How Does Culture Evolve?

Abstract

Abstract This chapter synthesizes evidence from cognitive science, anthropology, psychological studies, and computational models for a complex systems–inspired theory of creativity and its role in cultural evolution. Creativity is guided by the global shape of one’s integrated network of memories, concepts, and beliefs—one’s worldview. This integrated structure and its dynamical change over time can be described using autocatalytic networks. Autocatalytic networks can analyze how cognitive structure grows and evolves through both self-organizing processes within minds, and interactions between minds, and how novel ideas sometimes emerge as a result. Thus, they are used to describe cultural change both within and between individuals, as well as across cultural lineages. The chapter outlines how autocatalytic networks provide the centrepiece for a formal theory of the origin and evolution of culture. They have also been used to model the cognitive developmental process by which each child becomes a participant in cultural evolution, the role of imitation, leadership, and social media on cultural evolution, and the trade-off between creativity and continuity.