Standing on the shoulders of giants: cumulative culture and social learning strategies
Presenter: Rachel Kendal
Published: November 2012
Age: 14-19 and upwards
Views: 3251 views
Tags: anthropology/learning;society;culture
Type: Lectures
Source/institution: Royal Society
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Building upon the knowledge of others over many generations, currently referred to as cumulative cultural evolution, is arguably unique to humans and widely thought to be responsible for our success in colonising virtually every terrestrial habitat on the planet, and solving ecological, social and technological challenges. In contrast, social learning – learning from others – underlies the wide-spread occurrence of traditions or culture in all animals. Dr Rachel Kendal has investigated social learning strategies in young children, monkeys, chimpanzees and fish and discusses how the unique ways in which humans learn from one another may have been critical for our capacity for cumulative culture. Dr Rachel Kendal is a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Durham
