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'''Dual inheritance theory''' posits that humans are products of both biological [[evolution]] and [[cultural evolution]], each subject to their own selective mechanisms and forms of transmission. The focus of research is therefore on both the mechanisms of cultural transmission and the selective pressures that influence cultural change.
Organic evolutionists began to use [[mathematical models]] to investigate the properties of [[evolution]] in the first quarter of the 20th Century. The aim of the effort was to take the micro-scale properties of individuals and [[genes]], scale them up to a [[population]] of individuals and deduce the long run evolutionary consequences of the assumed micro level processes. [[Empiricists]] have a handle on both the micro scale processes and the long run results, but not on what happens over many generations in between. Moreover, human [[intuition]] is not so good at envisioning the behavior of populations over long spans of time. Hence [[mathematics]] proved an invaluable aid.▼
==Evolution and Populations==
Beginning with the pioneering work of [[Lucca Cavalli-Sforza]] and [[Marc Feldman]] (1981) in the early 1970s, these methods were adapted to study [[cultural evolution]]. The problem is somewhat the same as organic evolution. People acquire information from others by learning and teaching. [[Cultural]] transmission is imperfect, so the transmission is not always exact. People invent new cultural variants, making culture a system for the inheritance of acquired variation. People also pick and choose the cultural variants they adopt and use, processes that are not possible in the genetic system (although in the case of [[sexual selection]] individuals may choose mates with the objective of getting good genes for their offspring). [[Social scientists]] know a fair amount about such things, enough to build reasonable mathematical representations of the micro-level processes of cultural evolution. The theory is of the form ▼
▲Organic evolutionists began to use [[mathematical models]] to investigate the properties of
==Evolution and Culture==
▲Beginning with the pioneering work of [[Lucca Cavalli-Sforza]] and [[Marc Feldman]] (1981) in the early 1970s, these methods were adapted to study
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where p measures something interesting about the culture of a population, for example the fraction of employees who are earnest workers. Teaching and [[imitation]], all else equal, tend to replicate culture. The fraction of workers in a culture who are earnest tends to remain similar from generation to generation. Earnest workers model earnest behavior for others to imitate and try to teach earnestness to new employees.
Typically, several processes we call forces will act simultaneously to change culture over time. For example, management may find it difficult to discover and sanction slacking. Earnest workers may experiment with slacking and find that there are seldom any adverse consequences. Hence, some earnest employees may become slackers. New employees may observe that some people slack and some work hard. They may tend to prefer the easier path.
At the same time, firms with a high frequency of slackers will tend to fail while those with many earnest workers may prosper. Prosperous firms will have the opportunity to socialize many more new workers than those that fail prematurely. The overall quality of the economy’s work force in the long run will be determined by the balance of forces favoring slacking versus those favoring earnestness.
Substantive questions that have interested dual inheritance theorists include the [[adaptive]] costs and benefits of culture, rates of different kinds of cultural evolution, the evolution of [[symbolic]] systems, and the role of culture in the evolution of cooperation. Many of the analyses involve the coevolution of genes and culture (hence the term dual inheritance or gene-culture coevolution theory). Genes have an impact on cultural evolution via psychological predispositions that bias what people imitate, teach, or learn for themselves. Hence, a physically awkward type of tool is liable to be modified or abandoned in favor of one that better suits the human hand and arm. The facts that sex is pleasurable, that sweet things taste good, and that being cold and wet is miserable suggest how the structure of our [[nervous system]] will have an impact on such things as [[marriage]] customs, cuisine, and the construction of shelters. However, the opposite is also true. Cultures create environments that in turn may select for genes that succeed in the cultural environment. One of the best worked out cases is adult [[lactose]] absorption. In populations with a long history of [[dairying]], such as Northern [[Europeans]] and [[African]] cattle-keeping societies, most adults retain the ability to break down and hence digest the milk sugar lactose. Societies with no history of dairying, such as [[East Asians]] and [[Amerindians]], retain the primitive [[mammalian]] [[genotype]] in which the body shuts down lactose production shortly after the normal age of [[weaning]]. According to some cultural evolutionists our [[social psychology]] was extensively remodeled by a long period of life in [[tribal]] scale social systems whose culturally transmitted rules encouraged much cooperation with non-relatives due to [[group selection]] on cultural variation. [[Darwin]] first proposed hypothesis much like this in [[the Descent of Man]]. ▼
Theorists are interested in the abstract properties of such evolutionary models. [[Empiricists]] are interested in finding the models that best describe actual evolving systems. Real world practitioners are interested in predicting the outcomes of policies that might improve or harm the quality of a firm’s or an economy’s work force.
==Topics of interset in dual inheritance theory==
Substantive questions that have interested dual inheritance theorists include
* the [[adaptive]] costs and benefits of culture
* rates of different kinds of cultural evolution
* the evolution of [[symbolic]] systems
* the role of culture in the evolution of cooperation
==Genes influence cultural evolution==
Many of the analyses involve the coevolution of genes and culture (hence the term dual inheritance or gene-culture coevolution theory). Genes have an impact on cultural evolution via [[Psychological adaptation|psychological predispositions]] that bias what people imitate, teach, or learn for themselves. Hence, a physically awkward type of tool is liable to be modified or abandoned in favor of one that better suits the human hand and arm. The facts that sex is pleasurable, that sweet things taste good, and that being cold and wet is miserable suggest how the structure of our [[nervous system]] will have an impact on such things as [[marriage]] customs, cuisine, and the construction of shelters.
==Culture influences biological evolution==
▲
==Conclusion==
Contemporary work in the dual inheritance/gene-culture coevolution tradition includes [[empirical studies]] designed to [[experiment|test]] ideas derived from the [[mathematical theory]].
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