Basic Reading

• Lumsden & Wilson Chaps. 1, 3, 4 (The fourth step of evolution, The rules of mental development, The social worlds of Homo). [very basic]
• Dawkins, R. (1976/1989). The selfish gene. Chap. 11 (Memes: The new replicators). ......Roboro etc.
• Bonner, J. T. (1980). The evolution of culture in animals, Chaps. 8 (The evolution of culture [concluding summary chapter]) & 2 (Cultural and genetic evolution). ......Roboro
• Nishida (1987), Local traditions and cultural transmission, in Smuts et al
• EITHER Passingham, R. E. (1982). The human primate Chap. 7 (Culture). .......156PAS/Roboro

OR Wilson SB pp 168-175 of hardback edition  (Tradition, culture and invention).
• Durham (1978) in A. L. Caplan, The sociobiology debate. .......591.5SOC
• Pinker, S. (1995). The language instinct, Chap. 8 (The tower of Babel). .......401PIN
• Tooby & Cosmides (1992). The psychological foundations of culture. In Barkow et al (Eds.), The adapted mind [this is very long - dip into it and read the bits that seem to you most helpful rather than trying to wade through the whole thing - the end part may be most relevant]

Additional material

Evidence for cultural variation in animals

• Heyes, C. M. (1993). Imitation, culture and cognition. Animal Behaviour, 46, 999-1010.
• Laland, Richerson & Boyd (1996), Developing a theory of animal social learning. In C. M. Heyes & B. Galef. Social learning in animals: the roots of culture. .......156.315HEY  TRC
• Tomasello, M., & Call, J. (1997).  Primate cognition. Oxford University Press: New York.  Chapter 9 (Social learning and culture).  .......on order/SEGL
• Byrne, R. W., & Russon, A. E. (1998).  Learning by imitation: a hierarchical approach.  Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 20, 667-689.  [A late draft is available on the web at http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/bbs/Archive/bbs.byrne.html]
• McGrew, W. C. (1988).  Culture in nonhuman primates? Annual Review of Anthropology, 27, 301-28. .......P305A220
• Huffman (1996). Acquisition of innovative cultural behaviors in nonhuman primates: A case study of stone handling, a socially transmitted behavior in Japanese macaques. In Heyes & Galef, see above.
• Galef, B. G., & Whiskin, E. E. (1997).  Effects of social and asocial learning on longevity of food-preference traditions.  Animal Behaviour, 53, 1313-1322.
• Avital, E., Jablonka, E., & Lachmann, M. (1998).  Adopting adoption.  Animal Behaviour, 55, 1451-1459.
• Green (1975), Dialects in Japanese monkeys... Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 38, 304-314. .......from SEGL
• West & King (1996). Synergy and songbirds, in Heyes & Galef, see above.
• Krebs & Kroodsma (1980) Repertoires and geographical variation in bird song. In J. S. Rosenblatt et al (Eds.), Advances in the Study of Behavior 11 143-177 .......156ADV
• Mundinger (1982), Microgeographic and macrogeographic variation in acquired vocalizations of birds, in D. E. Kroodsma & E. H. Miller (Eds.), Acoustic communication in birds, Vol. 2, pp. 147-208. [skip through tables etc]. ......598.259ACO

Adaptive nature of culturally determined behaviour

• Barash, Chapter 7
• Lefebvre & Giraldeau (1996), Is social learning an adaptive specialization? In Heyes & Galef, see above.
• Harris, M. (1977). Cannibals and kings, chap 12 (The origin of the sacred cow - or another chapter to taste) .......301.2HAR (also SEd)
• Harris, M. (1979). Cultural materialism. Chapter 3 (Theoretical principles of cultural materialism). .......TRC
• Crook, J. H. (1980). Evolution of human consciousness Chapters 6-8 (The behavioural elaboration of hunting hominids; Sociobiology and human social evolution; Societal evolution. Read selectively) .......TRC/Roboro
• Aitchison, J.(1981). Language change : progress or decay? especially chapter 1 (The ever-whirling wheel: The inevitabilities of change) .....409AIT or SEd
• Alexander, R. D. (1979). Darwinism and human affairs Chapter 2 (Natural selection and culture. Read selectively) .......573.2ALE
• Skinner, B. F. (1969), Contingencies of reinforcement, Chap. 2 (Utopia as an experimental culture). .......150.19434SKI
• Chagnon (1981) Terminological kinship, genealogical relatedness, and village fission among the Yanomamö Indians, in R. D. Alexander & D. W. Tinkle, Natural selection and social behavior (skip through details). ......591.5NAT

Explicit sociobiology of human cultures

• Lumsden, C. J. & Wilson, E. O. (1981). Genes, mind and culture Chap. 8 .......591.5LUM
• Barkow (1992), Beneath new culture is old psychology. In Barkow et al (Eds.), The adapted mind
• Winterhalder, B., & Smith, E. A. (1981). Hunter-gatherer foraging strategies, esp. chap 6 .......301.2HUN
• Martin (1983), review of Winterhalder & Smith. American Anthropologist, 85, 612-629. .......P305A60
• Hayden (1981) Subsistence and ecological adaptations of modern hunter/gatherers, in R. S. O. Harding & G. Teleki (Eds.), Omnivorous primates .......573.2OMN
• Harako (1981) The cultural ecology of hunting among Mbuti pygmies in the Ituri forest, Zaire, in Harding & Teleki.
• Hinde & Barden (1985), The evolution of the teddy bear. Animal Behaviour, 33, 1371-1373 .......BJ

Questions for discussion

1. Do the animal data support Dawkins' meme theory of cultural evolution?
2. On the whole, are culturally determined behaviours adaptive?
3. If adaptiveness does not determine what cultures and/or culturally determined traits survive, what are the true selective forces acting on cultures? Are they different in humans and in other animals?
4. Could cultural evolution support group selection?

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Document revised 19th July 1999

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