Not by transmission alone: the role of invention in cultural evolution

Susan Perry, Alecia Carter, Marco Smolla, Erol Akçay, Regina Nobre, Jacob Foster and Susan Healy
Additional contact information
Susan Perry: UCLA - Department of Anthropology [Univ California Los Angeles] - UCLA - University of California [Los Angeles] - UC - University of California
Alecia Carter: UMR ISEM - Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EPHE - École Pratique des Hautes Études - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - UM - Université de Montpellier - Institut de recherche pour le développement [IRD] : UR226 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UCL - University College of London [London]
Marco Smolla: University of Pennsylvania
Erol Akçay: University of Pennsylvania
Regina Nobre: IAST - Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse, EDB - Evolution et Diversité Biologique - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - UT - Université de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Jacob Foster: UCLA - University of California [Los Angeles] - UC - University of California
Susan Healy: University of St Andrews [Scotland]

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Abstract: Innovation—the combination of invention and social learning—can empower species to invade new niches via cultural adaptation. Social learning has typically been regarded as the fundamental driver for the emergence of traditions and thus culture. Consequently, invention has been relatively understudied outside the human lineage—despite being the source of new traditions. This neglect leaves basic questions unanswered: what factors promote the creation of new ideas and practices? What affects their spread or loss? We critically review the existing literature, focusing on four levels of investigation: traits (what sorts of behaviours are easiest to invent?), individuals (what factors make some individuals more likely to be inventors?), ecological contexts (what aspects of the environment make invention or transmission more likely?), and populations (what features of relationships and societies promote the rise and spread of new inventions?). We aim to inspire new research by highlighting theoretical and empirical gaps in the study of innovation, focusing primarily on inventions in non-humans. Understanding the role of invention and innovation in the history of life requires a well-developed theoretical framework (which embraces cognitive processes) and a taxonomically broad, cross-species dataset that explicitly investigates inventions and their transmission. We outline such an agenda here.

Keywords: creativity; cultural evolution; individual differences; innovation; invention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-07
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2021, vol.376 (n°1828), ⟨10.1098/rstb.2020.0049⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03306349

DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0049

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