Transcript 1. Nature and Culture

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DESIRES & CULTURE
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Culture evolves
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Darwin’s model
An essential feature is population thinking.
Species are populations of individuals that carry a
pool of genetic acquired information trough time.
Cultural transmission doesn’t often involve high
fidelity replication (unlike genes replication).
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Unbiased transmission vs. Biased
transmission
Unbiased cultural transmission is passed down from
parents to children (no choice).
Biased cultural transmission occurs when people
preferentially adopt some cultural variants rather
than others.
It results from the (possibly unconscious)
comparison of alternative variants (utilitarian
considerations enter the scene).
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Cultural variants compete.
They first compete for the cognitive resources of
the learner, both during the process of social
learning and afterward, when the learner must
make some effort to maintain the variant in
memory (learning is expensive …).
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The second form of competition of cultural variants
is for control of behavior.
People learn a lot from observation and imitation of
other people behavior.
Hence if a cultural variant doesn’t affect behavior,
learning becomes difficult if not impossible.
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Natural selection of cultural variations
It can impose genetically maladaptive traits to
spread.
E.g. religious beliefs are usually transmitted from
parents to children.
If these believes consists in high fertility and low
mortality they affect the descendents’ genes insofar
as people holding these believes are likely to
survive …
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Biased transmission vs. natural selection.
Natural selection depends on what’s going on in the
brains of imitators.
In most form of natural selection the fitness of
different genes depends on their effect on survival
and reproduction, independent of human desire,
choice, and preference.
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Universal Darwinists
(E.g.: evolutionary biologists as Dawkins,
philosophers as Dennett, …) believe that genelike
replicators are necessary for adaptive evolution.
Cultural variants (memes) works along this model,
i.e. memes are faithful genelike replicators.
Others (e.g. Dan Sperber) believe that cultural
variants are not particulars and are not faithful
replicated.
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Genes are replicators
They faithfully reproduce,
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Beliefs and skills do not seem to be faithful
replicators
Beliefs qua cultural variants trigger some behavior
one observes and imitates.
This process is unlikely to favor the transmission of
identical ideas from one brain to the other.
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Anti-particularism?
Many believe that adopting Darwin’s model to
cultural evolution entails assuming that cultural
variants are small, independent bits.
Hence the Darwinian model should be rejected.
This criticism, though, miss the mark, for we’re not
compelling to break down cultural variants into
atomic bits.
We can consider cultural variants to be complexes
such as speaking Spanish or Chinese, or being
Catholics or Muslims, etc.
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How culture shapes our desires
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Violence
Most of the time humans are not violent even if
there are countless situations to incite violence.
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Why?
Among cultural animals pain and pleasure don’t
play such a crucial role as within non cultural
species.
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Emotions have largely replaced
pain/pleasure
Happiness
It depends on changes from a current situation.
It is best maximized by having a series of gradual
improvements and escalating successes (e.g. lotto
winner).
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Social comparison
It is another standard people use to assess their
life.
It contributes determining how happy people are.
Relative wealth produces happiness while an
increase in everyone’s wealth doesn’t.
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Shifting of standards of happiness
They depend on people motivational plasticity
which is rooted in keeping up with one’s neighbors.
This depends on culture.
Most animals try to avoid pain and feel pleasure.
Humans as well, but this has been transformed into
the search of happiness.
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Happiness depends on Meaning
Only cultural animals can have it.
It rests on consciousness.
For happiness rests on consciousness experiences
rather than momentary sensations.
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Self-Preservation
It is the ultimate motive but it competes against
others motivations
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Need to be part/belong to the group
It explain why people can sacrifice themselves
E.g. people sunbathe even if they’re conscious of
skin cancer, …
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From curiosity to understanding
Only cultural animals go from curiosity to
understanding.
Only humans have the tendency to seek and
acquire information (it depends on
language/meaning).
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Desire for control
It is the motor of curiosity and the gaining of
information.
Other species have it, but in humans it is mainly
focused in the social sphere (interpersonal power,
influence over others, try to predict each other, …).
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Control over the physical world vs. social
control
Culture offers immense opportunities to gain control
over the physical and the social world and thus to
be better of.
Mindreading is needed to gain social control.
The urge for control probably didn’t develop to be
cultural, but culture nourishes it.
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Drive to have an impact on the environment
It is present in babies and animals. It may be the
first motive behind the desire of control.
An universal need.
It may be innate: seeking control seems to be
extremely adaptive.
As such it may have been favored by evolution
insofar as it is useful for survival and reproduction.
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In biology
Various forms of control are crucial for death and
survival of many organisms.
Many leisure activities resolve around control (e.g.
video games: the game loses interest once one
masters it).
This indicates that the pleasure of gaining control is
a driving motive and that it is independent of
circumstances.
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Primary Control
The changing of the environment to suit the self.
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Secondary Control
The changing of the self to fit the environment.
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Interpretive Control
People tolerate things better if they feel they
understand them.
E.g.: mysterious pains are more distressing than
known ones.
Identification of oneself with an authoritative
power. (E.g.: ruler, god, supernatural power, …).
Although one concedes that oneself cannot control
the environment, one derives comfort and
satisfaction from linking oneself with someone who
has control power.
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Control and Culture
Secondary forms of control are suited for cultural
animals.
In the social world secondary control is probably to
be primary, i.e. the main drive.
It is much simple and effective to change oneself to
fit with the others than changing the others to fit
with oneself.
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Having Control
It gives rise to a better and healthier life.
E.g. in nurse homes people with responsibilities
(and thus control over their environment) are much
better of than people in homes where staff take
care of everything (people without control are more
likely to dye than the ones with control).
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False Beliefs and Control
People (e.g. women with breast cancer) believing
they can escape the illness are better of than
whose who don’t believe it.
E.g.: Panic button
A group of workers are subjected to unpleasant
noises. Some of them are told that they can press a
button but only if the noise get unbearable. They
never pressed the button. Yet they show much less
stress than the people who haven’t been told they
could press the button.
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Control
What is harmful is not the bad event itself, but the
threat that it could continue and get worst.
The panic button didn’t reduce the amount of
noise, but it removed the threat.
People tolerate things better if they believe they
can exert control over the event if it become
necessary.
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Thriving for Control
People response to a lack of control is the
cultivation of a superstitious belief of control.
If real control is unavailable people prefer to
imagine that they have control
E.g.: superstitious and magical beliefs, prayers, ….
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Forms of Control: 1. Money.
Economics is devoted to its study.
As a matter of fact money improves, pace the
popular dictum, one’s chance for both love and
happiness.
Studies show that healthier people are happier than
poor ones.
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Men with money find it easier to attract the love of
women than poor men.
Women are more willing to escape a loveless
marriage if the don’t depend financially from their
husband.
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Money is a cultural medium of control.
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Forms of Control: 2. Power
Political science is devoted to its study.
The desire to have an impact on other people’s
lives.
It can be for good or bad reason. People with
money may wish to give it to some poor because
they have an impact on the latter’s lives.
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Benefits of power
(i) To get what one wants
(it can help resolve some obstacles in one’s
favor).
(ii) Most of what people want involves other people
(thus power enhances the chances that others
do what one wants).
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Sex and belonging are innate human desire
Power increases both.
(e.g. Kissinger: “power is the ultimate
aphrodisiac”).
Power reduces the risk of being abandoned.
Power may not be a mean to an end, but it shapes
many other activities.
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Forms of Control: 3. Possession and Territory
E.g. dogs mark their territory with urine, while
humans with legal documents.
The aim is to maintain control over a specific area.
Possession is also inherent to our species.
E.g. religious practice and communism praising to
renounce possession didn’t attract many people.
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People overvalue that they possess
E.g.: second hand shopping.
Possession requires an owner.
One must be aware of owning an object.
Among animals possession is probably the
appearing step toward selfhood.
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The drives to own territory and items may be
rooted in the motives for dealing with the physical
environment.
But it become more refined and developed in social
beings and subsequently in cultural ones.
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Belongingness
Groups can share resources, scare predators, etc.
Competition for resources would favor a need for
belongingness.
Belongingness is likely to promote reproduction and
caring for the children. The latter are likely to
survive if they have more than one caregiver.
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Belongingness is a need
To be distinguished from a want (like e.g. sex).
People can go without sex without suffering.
People in isolation suffers.
Social isolation affects one’s immune system.
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People direct survival is affected by having or
not having social bonds
E.g.: US mortality rates are higher among singles,
divorcees, widows, …)
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Belongingness is important for mental health
E.g.: mental illness is tree times higher among
divorced than married people; rejected children
have higher rates of psychopathology.
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Happiness and Belongingness
People with social bonds are happier (not surprising
given how belongingness affect both the physical
and mental life of individuals).
No particular relationship (e.g. friendship, family,
marriage, …) matters.
But if one is alone the chances of being happy are
statistically lover.
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The Need to belonging is crucial
It is more important and decisive than satisfying
any other needs.
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Belongingness plays a causal role.
It doesn’t merely affect one’s mental or physical
state.
Rejected people show a variety of destructive
consequences; self-defeating behaviors, reduction
of intelligent thoughts, anti-social behavior, less
pro-social behavior, ….
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Social Circles
There seem to be a size (around 6) of desired
social circles.
E.g.: among college students who come into
contact with many people the majority of their
social interaction is between 4 to 6 people.
People organize their social life among small
groups.
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Gender Differences in belongingness
Women are more focused on one-to-one
relationships, while men orient toward larger social
groups.
This is manifested in e.g. aggressive patterns.
Domestic violence is equal among men and women
even if men are generally more aggressive;
Men are more helpful toward strangers, while
women within the family;
playground children males are more keen toward a
newcomer, girls play with the same child longer; …
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The need to belonging goes beyond the oneto-one relationship
This may help explaining the step which moves
humans from social to cultural animals.
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