The evolution of techniques : rigidity and flexibility in use, transmission, and innovation / edited by Mathieu Charbonneau.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Charbonneau, Mathieu, editor.

Series:

Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology Series

Vienna series in theoretical biology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Evolutionary psychology.

Technological innovations--Psychology.

Technological innovations.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (400 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : The MIT Press, 2024.

Summary:

A novel, interdisciplinary exploration of the relative contributions of rigidity and flexibility in the adoption, maintenance, and evolution of technical traditions. Techniques can either be used in rigid, stereotypical ways or in flexibly adaptive ways, or in some combination of the two. The Evolution of Techniques , edited by Mathieu Charbonneau, addresses the impacts of both flexibility and rigidity on how techniques are used, transformed, and reconstructed, at varying social and temporal scales. The multidisciplinary contributors demonstrate the important role of the varied learning contexts and social configurations involved in the transmission, use, and evolution of techniques. They explore the diversity of cognitive, behavioral, sociocultural, and ecological mechanisms that promote and constrain technical flexibility and rigidity, proposing a deeper picture of the enablers of, and obstacles to, technical transmission and change. In line with the extended evolutionary synthesis, the book proposes a more inclusive and materially grounded conception of technical evolution in terms of promiscuous, dynamic, and multidirectional causal processes. Offering new evidence and novel theoretical perspectives, the contributors deploy a diversity of methods, including ethnographies, field and laboratory experiments, cladistics and phylogenetic tree building, historiography, and philosophical analysis. Examples of the wide range of topics covered include field experiments with potters from five cultures, stability and change in Paleolithic toolmaking, why children lack flexibility when making tools, and cultural techniques in nonhuman animals.

Contents:

Timescales of technical rigidity and flexibility. Adaptive behavior within technological stability : field experiments with potters from five cultures / Valentine Roux, Blandine Bril, Anne-Lise Goujon, Catherine Lara ; Innovation and social identity in Madagascar / Rita Astuti ; Apprenticeship, flexibility, and rigidity : a long-term perspective / Bert de Munck ; When rigidity invents flexibility to preserve some stability in the transmission of pottery-making during the European middle bronze age / Sébastien Manem

From rigid copying to flexible reconstruction. Relevance-based emulation as a prerequisite of technical innovation / György Gergely and Ildikó Király ; Flexible social learning of technical skills : the case of action coordination / James W. A. Strachan, Arianna Curioni, Luke McEllin ; Playing with knives : childen's learning, cultural niche construction, and the evolution of technical flexibility / Adam Boyette ; Stability and change in paleolithic tool making / Dietrich Stout

Ecological factors of technical rigidity and flexibility. How variability, predictability, and harshness shape cognitive flexibility / Sarah Pope-Caldwell ; The significance of cultural identity in the flexible transmission of techniques : an example from the Akha of highland Laos / Giulio Ongaro ; Why do children lack flexibility when making tools? : the role of social learning in innovation / Nicola Cutting ; A tactful tradition : the role of flexibility and rigidity in horse riding and dressage / Helena Miton ; Exploring cultural techniques in non-human animals : how are flexibility and rigidity expressed at the individual, group, and population level? / Sadie Tenpas, Manon Schweinfurth, Josep Call.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

0-262-37839-6

0-262-37838-8

OCLC:

1425808870