Cultural versus genetic adaptation.
- 1 August 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Vol. 80 (16) , 4993-4996
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.80.16.4993
Abstract
We analyze the problem of the competition between genetic and cultural adaptation, testing various types of cultural transmission models versus a genetic (haploid) transmission model. With a vertical (parent-to-child) plus an infectious (oblique) cultural transmission, genetic adaptation always prevails, although its relative increase may be slow and polymorphism may persist for some time. Only under very special conditions of cultural transmission may a permanent polymorphism in which the two types of adaptation are represented be reached. There may, however, be an overall evolutionary advantage to a flexible mechanism of cultural transmission that allows adaptation to new situations for which no genetic mutants are available.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Models for cultural inheritance I. Group mean and within group variationPublished by Elsevier ,2004
- Paradox of the evolution of communication and of social interactivity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1983