Adaptive problems reduce to reading imperfect environmental cues of two kinds.
Evidence
We assume that the central adaptive problem facing individuals is how to best use environmental cues to choose behavior when the environment changes in space and time. For the purpose of modeling this situation, we have divided environmental cues into two kinds: nonsocial and social. Nonsocial cues predict the current environmental state, but these cues are imperfect. Relying on the nonsocial cues alone will allow individuals to do better than random, but will sometimes lead to errors. — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 31
Categorization
- DEFINE: Establishing the two-cue taxonomy (nonsocial vs. social) on which the entire conformist-transmission model rests.
- XREF: connects to: Individual learning from environmental cues does not always yield the adaptive behavior. — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 35; Behavioral departures from norms can be adaptive responses — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 443; The situation resembles an evolutionary environment structuring adaptation — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 444 (+12 more)
Broader Connections
- Conformist bias evolution requires less environmental stability than social learning evolution itself.
#qualifies(0.79) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 75 - Category-based perception serves adaptation, explaining why bias is automatic and unacknowledged
#expands(0.78) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 283 - The freerider dilemma shaped psychology to read belief cues
#exemplifies(0.78) - Emotions adaptively mobilize attention, behavior hierarchies, and physiology to respond to environmental demands.
#exemplifies(0.77) — Michael T. Schmitt, Daniel A. Miller, Nyla R. Branscombe, and Jack W. Brehm, The Difficulty of Making Reparations…, 24 - The situation resembles an evolutionary environment structuring adaptation
#expands(0.76) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 444 - Dualistic blind spots structurally prevent the master culture from perceiving ecological peril
#exemplifies(0.76) — Val Plumwood, Feminism and the Mastery of Nature, 739 - Behavioral departures from norms can be adaptive responses
#exemplifies(0.75) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 443 - The acoustic adaptation hypothesis finds only modest, inconsistent empirical support
#complicates(0.75) — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology, 460 - Cultural adaptation physically rewires the brain and perception
#exemplifies(0.74) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2238 - Bias risk rises under emotional, ambiguous, and low-effort decision conditions
#expands(0.73) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 1395 - Human evolution selected for learnability and behavioral malleability, not fixedness
#corroborates(0.73) - Individual learning from environmental cues does not always yield the adaptive behavior.
#qualifies(0.72) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 35 - Stereotypes can enable efficient thought rather than only distort it
#exemplifies(0.72) — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 505 - Merely recalling an adaptation experience boosts creative output
#exemplifies(0.72) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2233 - Visible physical differences trigger assumptions of deeper underlying differences.
#exemplifies(0.71) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 113