Cultural Evolution in the Digital Age

Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-0-19-883594-3
Verlag: ACADEMIC

Buch, Englisch, 272 Seiten, Print PDF, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 418 g

From emails to social media, from instant messaging to political memes, the way we produce and transmit culture is radically changing. Understanding the consequences of the massive diffusion of digital media is of the utmost importance, both from the intellectual and the social point of view.

'Cultural Evolution in the Digital Age' proposes that a specific discipline - cultural evolution - provides an excellent framework to analyse our digital age. Cultural evolution is a vibrant, interdisciplinary, and increasingly productive scientific framework that aims to provide a naturalistic and quantitative explanation of culture. In the book the author shows how cultural evolution offers both a sophisticated view of human behaviour, grounded in cognitive science and evolutionary theory, and a strong quantitative and experimental methodology. The book examines in depth various topics that directly originate from the application of cultural evolution research to digital media.

Is online social influence radically different from previous forms of social influence? Do digital media amplify the effects of popularity and celebrity influence? What are the psychological forces that favour the spread of online misinformation? What are the effects of the hyper-availability of information online on cultural cumulation? The cultural evolutionary perspective provides novel insights, and a relatively encouraging take on the overall effects of our online activities on our culture.

Cultural Evolution is an area of rapidly growing interest, and this timely book will be important reading for students and researchers in the fields of psychology, anthropology, cognitive science, and the media.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Acerbi, Alberto

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Kultur- und Sozialethnologie: Allgemeines
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Biowissenschaften Evolutionsbiologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Humanbiologie Frühmenschen, Hominiden
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Allgemeine Psychologie Sozialpsychologie
• Mathematik | Informatik EDV | Informatik Digital Lifestyle

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- 1: A growing network for cultural transmission

- 2: Wary Leaners

- 3: Prestige

- 4: Popularity

- 5: Echo chambers

- 6: Misinformation

- 7: Transmitting and sharing

- 8: Cumulation

- 9: Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Alberto Acerbi, Lecturer at the Centre for Culture and Evolution, Department of Psychology, Brunel University London.