Japan

Human culture is considered to be different from animal culture due to its communicative and interactive nature built on shared intentionality and cognitive flexibility. Here, we investigated whether chimpanzees use communication and show behavioral indications of their joint commitment to engage in cultural practices by analyzing grooming handclasp (GHC) interactions – a socio-cultural behavior for which coordination is required. In a GHC two apes engage in a joint action leading to a symmetrical postural configuration in which each of the partners extends an arm overhead and clasps the other&#39;s wrist or hand. Previous accounts attributed the enactment of GHC to behavioral shaping whereby the initiator physically molds the arm of the partner into the GHC posture. Using frame-by-frame analysis and matched-control methodology, we find that chimpanzees use gestural communication to entice group members into GHC. The use of communication instead of physical shaping to initiate GHC requires an active and highly synchronized response from the partner, which showcases a behavioral expression of joint commitment to engage in this shared cultural practice. Moreover, we show that GHC initiators used a variety of initiation strategies, which attests to their situation-contingent interactional flexibility. We conclude that chimpanzees can be jointly committed to a cultural practice, which suggests that culture predicated on shared intentionality and flexible communication may not be unique to the human species.

Cultural Evolution Society 2021

Chimpanzees communicate to coordinate a cultural practice

### Conference Welcome

Welcome to the third Cultural Evolution Society Conference, CES2021. In the conference, which will be held from June 9-11, 2021, about 180 researchers from East Asia, Oceania, Middle East, Europe, North and South America give presentations on their latest research advancing the evolutionary understanding of human and nonhuman animal culture.

### Schedule and Program

[![](https://assets.underline.io/uploads/markdown_image/1/image/1ef06ffd05f80957b4a5b685f63ee3ba.png)](https://www.chain.hokudai.ac.jp/CES2020/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/fullprogram.pdf)
[![](https://assets.underline.io/uploads/markdown_image/1/image/12285eb22580949635121d15d5b46325.png)](https://www.chain.hokudai.ac.jp/CES2020/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/abstracts.pdf)

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### Code of conduct

See the full details of [the code of conduct](https://www.chain.hokudai.ac.jp/CES2020/code-of-conduct/).
&nbsp; 
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&nbsp;
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&nbsp;
 **Inclusiveness Committee**:
&nbsp;
 To facilitate implementing the code of conduct and foster a climate of inclusion, we have developed an inclusiveness committee. Below is their contact information:
 **Hiromi Matsumae**:	matsumae.hiromi.g@tokai.ac.jp
 **Patrick Savage**:	psavage@sfc.keio.ac.jp
 **Sarah Mathew**:	Sarah.Mathew@asu.edu
 **Gmail:** inclusivenessCES2021@gmail.com
 See [more details about reporting the harassment.](https://www.chain.hokudai.ac.jp/CES2020/code-of-conduct/)

### Organizing committee

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**Chair:** [Masanori Takezawa (Hokkaido University)](https://lalalarakko.github.io)

**Scientific Committee:** [Kenichi Aoki (Meiji University)](https://sites.google.com/site/kenichi1aoki/home), [Yasuo Ihara (the University of Tokyo)](https://researchmap.jp/read0209180?lang=en), [Hiromi Matsumae (Tokai University)](https://sites.google.com/site/hiromimatsumae/eng), [Naoko Matsumoto (Okayama University)](https://researchmap.jp/nmatsumoto_okayama-u), [Masako Myowa (Kyoto University)](https://myowa.educ.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en), [Hisashi Nakao (Nanzan University)](https://www.hisashinakao.com/), [Patrick E. Savage (Keio University)](https://sites.google.com/view/comp-music-lab/home)

**Local Organizing Committee:** [Yutaka Horita (Teikyo University)](https://sites.google.com/site/yhoritapage/), [Masanori Takezawa (Hokkaido University)](https://lalalarakko.github.io/), [Ayaka Takimoto (Hokkaido University)](https://lynx.let.hokudai.ac.jp/~takimoto/), [Kohei Tamura (Tohoku University)](https://researchmap.jp/7000017854)

**Inclusiveness Committee:** [Sarah Mathew (Arizona State University)](https://www.sarahmathew.net/), [Hiromi Matsumae (Tokai University)](https://sites.google.com/site/hiromimatsumae/eng), [Patrick E. Savage (Keio University)](https://sites.google.com/view/comp-music-lab/home)


![](https://assets.underline.io/uploads/markdown_image/1/image/967110a00d200a6b20d6f4fa6556ba13.png)

For attending the conference, you first need to register and pay fees from [the link here](https://www.chain.hokudai.ac.jp/CES2020/registration/). After the payment of the registration fees, you will receive a ticket, which is necessary for accessing the conference site. After the payment of the registration fees, you will receive a ticket, which is necessary for accessing the conference site

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Human culture is considered to be different from animal culture due to its communicative and interactive nature built on shared intentionality and cognitive flexibility. Here, we investigated whether chimpanzees use communication and show behavioral indications of their joint commitment to engage in cultural practices by analyzing grooming handclasp (GHC) interactions – a socio-cultural behavior for which coordination is required. In a GHC two apes engage in a joint action leading to a symmetrical postural configuration in which each of the partners extends an arm overhead and clasps the other's wrist or hand. Previous accounts attributed the enactment of GHC to behavioral shaping whereby the initiator physically molds the arm of the partner into the GHC posture. Using frame-by-frame analysis and matched-control methodology, we find that chimpanzees use gestural communication to entice group members into GHC. The use of communication instead of physical shaping to initiate GHC requires an active and highly synchronized response from the partner, which showcases a behavioral expression of joint commitment to engage in this shared cultural practice. Moreover, we show that GHC initiators used a variety of initiation strategies, which attests to their situation-contingent interactional flexibility. We conclude that chimpanzees can be jointly committed to a cultural practice, which suggests that culture predicated on shared intentionality and flexible communication may not be unique to the human species.

technical paper

Institutions of modern societies have often been argued to evolve, but their evolution is rarely examined in Darwinian and empirical terms. Here we use the categorical data set MaxRange on nations’ regime-types and their constituting institutions historically for analysis of their phylogeny. The MaxRange data set covers all nations in the world system of nations since 1600 with details on accountability structures, executive strength and degree of centralization, constitutional strength, democracy and other aspects of the political systems. We describe and analyze the character of the “true phylogeny” of regime-type evolution in the nations of the world 1600--2020. Our results indicate that evolutionary network rather evolutionary tree models have superior fit to data. Using the extracted phylogeny, we also investigate the dynamic networks of nations in terms of regime-types, accountability structures and their related background factors such as religions and language. Network centrality measures of nations and regime-types provide new important explanatory variables for network-adjusted survival analyses of various institutions, from types and levels of democracy to details of regime-types, including institutions like parliamentarism, presidentialism, and their hybrid forms.

An Evolutionary Political Science: How Modern Nations Evolved Institutionally

Politics today is often characterised as a single dimension which represents a conflict, brought about by modernisation and industrialisation, between the hierarchy and traditionalism of the establishment and people seeking equity and change. Here we review evidence that contemporary politics reflects not one, but two fundamental dilemmas, and that these ‘dual foundations’ of politics are not unique to modern nations, but are inherent to life in all human groups. Human interdependence creates two dilemmas which require people to hold ideas about what is to be done. One dilemma concerns conflict between cooperation and competition. This dilemma leads to differences of opinion regarding the extent of equality and inequality. The other dilemma is about the coordination of collective activities. This dilemma leads to conflicts about the extent of social control. We use anthropological evidence from the Human Relations Area Files, and other literature from anthropology and related disciplines, to extend psychological work showing that these two fundamental dilemmas of group living lead to two dimensions of political conflict and ideology across a large diversity of societies. We end by arguing that quantitative approaches to studying political psychology beyond the experiences of industrialised nations will advance research in both anthropology and psychology. The dual foundations provide the big picture which can tie together the study of human politics across societies and disciplines.

We find the dual foundations of political ideology across the diversity of human social life

In this research I explore the hypothesis that it can be beneficial to the fitness of cultural variants if they channel the energy of the individual who adopts the variant away from biological reproduction and toward the reproduction of the cultural variant. I label this the “inverse correlation hypothesis of cultural maladaptation.” This hypothesis is based on the observation that human biological reproduction is expensive in terms of energy and time. Therefore, cultural traits that minimize reproduction consequently make available resources that an individual could utilize instead to propagate the cultural trait in question. This hypothesis is usually advanced as a plausible explanation of extreme cultural traditions that reduce sexual reproduction to zero, such as celibacy. My first task is to discuss the implications of this hypothesis and to argue that, although it has merits, it has only been given a superficial scientific treatment in the literature, which is unfortunate. The reason for this, I argue, might be due to a vague theoretical distinction between, on the one hand, cultural maladaptive traits that nullify biological fitness and, on the other, selectively neutral or non-adaptive cultural traits that do not affect fitness values. My second task is to articulate an adequate theoretical framework that makes the inverse correlation hypothesis a scientifically respectable explanation of cultural maladaptation. I discuss some theoretical and empirical challenges that this hypothesis faces, but that they are not fatal as they are well-trodden by evolutionary biologists and philosophers.

The inverse correlation hypothesis of cultural maladaptation.

I will highlight a funding scheme that I am running on behalf of the Cultural Evolution Society. The scheme will address issues that will transform the important, yet underfunded, field of cultural evolution. How our cultures evolve (including how information is transmitted, how people make decisions, and the interaction with our biology) is a pressing issue in a world in which our cultural activities are causing rapid, and drastic, social and physical changes. Through 16 research projects, 5 applied working groups, 5 workshops, 1 landmark conference, 3 capacity building training courses, and public engagement activities, the grant aims to tackle early career obstacles, western-centrism, traditional disciplinary divides, and division of scientists and public policy makers. Join me for more information, videos on specifics, and open discussions. In the meantime further details can be found on the cultural evolution society website.

Transforming the Field of Cultural Evolution and Its Application to Global Human Futures

Previous research has sought to explain the rise of right-wing populist leaders in terms of the evolutionary framework of dominance and prestige. In this framework, dominance is defined as high social rank acquired via coercion and fear, and prestige is defined as high social rank acquired via competence and admiration. Previous studies have shown that right-wing populist leaders are rated as more dominant than non-populist leaders, and right-wing populist/dominant leaders are favoured in times of economic uncertainty and intergroup conflict. In this paper, we explore and critique this application of dominance–prestige to politics. First, we argue that the dominance–prestige framework, originally developed to explain inter-personal relationships within small-scale societies characterised by face-to-face interaction, does not straightforwardly extend to large-scale democratic societies which have frequent anonymous interaction and complex ingroup–outgroup dynamics. Second, we show that economic uncertainty and intergroup conflict predict a preference not only for dominant leaders, but also for prestigious leaders. Third, we show that perceptions of leaders as dominant or prestigious are not fixed, and depend on the political ideology of the perceiver: people view leaders who share their ideology as prestigious, and those who oppose their ideology as dominant, whether that ideology is liberal or conservative. Fourth, we show that political ideology is a stronger predictor than economic uncertainty of preference for Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US Presidential Election, contradicting previous findings that link Trump's success to economic uncertainty. We conclude by suggesting that, if economic uncertainty does not directly affect preferences for right-wing populist leaders, other features of their discourse such as higher emotionality might explain their success.

When do people prefer dominant over prestigious political leaders?

A feedback loop between human self-domestication and dog domestication contributing to language evolution?

Seeing nonhuman animals as cultural beings depends on perspectives and assumptions in theoretical frameworks and empirical methodologies. (Mis)recognizing animal culture comes down to what counts as teaching, imitation or cultural social transmission of information. My model of culture shifts the focus to social ontology.
Culture is a real social kind, meaning ‘culture’ can both do explanatory work and be explained in virtue of the causal and constitutive properties of social practices. Culture is dynamic meaning-making processes; ways of being wherein behaviours, objects, and places have salience/significance for social agents in virtue of their social practices (i.e., social meaning). Cultural phenomena are imbued with and carry information, knowledge and value that go beyond biological function and mere means to ends. I argue that some animals engage in meaning-making practices that are co-created, re-created (re)enacted, embedded, and transmitted in actions, interactions and relationships within social matrices; all of which constitutes culture.
At stake, is our epistemic access to animal culture and implications for conservation. How can we know there is social meaning? Heyes (2019) states we are a “long way from knowing how to integrate explanation and understanding, information and meaning, science and the humanities” (p.43). Inherent in her perspective are dichotomous relations of object(ive)/subject(ive). Consider information (objective) and meaning (subjective). Information is not a vacuous form awaiting content but rather meaning is always already immanent. Social information/meaning arises from intersubjectivity (even distally) and is always already objective/subjective. Epistemic access (explanation/understanding) requires science/humanities interaction to interrogate partial perspectives and situate objective knowledge.

Nonhuman Animal Culture: Meaning in Practice

Nobody doubts that human kinship has something to do with biology and reproduction and, at the same time, biology and reproduction are clearly insufficient to explain it. The unexplained part of human kinship by the biology of human reproduction is what anthropologists call ‘social’ kinship. Whereas the biology of human kinship does not seem to differ in any significant way from that of any sexually reproducing species, it is unclear how that social kinship should be ac-counted for, specifically, how it should be related with its biological counterpart. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a possible solution to this time-honored theoretical controversy in anthropology. My proposal shall be that it is the concept of sameness that which makes both biological and social kinship amenable to the same type of analysis.

On the Cultural Evolution of Kinship Systems

Models used in the study of cultural evolution have increasingly been recognized as formally similar and in some cases equivalent to agent-based models(ABM). ABM was developed originally as a computational method for social science. As cultural evolution authors occasionally claim to provide a formal, evolutionary method that current social science lacks, i investigate to what extent this common formal framework may provide a way of realizing such an ambition. Focusing on models used in social learning field studies, and the popular ABM-application of opinion dynamics (OD), i survey what currently is and is not possible with these models, and argue that in some ways they can solve each others problems. I end on discussing what an actual social science application of such "CE+OD" models would look like, considering two possible examples of such an application.

Agent-based models in cultural evolution and in opinion dynamics: a path toward CE social science?

In this study, we used three years of house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) song recordings spanning four decades in the introduced eastern range to assess how individual-level cultural transmission mechanisms drive population-level changes in birdsong. First, we developed an agent-based model (available as a new R package called TransmissionBias) that simulates the cultural transmission of house finch song given different parameters related to transmission biases, or biases in social learning that modify the probability of adoption of particular cultural variants. Next, we used approximate Bayesian computation and machine learning to estimate what parameter values likely generated the temporal changes in diversity in our observed data. We found evidence that strong content bias, likely targeted towards syllable complexity, plays a central role in the cultural evolution of house finch song in western Long Island. Frequency and demonstrator biases appear to be neutral or absent. Additionally, we estimated that house finch song is transmitted with extremely high fidelity. Future studies should use our simulation framework to better understand how cultural transmission and population declines influence song diversity in wild populations.

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Chimpanzees communicate to coordinate a cultural practice

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