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SUMMARY:The Evolution of Culture - Professor Kevin N. Laland\,  School of 
 Biology\, University of St Andrews
DTSTART:20150213T150000Z
DTEND:20150213T163000Z
UID:TALK56584@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Louise White
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Both demographically and ecologically\, humans are a
  remarkably successful species. This success is often attributed to our ca
 pacity for culture. But how did our species’ extraordinary cultural capa
 bilities evolve from their roots in animal social learning and tradition? 
 I will provide a provisional answer. After characterizing contemporary res
 earch into animal social learning\, I will describe the findings of an int
 ernational competition (the ‘social learning strategies tournament’) t
 hat we organized to investigate the best way to learn. I will suggest that
  the tournament sheds light on why copying is widespread in nature\, and w
 hy humans happen to be so good at it. I will go on to describe some other 
 theoretical and experimental projects suggesting feedback mechanisms that 
 may have been instrumental to the evolution of culture. These include comp
 arative statistical analyses across primates that revealed that innovation
  and social learning frequencies co-vary positively with relative brain si
 ze\, suggesting that these abilities were instrumental in driving the evol
 ution of the large primate brain\, a mathematical model of the evolution o
 f teaching\, and an experimental study of the cognitive underpinnings of c
 umulative culture\, in children\, chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys.\n\nKev
 in Laland is Professor of Behavioural and Evolutionary Biology at the Univ
 ersity of St Andrews\, and prior to that held positions at UCL\, UC Berkel
 ey and Cambridge Universities.  His principle academic interests are in th
 e general area of animal behaviour and evolution\, with a specific focus o
 n: (i) animal social learning\, innovation and intelligence\, (ii) niche c
 onstruction\, inclusive inheritance and the extended evolutionary synthesi
 s\, and (iii) human evolution\, particularly the evolution of cognition. H
 e has published over 200 scientific articles on these topics\, and been th
 e recipient of more than £10m in grant income. He has also authored 10 bo
 oks\, including Niche Construction: The Neglected Process in Evolution (wi
 th John Odling-Smee and Marc Feldman\, Princeton UP\, 2003)\, Sense and No
 nsense: Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Behaviour\, 2nd Edition (with G
 illian Brown\, Oxford UP\, 2011) and Social Learning: an Introduction to M
 echanisms\, Methods and Models (with William Hoppitt\, Princeton UP\, 2013
 ). He is an Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology
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