 Spread of costly prestige-seeking behavior by social learningYasuo Ihara Theoretical Population Biology, 2008, vol. 73, issue 1, 148-157 Abstract: Mathematical and simulation models of cultural transmission in a population where individuals may differ in their social status are developed. High-status individuals are assumed to be more influential to others but no more fertile or viable than low-status individuals. Analysis of the models suggests that culturally transmitted values, beliefs, and preferences that cause individuals to engage in prestige-seeking behavior can sometimes invade the population, even if that behavior reduces the net reproductive success of the prestige seekers. It is argued that some of the seemingly maladaptive behaviors observed in human societies may be a result of cultural evolution based on the human capacity for social learning, rather than a product of the “time lag†before the evolutionary modification of the human predisposition in response to the recent drastic changes in the environment. Keywords: Anthropology; Cultural evolution; Cultural transmission; Fertility reduction; Human behavior; Individual-based simulation; Mathematical model; Social influence; Social status; Sociobiology (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:73:y:2008:i:1:p:148-157 DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2007.10.002 Access Statistics for this article Theoretical Population Biology is currently edited by Jeremy Van Cleve More articles in Theoretical Population Biology from Elsevier |
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