5.11.2 Conformity and geographical mechanisms affecting cultural evolution and language development.

As noted earlier rapid horizontal cultural change is a problem for the phylogenetic model borrowed from biology. We live in the midst of an information revolution that has produced the World Wide Web, new social media, and email. These cultural forces have significantly reduced the isolation of populations previously separated by geography. We see in the so-called Arab spring, and in population dissatisfaction elsewhere, the consequences of the transmission of new cultural values seen as instrumental to a better life in cultures that are dissatisfied with the status quo, and comparative information about how people live in other societies. Although there are cultural forces that sustain the status quo, there is also awareness among people who are dissatisfied of the new cultural values that in turn produces a desire for change and improvement. Cultural change may occur abruptly in revolutionary uprisings, or in other cases follow a gradual path of an evolutionary model.

Conformity is a ubiquitous human cultural trait that serves to inhibit change and stabilize cultural evolution in both language and other socio-culture. Because of conformity pressures language and basic cultural traits are essentially passed unchanged to the next generation. That language is the mediator of both cultural stability and change is demonstrated in the analysis of 277 African cultures (Guglielmono et al, 2009). Linguistic affiliation was the strongest predictor of variation in cultural traits. Geographical distance is associated with some cultural traits, but variations in marriage patterns and kinship are associated only with language. These fundamental cultural traits require language intimacy and evolve only in common language families.

However, while conformity may be a force for stability, geographic closeness creates the conditions for horizontal transmission and change. For example the writing systems of the world are of recent innovation, and cultures are believed to have borrowed extensively from each other from a few original inventions (Diamond & Bellwood, 2003). Since horizontal borrowing complicates the use of phylogenetic statistical methods used to evaluate vertical cultural evolution some researchers have argued that these methods should only be used when the cultural trait is unambiguously thought to be of vertical descent (Nunn, Mulder, & Langley, 2006). However, others have demonstrated that tree-branching models are very robust producing useful results for cultural traits even at high levels of horizontal transmission (Currie, Greenhill, & Mace, 2010).

Cultural traits develop from human attempts to survive and similar traits may have evolved independently in many regions of the world. For example agricultural development does not require horizontal transmission as each cultural trait (like irrigation) may have developed locally in response to similar climate problems faced by different and even geographically distant societies. However, conformist social learning is very adaptive since it teaches the common means of survival in a society and has the additional important advantage of being approved by the majority. The underlying psychology of imitation is adaptive both in family relationships but also among members of larger cultural units. Conformist adaptive behavior is reinforcing as it produces many physical and social benefits including access to food and protection. Research employing cultural models has demonstrated the selective advantage of a conformist behavior in different social environments (Henrich & Boyd, 1998).

Conformist pressure affect cultural evolution by weeding out nonconformist traits thereby ensuring that what is common in society becomes even more common. Cultural traits including artifacts, beliefs, ideology, and especially dogmatic religion follow a process where the commonly held view becomes even more dominant. Still a dogmatic system may be in conflict with other deeply held beliefs and therefore give rise to new dissenting groups. Dissatisfaction with established religious systems gave rise to the evolution of religious beliefs and practices. However, to survive and prosper most individuals will retain the dominant beliefs of their society. If the individual grows up and is surrounded by religious believers chances are that he/she too will become a believer. On the other hand individuals that grew up surrounded by atheistic beliefs and might well choose to imitate such non-religious perspective on life. In the United States the large majority of the population is believers and candidates for office must reaffirm their religious beliefs at every opportunity if they hope to be elected, whereas in Europe skeptical beliefs have a long history and a place in intellectual life.

Conformist behaviors are also likely to be imitated when they are supported by the sanctions of moral disapproval or punishment. Moral behaviors serve as a stabilizing force since people get into all kinds of trouble when not abiding by moral conventions. Sanctions can be severe when removing the offender from society as for example when women are stoned to death in Saudi Arabia or other Muslim countries for adultery. Cultural stability is also created by much less drastic means by employing the simple mechanism of disapproval, or any range of sanctions that fall between these two extremes. Conforming is adaptive because it not only ensures survival within the cultural group, but also produces social affirmation in the form of awards and recognition. When people migrate conformity plays a significant role since migrants either establish new forms of the old culture, or assimilate to the new country’s moral values and beliefs. Much of current social conflict in Europe is over the refusal of new immigrant groups to conform to established cultural values and wanting to continue to conform to the expectations of the culture of origin.