**Abstract:**

"Humans’ ability to create and use tools is one of our species’ defining characteristics and has irreversibly altered our social and ecological environments. All human
societies create and use tools, and no other species does so with the complexity and diversity of humans. Yet, paradoxically, it is well-established that western children are remarkably poor at simple tool innovation challenges, such as reshaping pipecleaners to retrieve-out-of reach rewards (widely known as the hook task). Studies have further shown that children in non-western populations perform worse than western ones with some small-scale societies performing at floor. We suggest that the practice of taking western designed and validated cognitive measures and transporting them to non-western populations is flawed and can lead to erroneous and damaging conclusions.

In this ESRC funded project, we will develop, for the first time, culturally fair measures of tool innovation for 4-12-year-old children in four geographically and culturally diverse populations; urban Western children (UK), two small-scale subsistence societies (Congo) and a rural Indigenous population (Malaysia). We will do so by taking a bottom-up approach to developing culturally grounded tool innovation measures, using ethnographic data alongside cycles of feedback from community members and protocol refinement to ensure maximal validity. 

**Speaker's social media:**

@bruce_rawlings

Developing a culturally fair framework for measuring the development of tool innovation across cultures​

Introductions

The talk examines basic and applied research applications of evolutionary approaches to culture. First, studies of social learning among the Aka and other hunter-gatherers are considered. Six dyadic (vertical, remote generation, intrafamilial and extrafamilial oblique and intrafamilial and extrafamilial horizontal) and three group (conformist, concerted and cumulative) modes of transmission are discussed. Aka research on two key features of human cumulative culture, teaching and overimitation, are also briefly presented. Finally, the talk moves beyond basic research and discusses how evolutionary approaches to culture have been useful for understanding efforts to control Ebola (EVD) in central Africa. 

From hunter-gatherer social learning to infectious disease control: Fifty years of utilizing evolutionary approaches to culture

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Welcome to the Cultural Evolution Society (CES) Conference 2024, which was a hybrid conference held at Durham University (UK). The conference was hosted in Durham by the Durham Cultural Evolution Research Centre (DCERC) with administrative assistance from the CES Transformation Fund team.

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**Interdisciplinary study of cultural change and diversity**

We are a highly interdisciplinary group of researchers using evolutionary models to study cultural change and diversity.  We apply cultural evolutionary methods to a wide variety of topics including cognition, innovation, social learning, technology, art, music, narrative, religion, sociality, language and communication. We have a growing interest in applying cultural evolutionary theory to current societal challenges such as understanding the spread of prosocial health behaviours and health conspiracies.<br>
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Cultural Evolution Society Conference 2024

The field of cultural evolution is growing in size and scope; its theories, methods and applications - both academic and applied - are getting ever more robust. Do join us in what promises to be an exciting exchange of ideas and a celebration of our field.

**Speaker:** [Barry Hewlett](https://underline.io/speakers/451928-barry)

The talk examines basic and applied research applications of evolutionary approaches to culture. First, studies of social learning among the Aka and other hunter-gatherers are considered. Six dyadic (vertical, remote generation, intrafamilial and extrafamilial oblique and intrafamilial and extrafamilial horizontal) and three group (conformist, concerted and cumulative) modes of transmission are discussed. Aka research on two key features of human cumulative culture, teaching and overimitation, are also briefly presented. Finally, the talk moves beyond basic research and discusses how evolutionary approaches to culture have been useful for understanding efforts to control Ebola (EVD) in central Africa. 

Sheina Lew-Levy

3

5

SHORT BIO

Presentations

Developing a culturally fair framework for measuring the development of tool innovation across cultures

Introductions

From hunter-gatherer social learning to infectious disease control: Fifty years of utilizing evolutionary approaches to culture

Stay up to date with the latest Underline news!

PRESENTATIONS

CONFERENCES

COMPANY

RESOURCES

Sheina Lew-Levy

3

5

SHORT BIO

Presentations

Developing a culturally fair framework for measuring the development of tool innovation across cultures​

Introductions

From hunter-gatherer social learning to infectious disease control: Fifty years of utilizing evolutionary approaches to culture

Stay up to date with the latest Underline news!

PRESENTATIONS

CONFERENCES

COMPANY

RESOURCES

Developing a culturally fair framework for measuring the development of tool innovation across cultures