Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T14:33:02.021Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Frozen cultural plasticity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

Petr Houdek
Affiliation:
Faculty of Social and Economic Studies, J. E. Purkyne University in Usti nad Labem, CZ-40096 Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic. [email protected] Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, CZ-12808 Prague 2, Czech Republic. [email protected]://web.natur.cuni.cz/~houdek3/ Faculty of Business Administration, University of Economics, Prague, CZ-130 67 Prague 3, Czech Republic.
Julie Novakova
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, CZ-12808 Prague 2, Czech Republic. [email protected]://web.natur.cuni.cz/~houdek3/

Abstract

We discuss cultural group selection under the view of the frozen plasticity theory and the different explanatory power and predictions of this framework. We present evidence that cultural adaptations and their influence on the degree of cooperation may be more complex than presented by Richerson et al., and conclude with the gene-environment-culture relationship and its impacts on cultural group selection.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S. & Robinson, J. A. (2001) The colonial origins of comparative development: An empirical investigation. American Economic Review 91(5):1369–401. doi: 10.1257/aer.91.5.1369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S. & Robinson, J. A. (2002) Reversal of fortune: Geography and institutions in the making of the modern world income distribution. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 117(4):1231–94. doi: 10.1162/003355302320935025.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, D., Johnson, S. & Robinson, J. A. (2005) Institutions as a fundamental cause of long-run growth. In: Handbook of economic growth, vol. 1, Part A, ed. Philippe, A. & Steven, N. D., pp. 385–72. Elsevier.Google Scholar
Akey, J. M. (2009) Constructing genomic maps of positive selection in humans: Where do we go from here? Genome Research 19(5):711–22. doi: 10.1101/gr.086652.108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armentano, D. T. (1986) Antitrust policy: The case for repeal. Cato Institute.Google Scholar
Ashraf, Q. & Galor, O. (2013) The “Out of Africa” hypothesis, human genetic diversity, and comparative economic development. American Economic Review 103(1):146. doi: 10.1257/aer.103.1.1.Google Scholar
Boldrin, M. & Levine, D. K. (2008) Against intellectual monopoly. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brooks, B. A., Hoff, K. & Pandey, P. (2014) Insult versus accident: Caste culture and the efficiency of coordination. Available at: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/workshops/micro/past/pdf/brooksinsultvsaccident.pdf.Google Scholar
Chanda, A., Cook, C. J. & Putterman, L. (2014) Persistence of fortune: Accounting for population movements, there was no post-Columbian reversal. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 6(3):128. doi: 10.1257/mac.6.3.1.Google Scholar
Cook, C. J. (2014) The role of lactase persistence in precolonial development. Journal of Economic Growth 19(4):369406. doi: 10.1007/s10887-014-9109-5.Google Scholar
Flegr, J. (2010) Elastic, not plastic species: Frozen plasticity theory and the origin of adaptive evolution in sexually reproducing organisms. Biology Direct 5(1):2. doi: 10.1186/1745-6150-5-2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gintis, H. (2008) Punishment and cooperation. Science 319(5868):1345–46. doi: 10.1126/science.1155333.Google Scholar
Glaeser, E., La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F. & Shleifer, A. (2004) Do institutions cause growth? Journal of Economic Growth 9(3):271303. doi: 10.1023/B:JOEG.0000038933.16398.ed.Google Scholar
Havlíček, J. & Roberts, S. C. (2013) The perfume-body odour complex: An insightful model for culture–gene coevolution? In: Chemical signals in vertebrates 12, ed. East, M. L. & Dehnhard, M., pp. 185–95. Springer.Google Scholar
Herrmann, B., Thöni, C. & Gächter, S. (2008) Antisocial punishment across societies. Science 319(5868):1362–67. doi: 10.1126/science.1153808.Google Scholar
Iannaccone, L. R. (1998) Introduction to the economics of religion. Journal of Economic Literature 36(2):1465–95.Google Scholar
Kuběna, A. A., Houdek, P., Lindová, J., Příplatová, L. & Flegr, J. (2014) Justine effect: Punishment of the unduly self-sacrificing cooperative individuals. PLoS One 9(3):e92336. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092336.Google Scholar
Norenzayan, A., Shariff, A. F., Gervais, W. M., Willard, A. K., McNamara, R. A., Slingerland, E. & Henrich, J. (2016) The cultural evolution of prosocial religions. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 39. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X14001356.Google Scholar
Olsson, O. & Paik, C. (2013) A western reversal since the Neolithic? The long-run impact of early agriculture. University of Gothenburg Working Papers in Economics.Google Scholar
Prietula, M. & Conway, D. (2009) The evolution of metanorms: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory 15(3):147–68. doi: 10.1007/s10588-009-9056-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spolaore, E. & Wacziarg, R. (2013) How deep are the roots of economic development? Journal of Economic Literature 51(2):325–69. doi: 10.1257/jel.51.2.325.Google Scholar