Mengel, Friederike (2012) On the evolution of coarse categories. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 307. pp. 117-124. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2012.05.016
Mengel, Friederike (2012) On the evolution of coarse categories. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 307. pp. 117-124. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2012.05.016
Mengel, Friederike (2012) On the evolution of coarse categories. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 307. pp. 117-124. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2012.05.016
Abstract
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. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Categorization; Evolution |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory Q Science > Q Science (General) |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics, Department of |
| SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
| Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Jan 2015 13:05 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Dec 2024 16:41 |
| URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/12375 |