EAGER: Linking Pattern and Process in Cultural Evolution

这项研究旨在帮助理解人类社会群体内部和群体之间文化多样性的起源。研究人员将开发一个基于主体的模拟模型，以捕捉影响文化演变过程的人口和文化动态。该模型将用于探索性分析人口和文化因素对文化多样性的变化和相互作用的影响。分析的重点将放在个人之间信息传递的不同途径（例如从父母到子女或从同伴到同伴）是否会导致不同的多样性模式。分析的目的有两个：第一，对文化传播的不同途径在形成文化多样性中的作用产生一般性的理论见解；第二，根据群体间多样性模式的数据，确定是否以及在什么条件下可以区分个体之间的不同传播途径。其基本原理是，如果不能从实验产生的模拟数据中准确地推断出潜在的过程，则不可能从经验数据中准确地推断出它们。该项目的研究结果将通过解决文化进化研究中的一个基本理论问题，对社会科学理论作出贡献：在多大程度上，人口水平的文化多样性模式能够与个人水平的文化传播过程可靠地联系起来。该奖项是探索性研究的早期概念资助（EAGER），因为所提出的建模和分析工作的规模在该领域是前所未有的。一名本科生将协助进行分析工作，从而接受将理论方法应用于人类学研究的训练。

This research seeks to contribute to understanding the origins of cultural diversity within and between human social groups. The researchers will develop an agent-based simulation model to capture demographic and cultural dynamics that affect the process of cultural evolution. The model will be used to perform an exploratory analysis of the varied and interacting effects of demographic and cultural factors on cultural diversity. The focus of the analysis will be on whether different pathways for the transmission of information between individuals (such as from parents to children or from peer to peer) result in different patterns of diversity. The aim of the analysis is two-fold: first, to generate general theoretical insights about the roles of the different pathways of cultural transmission in shaping cultural diversity; second, to establish whether and under what conditions different pathways of transmission between individuals can be distinguished on the basis of data on the patterns of diversity across groups. The rationale is that if underlying processes cannot be accurately inferred from simulated data generated experimentally it is unlikely that they can be accurately inferred from empirical data. Findings from the project will contribute to social science theory by addressing a fundamental theoretical question in the study of cultural evolution: the degree to which population-level patterns of cultural diversity can be reliably linked to individual-level processes of cultural transmission.The award is an Early-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) because the scale of the proposed modeling and analytical efforts are unprecedented in this area. One undergraduate student will assist with the analytical effort, thereby receiving training in the application of theoretical approaches to anthropological research.