Selection favors conformist transmission in both spatially and temporally varying environments

Evidence

Previously, Boyd and Richerson (1985) have shown that: (1) a particular form of social learning, termed conformist transmission, can maintain similarities within cultural groups and differences between cultural groups; and (2) natural selection favors genes leading to conformist transmission in a simple model of evolution in a spatially varying environment. Here, we show that selection favors psychological mechanisms that give rise to a conformist transmission under a wider range of conditions, including both spatially and temporally varying environments. — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 14

Boyd and Richerson (1985) analyzed a model that showed that natural selection favors conformist transmission relative to unbiased transmission in spatially varying environments. In each of two habitats, learning processes cause the locally favored cultural traits to be more common than less favored variants. At the same time, however, migration among habitats introduces and maintains less favored variants in each habitat. Individuals predisposed to imitate the common type have a greater chance of acquiring the favored variant, and thus genes leading to this psychological mechanisms are favored by natural selection. — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 28

Categorization

• QUESTION: This is exactly the original technical model the reader is hunting for as the precursor to Henrich’s popular book — worth locating the precise model conditions.
• XREF: These are the foundational results Henrich later popularized; connects to the coercion-vulnerability selection logic. — connects to: Conformist transmission evolves robustly across far more conditions than heavy social learning does — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 65; Natural selection favors conformist transmission under a wide range of conditions, including fluctuating environments. — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 121; Conformism stays adaptive under rapid change though heavy social learning does not (+4 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 14; Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 28

Broader Connections

• Natural selection favors conformist transmission under a wide range of conditions, including fluctuating environments. #corroborates (0.95) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 121
• Evolutionary selection robustly favors copying the majority even when environments shift often. #corroborates (0.90) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 75
• Conformist transmission evolves robustly across far more conditions than heavy social learning does #expands (0.85) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 65
• Conformism stays adaptive under rapid change though heavy social learning does not #expands (0.82)
• Selection favors learning mechanisms acquiring the locally favored behavior. #qualifies (0.75) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 33