On the evolution of coarse categories.
We compare the evolutionary fitness of different cultures (or populations), where we think of culture as partitioning a set of decision situations into categories of situations treated the same. Information about optimal behavior in each category is passed on via a process of noisy cultural transmission. We show that coarse partitions (distinguishing less situations) can provide higher evolutionary fitness even if there are no explicit costs to holding finer partitions.
School of Economics, University of Nottingham, University Park Campus, Nottingham NG7 2RD, United Kingdom. fr.mengel@gmail.com
Friederike
F
Mengel
D005075:Biological Evolution; D003071:Cognition; D056084:Genetic Fitness; D006801:Humans; D012641:Selection, Genetic