From: Keith Henson (hkhenson@rogers.com)
Date: Fri 20 Jun 2003 - 04:53:41 GMT
At 09:33 PM 19/06/03 -0400, Scott wrote:
>>From: Chris Taylor <Christopher.Taylor@man.ac.uk>
snip
>>Btw the consensus was, I thought, that memetics was diametrically opposed
>>to the gene=behaviour evopsycho jocks?
>Well there's gene-meme co-evolution. There may be ev-pychers and
>sociobiologists who view memetics more favorably than others.
I am frankly amazed at this view of the evolutionary psychology people when
you can find in a few minutes research on Google that the same professors
who teach one often teach both in the same course or have both as research
interests.
Memetics and Evolutionary Psychology (Week 3)
http://www.icc.isr.umich.edu/evolculture2001syllabus.html
Phil 708 -- Philosophical Psychology
Topic: Meme Theory, Evolutionary Psychology, and Sociobiology
http://www.unr.edu/philosophy/d708tn.html
Psychology 452, Evolutionary Psychology
Dr. Mills
CULTURE / MEMETICS
[] Summary and Powerpoint Presentation Boyer, P. (2000). Evolutionary
Psychology and Cultural Transmission. American Behavioral Scientist, 43(6),
987-1000. Review by Ashleigh Anderson, Susie Boersma and Timothy Devereaux.
Fall, 2002.
[] Summary of Best, M. L. (1999). How culture can guide evolution: An
inquiry into gene/meme enhancement and opposition. Adaptive Behavior,
7(3/4), 289-306. Review by Amanda Garrett & Stacey Smith. Fall, 2002.
http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/faculty/mmills_fp/Evolpsyc/
Evolutionary psychology's explanation of culture
If evolutionary psychologists depart from the assumption that human beings
have a brain which consists of specialized modules from which the content
of their behavior derives, how then do the evolutionary psychologists look
at culture? They claim that they can explain culture.
Culture is quite important in the eyes of evolutionary psychologists.
Humans are the only species "that has an extra medium of design
preservation and design communication" (Dennett, 1991, p. 338). Culture
"can swamp many - but not all - of the earlier genetic pressures and
processes that created it and still coexist with it" (ibid.). The way
evolutionary psychologist try to deal with culture has two aspects. One
follows directly from the line of argument that starts with a critique of
the general purpose machine, the other is developed as an analogue to
genes. In the latter case, culture traits are turned into 'memes' to which
the concepts 'variation', 'replication' and 'fitness' apply equally well as
in genetic theory. Ideas of people tend to survive by using the individual
as a reproductive device; a replica is made, sometimes with some variation,
and once the whole thing fits into a certain environment, the idea carries
on (Blackmore, 1999). Such is true for crucial inventions, a piece of
music, a moral imperative, playing chess, and material things we cannot do
without anymore (Dawkins, 1989). Memetics, as the science of memes is
called, tries to explain cultural patterns this way, and tries to come to
grips with persistent behaviors and ideologies. Dennett (1991, p. 353 ff.)
in his enthusiasm for memetics, has pointed out that memes are conceptually
useful and interesting, because of the analogy with genes. 'Gene' as a
concept for information, does its work, irrespective of how it is
materialized. What is important is its syntax-like structure which can be
read off in order to create functional organs. The same holds for memes.
They carry information irrespective of how they are materialized. The
individual is merely the vehicle by means of which memes replicate
themselves. In memetics one wants to get rid of the acting person in the
same way as in evolutionary psychology in general, where algorithms and
macro's take over the role of a conscious agent in order to do away with
metaphysical categories like 'mind' and 'god'. Memes as cultural traits are
self-preserving, using the individual mind as bearer of the traits. Memes
are responsible for the persistence of certain traits, even those that do
not directly favor the group in which those traits spread themselves around.
http://members.shaw.ca/ncpg/voestermans_baerveldt.html
Evolution & Psychology
PG 6952B
Fall 2000 M & W 11:00 - 12:15
Professor: Dr. Peter Zachar
Nov 20 Universal Darwinism?: The Science of Memetics
http://sciences.aum.edu/pg/pzsyllab/evol.html
I know (at least indirectly) a good number of the people in evolutionary
psychology and associated areas and I can't think of one of them who is
opposed to memetics, in fact, virtually all of them seem to think memetics
is an important topic when evolutionary psychology is taught.
There surely *are* genes that cause behaviors. "Waltzing" in mice was
known to be a simple recessive gene over 50 years ago. Tourettes . . . .
"It is genetically transmitted; parents having a 50% chance of passing the
gene on to their children. Girls with the gene have a 70% chance of
displaying symptoms, boys with the gene have a 99% chance of displaying
symptoms." http://members.tripod.com/~tourette13/
But with the exception of this class of movement disorders, I don't know of
anyone in the evolutionary psychology area who thinks gene=behavior. Genes
*do* shape psychological traits, motivating us to seek food and eat it when
hungry, or the tendency social primates have to seek social rewards. But
what you do to obtain social rewards varies from being a good hunter in a
primitive society to being a rock star or a Noble Prize scientist in ours.
Keith Henson
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