The inhuman origins of culture : the role of ecological relatedness and density
Event Title
International Interdisciplinary Conference: Advances in Comparative Culturology
Location
MBG06, Lam Woo Lecture Theatre, Patrick Lee Wan Keung Academic Building, Lingnan University
Start Date
16-5-2025 10:30 AM
End Date
16-5-2025 11:00 AM
Language
English
Description
What do ground squirrels, killifish, and humans have in common? The answer is that all have evolved to adopt certain traits and behaviors, in response to variation in environmental and ecological conditions. This is known as adaptive plasticity. I outline how thinking about adaptive plasticity, and animal behavioral ecology more broadly, can provide novel insights to our understanding of the nature and origins of human cultural variation. Specifically, I focus on two lines of work: (1) the psychological effects of living in environments where individuals are surrounded by many family relatives-referred to as ecological relatedness, and (2) the psychological effects of living in environments with many unrelated individuals (i.e., high population densities in general). I highlight how this perspective can generate novel predictions about cultural variation and also integrate existing cultural psychological explanations. Finally, I discuss how this perspective is similar to or different from existing theoretical perspectives, and key questions that remain.
Document Type
Presentation
Recommended Citation
Sng, O. (2025, May 16). The inhuman origins of culture: The role of ecological relatedness and density. Presented at the International Interdisciplinary Conference: Advances in Comparative Culturology, Lingnan University, Hong Kong.
The inhuman origins of culture : the role of ecological relatedness and density
MBG06, Lam Woo Lecture Theatre, Patrick Lee Wan Keung Academic Building, Lingnan University
What do ground squirrels, killifish, and humans have in common? The answer is that all have evolved to adopt certain traits and behaviors, in response to variation in environmental and ecological conditions. This is known as adaptive plasticity. I outline how thinking about adaptive plasticity, and animal behavioral ecology more broadly, can provide novel insights to our understanding of the nature and origins of human cultural variation. Specifically, I focus on two lines of work: (1) the psychological effects of living in environments where individuals are surrounded by many family relatives-referred to as ecological relatedness, and (2) the psychological effects of living in environments with many unrelated individuals (i.e., high population densities in general). I highlight how this perspective can generate novel predictions about cultural variation and also integrate existing cultural psychological explanations. Finally, I discuss how this perspective is similar to or different from existing theoretical perspectives, and key questions that remain.
Additional Information
Speaker
Oliver SNG (University of California, Irvine, USA)
Oliver Sng is currently Assistant Professor of Psychological Science at the University of California, Irvine. He received his PhD in Social Psychology from Arizona State University, and BA in Psychology from the National University of Singapore. He was previously also a research fellow at the University of Michigan. His work applies an evolutionary lens to thinking about human social behavior, with a focus on understanding the origins of cultural psychological variation and social stereotypes. His research has been published in outlets such as Psychological Review, PNAS, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and Evolution and Human Behavior. He currently leads the Evolution, Culture, and Stereotyping Lab at UC Irvine. He is the 2019 recipient of the Wegner Theoretical Innovation Award, an award presented by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology to the most innovative theoretical contribution in social-personality psychology in any given year. He was also named a 2022 Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science.