So far in this course we have dealt entirely with the evolution of characters that are controlled by simple Mendelian inheritance at a single locus. There are notes on the course website about gametic disequilibrium and how allele frequencies change at two loci simultaneously, but we didn’t discuss them. In every example we’ve considered we’ve imagined that we could understand something about evolution by examining the evolution of a single gene. That’s the domain of classical population genetics. For the next few weeks we’re going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach we’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery. If you know a little about the history of evolutionary biology, you may know that after the rediscovery of Mendel’s work in 1900 there was a heated debate between the “biometricians” (e.g., Galton and Pearson) and the “Mendelians” (e.g., de Vries, Correns, Bateson, and Morgan). Biometricians asserted that the really important variation in evolution didn’t follow Mendelian rules. Height, weight, skin color, and similar traits seemed to

Human biochemical genetics

An informational cascade occurs when it is optimal for an individual, having observed the actions of those ahead of him, to follow the behavior of the preceding individual without regard to his own information. We argue that localized conformity of behavior and the fragility of mass behaviors can be explained by informational cascades.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID1405027_code2024.pdf?abstractid=1286306&mirid=1&type=2

A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change as Informational Cascades

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

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From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development

The adolescent brain and age-related behavioral manifestations

/pdf/a-theory-of-fads-fashion-custom-and-cultural-change-as-3s4j8rv8xm.pdf

Social Learning: B.G. Galef, Jr., Introduction. J. Terkel, Cultural Transmission of Feeding Behavior in the Black Rat (Rattus rattus). B.G. Galef, Jr., Social Enhancement of Food Preferences in Norway Rats: A Brief Review. D.M. Fragaszy and E. Visalberghi, Social Learning in Monkeys: Primate 'Primacy' Reconsidered. L.A. Dugatkin, Copying and Mate Choice. L. Lefebvre and L.-A. Giraldeau, Is Social Learning and Adaptive Specialization? K.N. Laland, P.J. Richeron, and R. Boyd, Developing a Theory of Animal Social Learning. M.E. West, Social Learning: Synergy and Songbirds. R.R. Provine, Contagious Yawning and Laughing: Significance for Sensory Feature Detection, Motor Pattern Generation, Imitation and the Evolution of Social Behavior. Imitation: C.M. Heyes, Introduction: Identifying and Defining Imitation. T.R. Zentall, An Analysis of Imitative Learning in Animals. B.R. Moore, The Evolution of Imitative Learning. M.A. Huffman, Acquisition of Innovative Cultural Behaviors in Nonhuman Primates: A Case Study of Stone Handling, a Socially Transmitted Behavior in Japanese Macaques. A. Whiten and D. Custance, Studies of Imitation in Chimpanzees and Children. M. Tomasello, Do Apes Ape? A. Meltzoff, The Human Infant as Imitative Generalist: A 20-Year Progressive Report. C.M. Heyes, Genuine Imitation? Chapter References. Author Index. Subject Index.

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Social learning in animals : the roots of culture

Contents: Part I:Social Learnlng: Theoretical and Methodological Issues BG Galef, Jr, Imitation in Animals: History, Definition, and Interpretation of Data from the Psychological Laboratory R Boyd, PJ Richerson, An Evolutionary Model of Social Learnlng: The Effects of Spatial and Temporal Variation Part II:Social Influences on Avoidance Learning S Mineka, M Cook, Social Learning and the Acquisition of Snake Fear in Monkeys E Curio, Cultural Transmission of Enemy Recognition by Birds JR Mason, Direct and Observational Learning by Red-Winged Blackbirds (Agelaius Phoeniceus): The Importance of Complex Visual Stimuli Part III:Social Influences on Foraging and Feeding BG Galef, Jr, Communication and Information Concerning Distant Diets in a Social, Central-Place Foraging Species: Rattus Norvegicus L Lefebvre, B Palameta, Mechanisms, Ecology, and Population Diffusion of Socially-Learned, Food-Finding Behavior in Feral Pigeons P Rozin, Social Learning About Food by Humans Part IV:Social Learning of Arbitrary Responses TR Zentall, Experimentally Manipulated Imitative Behavior in Rats and Pigeons MR Denny, CF Clos, RC Bell, Learning in the Rat of a Choice Response by Observation of S-S Contingencies DE Hogan, Learned Imitation by Pigeons D Mainardi, M Mainardi, Culture and Genetics in the House Mouse Part V:Social Influences on Communication L Petrinovich, The Role of Social Factors in White-Crowned Sparrow Song Development IM Pepperberg, The Importance of Social Interaction and Observation in the Acquisition of Communicative Competence: Possible Parallels Between Avian and Human Learning EF Masur, Infants Imitation of Novel and Familiar Behaviors AN Meltzoff, The Human Infant as "Homo Imitans"

Social learning : psychological and biological perspectives

In this paper I consider whether traditional behaviors of animals, like traditions of humans, are transmitted by imitation learning. Review of the literature on problem solving by captive primates, and detailed consideration of two widely cited instances of purported learning by imitation and of culture in free-living primates (sweet-potato washing by Japanese macaques and termite fishing by chimpanzees), suggests that nonhuman primates do not learn to solve problems by imitation. It may, therefore, be misleading to treat animal traditions and human culture as homologous (rather than analogous) and to refer to animal traditions as cultural.

/pdf/the-question-of-animal-culture-38ut94ywuj.pdf

The question of animal culture

http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/1329369/17269386/1332456970607/animal+behaviour+61+315.pdf?token=nHOoEXClCS8gn33%2Fo9%2FgfdHIPoM%3D

Bennett G. Galef

Papers

Social learning in animals : the roots of culture

Social learning : psychological and biological perspectives

The question of animal culture

Social influences on foraging in vertebrates: causal mechanisms and adaptive functions.

Mother's milk: a determinant of the feeding preferences of weaning rat pups