Cultural learning dominates when individual learning is costly.

Evidence

Evolutionary models predict that cultural learning should dominate when individual learning is difficult or costly and when learners are uncertain (Hoppitt and Laland 2013, Laland, Atton, and Webster 2011, Laland 2004, Boyd and Richerson 1988, Nakahashi, Wakano, and Henrich 2012, Wakano and Aoki 2006, Wakano, Aoki, and Feldman 2004). — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 1107

Categorization

• QUESTION: This formalizes that costly/difficult learning triggers reliance on social learning — the trigger conditions are also where conformist majority-copying would be deployed.
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Conformist transmission lets learners aggregate dispersed wisdom rapidly — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 179; Cultural learning skills drove rapid human adaptation across all habitats — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 125; Cultural evolution can create selection pressures stronger than natural ones — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success: How Culture…, 282 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Cultural learning skills drove rapid human adaptation across all habitats #expands (0.78) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 125
• Cultural evolution can create selection pressures stronger than natural ones #expands (0.75) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 282
• Larger interconnected populations counteract the inherent lossiness of cultural copying #corroborates (0.72) — Joseph Henrich, The Secret of Our Success, 715