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The popularity spectrum applied to a cross-cultural question

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  • Nakamura, Mitsuhiro
  • Wakano, Joe Yuichiro
  • Aoki, Kenichi
  • Kobayashi, Yutaka

Abstract

We investigate a new approach for identifying the contribution of horizontal transmission between groups to cross-cultural similarity. This method can be applied to datasets that record the presence or absence of artefacts, or attributes thereof, in archaeological and ethnographic assemblages, from which popularity spectra can be constructed. Based on analytical and simulation models, we show that the form of such spectra is sensitive to horizontal transmission between groups. We then fit the analytical model to existing datasets by Bayesian MCMC and obtain evidence for strong horizontal transmission in oceanic as opposed to continental datasets. We check the validity of our statistical method by using individual-based models, and show that the vertical transmission rate tends to be underestimated if the datasets are obtained from lattice-structured rather than island-structured meta-populations. We also suggest that there may be more borrowing of functional than stylistic traits, although the evidence for this is currently ambiguous.

Suggested Citation

  • Nakamura, Mitsuhiro & Wakano, Joe Yuichiro & Aoki, Kenichi & Kobayashi, Yutaka, 2020. "The popularity spectrum applied to a cross-cultural question," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 104-116.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:133:y:2020:i:c:p:104-116
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2019.10.003
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kobayashi, Yutaka & Aoki, Kenichi, 2012. "Innovativeness, population size and cumulative cultural evolution," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 38-47.
    2. Kobayashi, Yutaka & Wakano, Joe Yuichiro & Ohtsuki, Hisashi, 2018. "Genealogies and ages of cultural traits: An application of the theory of duality to the research on cultural evolution," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 18-27.
    3. Strimling, Pontus & Sjöstrand, Jonas & Enquist, Magnus & Eriksson, Kimmo, 2009. "Accumulation of independent cultural traits," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 77-83.
    4. Aoki, Kenichi & Lehmann, Laurent & Feldman, Marcus W., 2011. "Rates of cultural change and patterns of cultural accumulation in stochastic models of social transmission," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 79(4), pages 192-202.
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    Cited by:

    1. Takahashi, Takuya & Ihara, Yasuo, 2022. "Application of a Markovian ancestral model to the temporal and spatial dynamics of cultural evolution on a population network," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 14-29.
    2. Kobayashi, Yutaka & Kurokawa, Shun & Ishii, Takuya & Wakano, Joe Yuichiro, 2021. "Time to extinction of a cultural trait in an overlapping generation model," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 32-45.

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