Today, Dr Bruce Rawlings (Durham University) is giving a seminar entitled "To copy or create: individual, group and species differences in imitation and innovation". Please see the abstract, and the link to the meeting, below.

See you later!

Abstract

Cumulative cultural evolution (CCE), the improvement of cultural traits over generations via social transmission, is widely believed to be one of humans’ most defining characteristics. Our capacity to build upon others' knowledge, technologies, and skills has produced the most diverse and sophisticated technological repertoire in the animal kingdom. And while other animals such as chimpanzees display impressive cultural diversity, humans stand alone in the extent to which our culture is cumulative. Key to CCE is the interplay between innovation and imitation. Innovations generate new, improved behaviours and skills, while imitation allows for their uptake through social transmission. In my research, I study the individual, group, and species differences in innovative and imitative propensities. In this talk, I will discuss a series of experiments where I find differences and similarities across species in whether, and how, factors such as age, sex, personality, sociality, and flexibility predict children’s and chimpanzees’ propensity to engage in innovation and/or imitation. I will also discuss some ongoing work investigating the development of innovation and (over)imitation cross culturally, where we have collected data on around 1200 children in 14 international populations.