PSYO 2160 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Cultural Learning, Social Facilitation
16 May 2018
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Cultural transmission
- Another way for behavior to be transmitted across generations.
- Social learning.
What is NOT cultural transmission?
a) Local enhancement: drown to a location because of the action s of another individual in
that location.
b) Social facilitation: mere presence of a model individual thought to facilitate learning in
the observer. Ex: “safety in numbers” (in birds).
Why is cultural transmission important?
- Spread of information from individual to individual.
- Information learned by individual learning disappears when that individual dies (no mode
of inheritance).
- Can occur in a population very quickly.
- Hallmark: traits culturally transmitted in every population, but populations differ from
one another in which traits are transmitted.
Types of social learning
1) Imitation: must involve some sort of new spatial manipulation. (Frontal and parietal
regions showed higher activations while imitating)
2) Copying: what is copied is not novel (no new topographical action). NMDA receptors
are involved in copying, blocking these receptors results in no copying.
Tradition: preference emerges and then becomes common within a group.
Modes of cultural transmission
a) Vertical: parent to offspring transmission (either teaching or social learning).
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Document Summary
Another way for behavior to be transmitted across generations. What is not cultural transmission: local enhancement: drown to a location because of the action s of another individual in that location, social facilitation: mere presence of a model individual thought to facilitate learning in the observer. Spread of information from individual to individual. Information learned by individual learning disappears when that individual dies (no mode of inheritance). Can occur in a population very quickly. Hallmark: traits culturally transmitted in every population, but populations differ from one another in which traits are transmitted. Types of social learning: imitation: must involve some sort of new spatial manipulation. (frontal and parietal regions showed higher activations while imitating, copying: what is copied is not novel (no new topographical action). Nmda receptors are involved in copying, blocking these receptors results in no copying. Tradition: preference emerges and then becomes common within a group.
