Imitation and culture: what gives?
What is the relationship between imitation and culture? This article charts how definitions of imitation have changed in the last century, distinguishes three senses of “culture” used by contemporary evolutionists (Culture1–Culture3), and summarises current disagreement about the relationship betwee...
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| Materialtyp: | Journal article |
| Språk: | English |
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Wiley
2021
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| _version_ | 1826309369151619072 |
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| author | Heyes, C |
| author_facet | Heyes, C |
| author_sort | Heyes, C |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | What is the relationship between imitation and culture? This article charts how definitions of imitation have changed in the last century, distinguishes three senses of “culture” used by contemporary evolutionists (Culture1–Culture3), and summarises current disagreement about the relationship between imitation and culture. The disagreement arises from ambiguities in the distinction between imitation and emulation, and confusion between two explanatory projects—the anthropocentric project and the cultural selection project. I argue that imitation gives cultural evolution an inheritance mechanism for communicative and gestural skills (but not technological skills), and cultural selection yields the cognitive mechanisms that make imitation possible. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:34:39Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:427446cc-7c57-4065-82e7-5ce410ea42b9 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:34:39Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:427446cc-7c57-4065-82e7-5ce410ea42b92023-02-27T09:24:48ZImitation and culture: what gives?Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:427446cc-7c57-4065-82e7-5ce410ea42b9EnglishSymplectic ElementsWiley2021Heyes, CWhat is the relationship between imitation and culture? This article charts how definitions of imitation have changed in the last century, distinguishes three senses of “culture” used by contemporary evolutionists (Culture1–Culture3), and summarises current disagreement about the relationship between imitation and culture. The disagreement arises from ambiguities in the distinction between imitation and emulation, and confusion between two explanatory projects—the anthropocentric project and the cultural selection project. I argue that imitation gives cultural evolution an inheritance mechanism for communicative and gestural skills (but not technological skills), and cultural selection yields the cognitive mechanisms that make imitation possible. |
| spellingShingle | Heyes, C Imitation and culture: what gives? |
| title | Imitation and culture: what gives? |
| title_full | Imitation and culture: what gives? |
| title_fullStr | Imitation and culture: what gives? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Imitation and culture: what gives? |
| title_short | Imitation and culture: what gives? |
| title_sort | imitation and culture what gives |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT heyesc imitationandculturewhatgives |