Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
This lecture explores the concept of cultural evolution, emphasizing the role of culture in shaping human behavior and adaptation. It delves into the characteristics of cultural evolution, such as modes of learning, transmission channels, and biases affecting information transfer. The instructor discusses the importance of imitation in cultural transmission, showcasing studies on human-chimpanzee interactions. Furthermore, the lecture covers theories on gene-culture interactions, including the impact of culture on genetic traits and the phylogenetic approach to cultural evolution. The influence of culture on genetic diversity, societal norms, and personality traits is also examined, highlighting the intricate relationship between genes and culture.