A bias for social information in human cultural transmission

TLDR

Evolutionary theories propose that cultural transmission is biased toward social rather than non‑social information. The authors tested this by transmitting social and non‑social information through multiple participant chains. Both experiments showed that social information—especially gossip—was transmitted more accurately and in greater quantity than equivalent non‑social information, and that everyday social interactions were transmitted as well as intense gossip, confirming a bias toward social content in cultural transmission.

Abstract

Evolutionary theories concerning the origins of human intelligence suggest that cultural transmission might be biased toward social over non-social information. This was tested by passing social and non-social information along multiple chains of participants. Experiment 1 found that gossip, defined as information about intense third-party social relationships, was transmitted with significantly greater accuracy and in significantly greater quantity than equivalent non-social information concerning individual behaviour or the physical environment. Experiment 2 replicated this finding controlling for narrative coherence, and additionally found that information concerning everyday non-gossip social interactions was transmitted just as well as the intense gossip interactions. It was therefore concluded that human cultural transmission is biased toward information concerning social interactions over equivalent non-social information.