RT Monograph
SR 00
A1 Derex, Maxime
A1 Bonnefon, Jean-François
A1 Boyd, Robert
A1 McElreath, Richard
A1 Mesoudi, Alex
T1 Social learning preserves both useful and useless theories by canalizing learners’ exploration
YR 2025
FD 2025-02
VO 25-1618
SP 25
K1 cultural evolution
K1 cumulative culture
K1 innovation, cultural inertia
K1 social learning
AB In many domains, learning from others is crucial for leveraging cumulative cultural knowledge, which encapsulates the efforts of successive generations of innovators. However, anecdotal and experimental evidence suggests that reliance on social information can reduce the exploration of the problem space. Here, we experimentally investigate the extent to which cultural transmission fosters the persistence of arbitrary solutions in a context where participants are incentivized to improve a physical system across multiple trials. Participants were exposed to various theories about the system, ranging from accurate to misleading. Our findings indicate that even under conditions conducive to exploration, the transmission of cultural knowledge canalizes learners’ focus, limiting their consideration of alternative solutions. This effect was observed in both the theories produced and the solutions attempted by participants, irrespective of the accuracy of the provided theories. These results challenge the notion that arbitrary solutions persist only when they are efficient or intuitive and underscore the significant role of cultural transmission in shaping human knowledge and technologies.
T2 TSE Working Paper
PB TSE Working Paper
PP Toulouse
AV Published
LK https://publications.ut-capitole.fr/id/eprint/50468/
UL http://tse-fr.eu/pub/130345