United Kingdom

**Abstract:**



**Speaker&#39;s social media:**



Cultural Evolution Society Conference 2024

Transmission biases influencing parents’ infant feeding knowledge and behaviour: preliminary results of a scoping review

infant sleep

infant feeding

transmission biases

social learning strategies

cultural transmission

Welcome to the Cultural Evolution Society (CES) Conference 2024, which was a hybrid conference held at Durham University (UK). The conference was hosted in Durham by the Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre (DCERC) with administrative assistance from the CES Transformation Fund team.

**For more information about the CES Conference, please visit the [CES Website Home Page](https://ces2024.webspace.durham.ac.uk/).**

#### Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre (DCERC) 
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**Interdisciplinary study of cultural change and diversity**

We are a highly interdisciplinary group of researchers using evolutionary models to study cultural change and diversity.  We apply cultural evolutionary methods to a wide variety of topics including cognition, innovation, social learning, technology, art, music, narrative, religion, sociality, language and communication. We have a growing interest in applying cultural evolutionary theory to current societal challenges such as understanding the spread of prosocial health behaviours and health conspiracies.<br>
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The field of cultural evolution is growing in size and scope; its theories, methods and applications - both academic and applied - are getting ever more robust. Do join us in what promises to be an exciting exchange of ideas and a celebration of our field.

**Abstract:**



**Speaker's social media:**



poster

Words change in meanings over time. Sometimes, this change is merely a matter of convention. In others, it signifies deeper shifts in cultural perceptions. Focusing on such a deep cultural transformation, we trace the historical evolution of “management” as a metaphor. With the rise of modernity, the logic of the market has gradually permeated into spheres of life traditionally not seen as governed by the rules of monetary exchange. This logic transcends mere monetization; it encapsulates a broader inclination towards planning, quantifying and optimizing. Analyzing millions of documents that span multiple domains—newspapers, fiction, political discourse, legal decisions—we demonstrate the term “management” has expanded in scope from primarily business-related contexts to encompass one’s body, emotions, and personal relationships. This process began around 1980, as neoliberalism was ascending in Western societies. We draw on an ensemble of NLP methods, including contextual word embedding models and LLMs, to demonstrate how the meaning of “management” evolved over time, and how the self is increasingly described using the imagery of management. We show, moreover, the process by which management diffused as a metaphor by historically tracing which objects became targets of management, and which actors expanded the scope of the management metaphor.


LIVE - From the boardroom to the bedroom: The expansion and abstraction of management as a cultural logic

The use of Intelligent Machines and Artificial Intelligence (AI) has increasingly become an important aspect of human life. One of the concerns arising from their fast development is that the AI that helps humans improve efficiency may also compete with and replace humans in the labor market and social life. However, if altruism can evolve in humans, can “altruistic” AI that helps humans learn and perform be selected for and outcompete “self-interested” AI? Multi-level selection theory proposes that altruism is selected for because groups with altruistic individuals perform better than groups with only self-interested individuals. In this research, we design an agent-based model to explore the conditions where AI Helpers, rather than AI Competitors, are favored through a parallel process of group-level competition. AI Helpers with human inputs produce more variances in their learning outcomes compared to AI Competitors that replace human inputs entirely but learn more accurately. We show that in groups that use AI Helpers, the variance generated by human exploration is preserved within the group. In the long run, this variance can lead to more cumulative advancement in these groups, which drives the use of AI Helpers to be the dominant strategy across groups.

Multi-level selection of AI behaviors

**Abstract:**

Human groups are experts in developing and maintaining social norms. While many social norms have clear practical functions, some other norms have limited direct material consequences on the self or the group. We define such norms as symbolic norms. 
Symbolic norms are prevalent. Given the discrepancy between the social importance and the functional opacity of these norms, it is important to understand how a seemingly neutral behavior emerges as a symbolic norm. This article argues that a neutral behavior is more likely to evolve as a norm when it shows statistical correlation with a practically beneficial behavior on the population level, which is defined as “the norm spillover effect.”
This article uses agent-based models and an empirical experiment to test this effect. First, EGT models show that the statistical correlation between a practical and a neutral behavior on the population level creates an ecology that favors the following and enforcement of the symbolic norm. Second, the empirical experiment shows that the perceived correlation between a practical and a neutral behavior increases the perceived direct function of and the pressure to conform to the symbolic norm. The two levels of analysis echo each other and support the norm spillover effect.

**Speaker's social media:**

Twitter: @XinyuePan3

RECORDING - The emergence of symbolic norms: The norm spillover effect

**Abstract:**

Peer influence in early life is critical to the formation of beliefs about appropriate behavior for each gender. Complicating matters, recent studies suggest that men consistently overestimate peer support for inequitable gender norms. Combined with social conformity, this susceptibility to ‘norm misperception’ may represent a barrier to women’s empowerment. However, why men misperceive peer beliefs remains unclear. Working in an urbanizing Tanzanian community where previous research has documented overestimation of peer support for inequitable gender norms, we used focus groups and participant observation to investigate how young men (age 18-30) forge perceptions about others. Men characterized their community as undergoing a transition to more equitable norms due to the influences of urbanization, globalization, and interactions with external agencies and different ethnicities. This change introduces novel diversity and reinforces uncertainty about prevailing beliefs. Confidence in the discernibility of peer beliefs hinged on whether associated behaviors were visible in the public domain or expressed within the private affairs of women and men. Furthermore, men acknowledged intentionally obscuring behavior deemed supportive of women to portray ideals of masculine strength. These results suggest that misperception of peer gender role ideology is pronounced during periods of rapid cultural transition and illuminates the mechanisms at play. 

**Speaker's social media:**

@kanyawera2021

What do other men think? Understanding (mis)perceptions of peer gender role ideology among young Tanzanian men

**Abstract:**

Mate choice often involves social learning which can lead to the copying of another individuals’ choice (i.e., mate copying). While mate copying occurs in many taxa, we are only beginning to understand the underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Here, we show in Drosophila melanogaster that the rutabaga gene is necessary to support mate copying. rutabaga encodes a Ca2+/calmodulin-sensitive adenylyl cyclase (AC-Rut+) that acts as coincidence detector of conditional and unconditional stimuli in associative learning. Since classical and operant learning require AC-Rut+ expression in different brain areas, we determine the functional localisation of AC-Rut+ for mate copying by artificially expressing AC-Rut+ in neural subsets of a rutabaga mutant. We found that adult AC-Rut+ expression in γ-Kenyon cells (KCs) of the mushroom bodies (MBs) during learning and short-term memory (STM) is sufficient to support mate copying. Thus, it requires the same KCs as nonsocial Pavlovian learning, suggesting that the pathways of social and nonsocial learning overlap significantly. We then used the same approach to study long-term memory (LTM) and found that AC-Rut+ expression is sufficient in /- and γ-KCs, which is identical to nonsocial aversive (but not appetitive) LTM. Our study opens a new research avenue to unravel the full pathways of social learning.

**Speaker's social media:**

Twitter: @NoebelSabine
BlueSky: @sabinenoebel.bsky.social

LIVE - Social learning requires mushroom body neurons in Drosophila melanogaster

**Abstract:**

Modern Uralic kinship terminologies differ greatly from branch to branch. Finnic languages have become thoroughly Europeanised while the Saami and Samoyedic languages have their own unique patterns. This diversity is a special challenge when reconstructing Proto-Uralic kinship terms to understand the social aspects of past Uralic-speaking populations. Phonological reconstruction has been used in the search of Proto-Uralic kinship terms, but little attention has been paid to the semantic reconstruction. To bring more light on Proto-Uralic kinship we use semantic reconstruction that takes into account the secondary polysemic patterns that have spread areally (Circum-Baltic, Volga-Kama, Western Siberia). We take, e.g. the whole variety of meanings for the word *čečä ‘uncle’ given in different Uralic languages and search for the most logical Proto-Uralic meaning for it. We found that Proto-Uralic had one term for parent’s younger brother (*čečä) and another for parent’s older brother (*ekä). We also found that relative age distinction (RAD), i.e. separation of older and younger relative in the same generation is a Proto-Uralic feature. With the help of this novel approach certain Proto-Uralic structural patterns and features (RAD) can be brought to light, which in turn offer some information about the prehistory of the Proto-Uralic speakers. 


**Speaker's social media:**

X: @HonkolaTerhi

RECORDING - Reconstructing Proto-Uralic kinship

**Abstract:**

 A long-standing hypothesis is that children exhibit high fidelity imitative copying of a model’s actions, whereas nonhuman apes focus only on results (emulation). This study explores this hypothesis by employing eye-tracking technology to compare the attentional foci of apes and human children during observational learning of novel tool-use. Subjects are presented with video demonstrations of a conspecific solving a two-action tool-use task ('pan-pipes'), after which the fidelity of their own attempts are compared.  Video displays feature both wide and close-up views displaying different elements of the task including the conspecific's face, body, hand and tool movements, specific parts of the apparatus moved, and the reward released. This experimental setup allows for an in-depth analysis of where subjects direct their attention during learning and whether they anticipate the demonstrator's actions over repeated presentations. The study thus tests hypotheses regarding the similarity or difference in attentional patterns between apes and children and potential correlations between these patterns and task performance. We will examine species differences and the relationship between attention patterns and task success. This research contributes to our understanding of social learning processes across species, extending previous findings on imitation and emulation in apes and children.

**Speaker's social media:**

@louiseemackie

Using eye-tracking to compare visual attention during apes’ and children’s observational learning of tool use 

Why do people believe in Vishnu and not Zeus? Theories in the evolution of religion suggest divine punishment is a primary driver of continued belief in large-scale religions. Hindu Gods do not fit this pattern. We hypothesise that Hinduism persists through its ability to adapt to smaller group needs, hence supporting the socio-economic niches of different Hindu-Indian linguistic communities. Instead of punishing norm violators, each God models different normative behaviours related to specific moral reasoning within a community. We examine two Indian-linguistic communities with naturally occuring differences in religious practices, that are opposites in their risk-taking, and enterprising abilities: Gujaratis and Maharashtrians. Gujaratis are a dominant business-oriented community known for their risk-taking abilities. Conversely, Maharashtrians are characteristically risk-averse, and mostly occupy salaried positions in urban areas. We test this using vignettes depicting human behaviours that pit norms displayed by Gujarati Gods against norms displayed by Maharashtrian Gods. Results indicate community alignment with the normative/ moral values of the dominant God in their community, despite a lack of direct reference to God. These results support the cooperation effects of religion through a mechanism distinct from Abrahamic traditions. We will discuss the implications for the cross-cultural study of religion and cooperation.  

The role of divine role models in supporting community behavioural codes in India  

**Abstract:**



**Speaker's social media:**

@sazzum95

Coding Movement: A Novel Method

**Abstract:**

"Humans’ ability to create and use tools is one of our species’ defining characteristics and has irreversibly altered our social and ecological environments. All human
societies create and use tools, and no other species does so with the complexity and diversity of humans. Yet, paradoxically, it is well-established that western children are remarkably poor at simple tool innovation challenges, such as reshaping pipecleaners to retrieve-out-of reach rewards (widely known as the hook task). Studies have further shown that children in non-western populations perform worse than western ones with some small-scale societies performing at floor. We suggest that the practice of taking western designed and validated cognitive measures and transporting them to non-western populations is flawed and can lead to erroneous and damaging conclusions.

In this ESRC funded project, we will develop, for the first time, culturally fair measures of tool innovation for 4-12-year-old children in four geographically and culturally diverse populations; urban Western children (UK), two small-scale subsistence societies (Congo) and a rural Indigenous population (Malaysia). We will do so by taking a bottom-up approach to developing culturally grounded tool innovation measures, using ethnographic data alongside cycles of feedback from community members and protocol refinement to ensure maximal validity. 

**Speaker's social media:**

@bruce_rawlings

Next from Cultural Evolution Society Conference 2024

LIVE - From the boardroom to the bedroom: The expansion and abstraction of management as a cultural logic

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Moralisation of maternal infant feeding choices