that were necessary in human evolution for people to develop and pass on complex cultural practices. It also will contribute to understanding how cultural information is transferred between individuals, which is of interest to those concerned with cultural variation and processes of change. Funding this research also supports the education of a social scientist.