Like me: A homophily-based account of human culture

TY - CHAP

T1 - Like me

T2 - A homophily-based account of human culture

AU - Haun, Daniel

AU - Over, Harriet

PY - 2015/1/1

Y1 - 2015/1/1

N2 - In this chapter, we introduce a homophilic account of human social structure and cultural transmission. According to this account, a tendency to favour similar others (homophily) has been a key driving force in creating unique human forms of culture and thus evoked the striking differences we observe between human groups. We begin by presenting evidence that, from the early stages of development, humans have shown a strong tendency to interact with, and learn from, individuals who are similar to themselves. Following this, we propose that the homophilic preferences of the group in general has created a feedback loop that ensures that children engage in high-fidelity copying of the group’s behavioural repertoire. This allows children to reap the benefits of others’ homophilic preferences and to therefore maintain their position within the group. In consequence, homophilic preferences have transformed a number of mechanisms that we share with other species, for example emulation and majority-biased transmission, into human unique variants such as social imitation and conformity. Homophilic preferences have furthermore spawned a new tendency to interpret the structure of actions as social signals: Norm-psychology. The homophily account thus connects previously disparate findings in comparative, developmental, and social psychology and provides a unified account of the importance of the preference for similar others in species-specific human social behaviour.

AB - In this chapter, we introduce a homophilic account of human social structure and cultural transmission. According to this account, a tendency to favour similar others (homophily) has been a key driving force in creating unique human forms of culture and thus evoked the striking differences we observe between human groups. We begin by presenting evidence that, from the early stages of development, humans have shown a strong tendency to interact with, and learn from, individuals who are similar to themselves. Following this, we propose that the homophilic preferences of the group in general has created a feedback loop that ensures that children engage in high-fidelity copying of the group’s behavioural repertoire. This allows children to reap the benefits of others’ homophilic preferences and to therefore maintain their position within the group. In consequence, homophilic preferences have transformed a number of mechanisms that we share with other species, for example emulation and majority-biased transmission, into human unique variants such as social imitation and conformity. Homophilic preferences have furthermore spawned a new tendency to interpret the structure of actions as social signals: Norm-psychology. The homophily account thus connects previously disparate findings in comparative, developmental, and social psychology and provides a unified account of the importance of the preference for similar others in species-specific human social behaviour.

KW - Conformity

KW - Cultural transmission

KW - Homophily

KW - Norm-psychology

KW - Social structure

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84944254853&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/978-1-4939-1387-9_6

DO - 10.1007/978-1-4939-1387-9_6

M3 - Chapter

AN - SCOPUS:84944254853

SN - 9781493913879

SN - 9781493913862

SP - 117

EP - 130

BT - Epistemological Dimensions of Evolutionary Psychology

PB - Springer

ER -