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A bias for social information in human cultural transmission
Abstract
Evolutionary theories concerning the origins of human intelligence suggest that cultural transmission might be biased toward social over non-social information. This was tested by passing social and non-social information along multiple chains of participants. Experiment 1 found that gossip, defined as information about intense third-party social relationships, was transmitted with significantly greater accuracy and in significantly greater quantity than equivalent non-social information concerning individual behaviour or the physical environment. Experiment 2 replicated this finding controlling for narrative coherence, and additionally found that information concerning everyday non-gossip social interactions was transmitted just as well as the intense gossip interactions. It was therefore concluded that human cultural transmission is biased toward information concerning social interactions over equivalent non-social information.
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“But as the information ran through the chain, people recalled more propositions and recalled them more accurately in the gossip condition than in the other conditions. The prototypical story lived longer.”
From Stories in Action. (2022) · cites this paper as Mesoudi et al., 2006
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Metadata
- Authors
- Mesoudi, A., Whiten, A., & Dunbar, R.
- Affiliations
- University of St Andrews (GB)
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Mesoudi, Alex
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2006-08
- Volume
- 97
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 405-423
- ISSN
- 0007-1269 (ISSN-L)
- 2044-8295
- OpenAlex
- W2047815179
- Cited by
- 349
- References
- 58
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 19 · 2017: 48 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 254.67
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- British Journal of Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Denver
- British Academy
- British Psychological Society
- University of St Andrews
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Keywords
- cultural transmission, social information, gossip, social learning, narrative coherence, social interaction, evolutionary theory of cognition
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Communication, Cultural Characteristics, Cultural Evolution, Female, Humans, Intelligence, Interpersonal Relations, Machiavellianism, Male, Social Values, Socialization, Information Dissemination
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