A imitação explica a propagação e não a estabilidade da cultura animal

Imitation explains the propagation, not the stability of animal culture

Nicolas Claidière* and Dan Sperber

- Author Affiliations

Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Institut Jean Nicod, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 29, rue d'Ulm, 75005 Paris, France

*Author for correspondence (nicolas.claidiere@normalesup.org).

Abstract

For acquired behaviour to count as cultural, two conditions must be met: it must propagate in a social group, and it must remain stable across generations in the process of propagation. It is commonly assumed that imitation is the mechanism that explains both the spread of animal culture and its stability. We review the literature on transmission chain studies in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and other animals, and we use a formal model to argue that imitation, which may well play a major role in the propagation of animal culture, cannot be considered faithful enough to explain its stability. We consider the contribution that other psychological and ecological factors might make to the stability of animal culture observed in the wild.

imitation cultural evolution animal culture

Footnotes

Received September 11, 2009.
Accepted October 14, 2009.
© 2009 The Royal Society

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