How cultures can shape genetic evolution?

1. How cultures can shape genetic evolution?

Created by: Pavel Dolgov
Mordvinova Polina
Vanessa Vormittag

2.

Genetic and cultural traits can change through time and
produce functional psychological mechanisms for facing
adaptive challenges
Cultural evolutionary processes that generate crosscultural patterns of psychological variation.

3.

Culture can shape genetic evolution
Genes for alcohol tolerance
Genes for milk-drinking

4.

Areas of research:
1. Cultural learning mechanisms - ‘when, what and from whom’ we are
learning
• skill, success and prestige biases
• conformist transmission
2. Language acquisition - languages can evolve culturally to fit brains
3. Mechanisms in ethnic groups - predictions about when we expect
ethnic phenomena to co-occur and which interventions are likely to work.

5.

How cultures can shape genetic evolution?
1. Alcohol tolerance
2. Drinking Milk
3. Relationship between yam farming and malaria existence
4. Polenesians and type II diabetes (special gene)

6.

Norenzayan, A., Shariff, A. F., Gervais, W. M., Willard, A. K., McNamara, R. A., Slingerland,
E., & Henrich, J. (2016). The cultural evolution of prosocial religions. Behavioral and brain
sciences, 39.
Genealogical relatedness decreases geometrically with increasing group size, and strategies based on direct or
indirect reciprocity fail in expanding groups
Big God replaced many small gods
Context-based cultural learning is important if we wish to construct a comprehensive account of the differential
spread of religious beliefs and behaviors
These practices exploit human psychology in a host of different ways, including synchrony to build ingroup
solidarity and signals (e.g., sacrifices, painful
initiations, celibacy, fasting), and other cultural learning biases (conformity, prestige, and age) to more effectively
transmit commitment to others
Religion changed everything!