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Cultural Attractor Theory
Cultural attractor theory focuses on how ideas being modified as they are transmitted between humans effects cultural evolution Cultural evolution is an evolutionary theory of social change. It follows from the definition of culture as "information capable of affecting individuals' behavior that they acquire from other members of their species through teaching, imitation a .... In cultural attractor theory, a cultural attractor is a "destination" that cultural ideas tend to go towards over time. To say that there is an attractor is just to say that, in a given space of possibilities, ''transformation probabilities form a certain pattern'': they tend to be biased so as to favor ''transformations in the direction of some specific point'', and therefore ''cluster at and around that point''. Cultural attraction theory explains why some representations, practices and artifacts are more prevalent and robustly transmitted than others by looking at the micro-mechanisms involved in their tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cultural Evolution
Cultural evolution is an evolutionary theory of social change. It follows from the definition of culture as "information capable of affecting individuals' behavior that they acquire from other members of their species through teaching, imitation and other forms of social transmission". Cultural evolution is the change of this information over time. Cultural evolution, historically also known as sociocultural evolution, was originally developed in the 19th century by anthropologists stemming from Charles Darwin's research on evolution. Today, cultural evolution has become the basis for a growing field of scientific research in the social sciences, including anthropology, economics, psychology and organizational studies. Previously, it was believed that social change resulted from biological adaptations, but anthropologists now commonly accept that social changes arise in consequence of a combination of social, evolutionary and biological influences. There have been a number of diff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transmission Chain Method
In social psychology, a transmission chain is when information is passed between people sequentially, each person in the chain usually modifying the information they were given. This is similar to the western telephone game. The transmission chain method is a method used in cultural evolution research to uncover biases in cultural transmission. This method was first developed by Frederic Bartlett in 1932. Application in studies of memory The transmission chain method is used to reveal what elements of a story participants are most likely to remember, as well as how they transform the elements of the story. Bartlett's pioneering book, ''Remembering'' describes a series of studies of transmission of various material, from Native American folk tales to descriptions of sporting events. From these he made two major inferences, corroborated by later studies: loss of the detail and dependence of the quality remembering on pre-existing knowledge. From these he inferred that remembering is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cultural Anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The portmanteau term sociocultural anthropology includes both cultural and social anthropology traditions. Anthropologists have pointed out that through culture people can adapt to their environment in non-genetic ways, so people living in different environments will often have different cultures. Much of anthropological theory has originated in an appreciation of and interest in the tension between the local (particular cultures) and the global (a universal human nature, or the web of connections between people in distinct places/circumstances). Cultural anthropology has a rich methodology, including participant observation (often called fieldwork because it requires the anthropologist spending an extended period of time at the research locat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Psychology Concepts
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from the Latin word ''socii'' ("allies"). It is particularly derived from the Italian ''Socii'' states, historical allies of the Roman Republic (although they rebelled against Rome in the Social War of 91–87 BC). Social theorists In the view of Karl MarxMorrison, Ken. ''Marx, Durkheim, Weber. Formations of modern social thought'', human beings are intrinsically, necessarily and by definition social beings who, beyond being "gregarious creatures", cannot survive and meet their needs other than through social co-operation and association. Their social characteristics are therefore to a large extent an objectively given fact, stamped on them from birth and affirmed by socialization processes; and, according to Marx, in producing and reproducin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
