Cultural transmission

People learn from other people in many different fields. Consequently, systems of knowledge and behavior are culturally transmitted in the human population. People seek to understand the evolutionary foundations and consequences of cultural transfer: how widespread is cultural transfer in the animal kingdom; how cultural transmission works in the human population; what products provide cultural evolution; and how culture interacts with biological evolution to shape our species.

Cultural transmission (sometimes called “cultural learning”) is the process of learning new information through socialization and interaction with people around you.

The cultural transfer of knowledge is a broad concept, and it refers to knowledge acquired by non-biological means. For example, if a person is walking along the street and wants to cross the road, he knows that he cannot just go out onto the road without looking, because there is a chance that he will be hit by a car. People do not instinctively know this; rather, it was passed on from parents or another adult at the beginning of life and reinforced by cultural transmission. As a means of communication, cultural transfer is a one-way system in which culture is transmitted to a person through certain channels. The process of obtaining information about a culture or society is what is called inculturation .

Although cultural transmission is a broad concept, it is not comprehensive for all the knowledge gained during a person’s life. In fact, some of the knowledge people possess is acquired through experience, for example, as a trial and error method. Trial and error is what is known as experimental learning.

Experimental training is one of the main research methods based on a thorough study of the variants of the phenomenon under study with the possible equation of all other factors (number of training hours, level of language proficiency, etc.). During experimental training, the researcher checks various options for solving the question of interest to him, including those whose failure he seeks to prove. This is precisely the fundamental difference between experimental training and experimental training, the purpose of which is the mass verification of a previously substantiated methodology. ^[2]

Unlike experiential learning, the theoretical basis of cultural transmission is that over the course of our development, we gain a significant amount of knowledge simply by being present in our culture. For example, people living in the United States know that creepy decorations in October are one way to celebrate Halloween . Similarly, there are certain conservative religions that do not approve of these decorations or do not celebrate this holiday at all. For someone who is not from Western culture or is familiar with such traditions, these Halloween decorations may seem like a strange custom, because this person was not vaccinated in Western society and, therefore, does not have this cultural information. Similarly, the fact that some people would object to decorating or celebrating Halloween might seem strange for the same reason.

An experimental approach to culture

The study of the evolutionary foundations and consequences of cultural transfer is not a new undertaking: evolutionary approaches to culture have an outstanding history (for example, Darwin draws direct parallels between biological evolution and cultural evolution in words and languages) ^[3] , and the study of cultural transfer and cultural evolution is dynamic and a growing field of research. ^[4] Most of this research was theoretical or observational, based on formal models of evolutionary processes ^[5] or an observational study of real cultural phenomena. ^[6] Although they remain important tools for studying cultural evolution, they are not the only ones available. Another possibility is to take an experimental approach to study the mechanisms and dynamics of cultural transmission - an experimental study offers a potential bridge between generality and control of the formal model and the naturalism of observing real behavior in a real cultural environment. A powerful experimental approach that has a long history but has survived a renaissance in recent years is to examine the evolution of culture directly in simple laboratory populations under controlled conditions to establish what actually happens when people learn from other people. This topic combines diffusion chains or transmission chains for the first time to explore cultural evolution.

One of the fundamental questions in understanding a person’s ability to culture is the identification of its evolutionary origin: is it a recent ability or an ancient ability that simply manifests itself in an unusual form in our species. Whiten and Mesoudi ^[7] review literature on diffusion studies on non-human animals, focusing on the range of experimental methodologies used and their ability to distinguish social learning and cultural transmission from other mechanisms that can cause similar behavior at the group level (for example, individual learning ) The achievements in this area were impressive: there is clear evidence of the cultural transmission of a number of non-human species (primates, as well as rodents, birds and fish). In addition, transmission is considered in a number of experimental modes.

Cultural learning styles are those personality training styles that are a product of his or her cultural background and upbringing. It examines the theory of learning styles and the role that culture plays in theory. The concept of cultural learning styles is based on the theory of learning styles. Learning style theory says that students prefer one way or style of learning to another. The theory suggests that designing an educational experience, curriculum, and instruction that matches a student’s learning style can improve academic achievement. The concept of cultural learning styles goes further, stating that cultural education plays a decisive role in determining the student’s learning style. More than 30 learning style testing tools have been developed to measure different learning styles in a meaningful and reliable continuum . Examples of tools include the Swassing-Barbe modality index and group inline shape tests. The Swassing-Barbe Modality Index classifies students as preferring visual, auditory, or tactile / kinesthetic styles. ^[8] In the group test for embedded figures, students are classified as field dependent or field independent ^[9] when they find geometric figures embedded in the figure drawings. Field dependence / independence refers to the “ways in which people cognitively respond to confusing information and unfamiliar situations” and the behavior that these responses generate. Field-dependent individuals are believed to be more group oriented, collaborate, and less competitive than field-independent individuals. ^[10]

Culture consists of values, beliefs and ways of perceiving. Cultural differences in children's learning styles can develop through their early experiences. The values ​​of the cultural group and the traditional way of life can, through parenting, influence the learning styles that a person will develop. Numerous studies have tried to identify learning style preferences among students from different cultures and how to use preferences to improve learning. Dunne and Griggs reviewed studies on teaching styles for Hispanic students. The study shows that Mexican American students seem to require a higher degree of structuring than other groups. They prefer to work alone more than African-American students, but less than Caucasian students. And while they are not as visual and visual as Caucasians and African Americans. Latin American middle and high school students are more dependent on the field than English speakers.

Based on these findings of the study, they advise teachers and counselors to expect that a large number of Hispanic students will prefer:

1. conformity;
2. peer education;
3. kinesthetic learning resources;
4. high degree of structure;
5. field-dependent cognitive style.

Ramirez and Castaneda recommend coeducation; the use of humor, drama and fantasy; modeling; and a global, rather than an analytical approach to understanding concepts ^[11] .

• Irvine, Jacqueline Jordan and Darlene Eleanor York (1995). Learning Styles and Culturally Diverse Students: A Literature Review. In Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education, ed. James A. Banks, 484-97. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan.

• Cavalli-Sforza LL, Feldman MW Princeton University Press; Princeton, NJ: 1981. Cultural transmission and evolution.
• Durham WH Stanford University Press; Stanford, CA: 1991. Coevolution: genes, culture and human diversity
• Whiten A, Horner V, de Waal FBM Conformity to cultural norms of tool use in chimpanzees. Nature
• Whiten A, Mesoudi A. Establishing an experimental science of culture: animal social diffusion experiments. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 2008; 363: 3477-3488

http://library.educationworld.net/a12/a12

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2008.0134

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04047

Category: Psychology