| Streszczenie: | The adaptive features of cognitive mechanisms, the features that make them fit for
purpose, have been explained traditionally by nature and nurture. In the last decade,
evidence has emerged that distinctively human cognitive mechanisms are also, and
predominantly, shaped by culture. Like physical technology, human cognitive mechanisms
are inherited via social interaction and made fit for purpose by culture evolution. This
article surveys evidence from developmental psychology, comparative psychology and
cognitive neuroscience indicating that imitation, mentalizing, and language are cognitive
gadgets shaped predominantly by cultural evolution. This evidence does not imply that the
minds of newborn babies are blank slates. Rather, it implies that genetic evolution has
made subtle changes to the human mind, allowing us to construct cognitive gadgets in the
course of childhood through cultural learning.
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