Many modern studies of cultural innovation and demographic change rest on the proposition that social learning is a key process in the spread of novel variants. We agree with this proposition, but we also suggest that the selectivity of social learning, with respect to a skill or knowledge, has largely been overlooked in considering how the tempo of cultural evolution depends on population size...

A central question in the study of the mind is how cognitive functions are shaped by a complex interplay of genetic and experiential processes. Recent evidence from cultural neuroscience indicates that cultural values, practices, and beliefs influence brain function across a variety of cognitive processes from vision to social cognition. This evidence extends to low-level perceptual systems com...

1. Background and Foundations 1.1 Background and Overview 1.1.1 Actors and Social Interaction 1.1.2 Major Mechanisms of Social Stability and Transformation 1.1.3 Institutional and Cultural Structures 1.1.4 Material and Ecological Conditions 1.1.5 Rule Governed Social Interactions Produce Concrete Outcomes and Developments 1.2 Social Rule System Theory: Institutions and Cultural Formations 1.2.1...

As more and more marketers incorporate social media as an integral part of the promotional mix, rigorous investigation of the determinants that impact consumers’ engagement in eWOM via social networks is becoming critical. Given the social and communal characteristics of social networking sites (SNSs) such as Facebook, MySpace and Friendster, this study examines how social relationship factors ...

Issues relevant to web-based communities in the Pacific Islands are described. A brief geographic and demographic overview is provided, and unique cultural, social and educational challenges are discussed, with particular attention to Hawaii, American Samoa, and Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia as illustrative cases. The computer and allied web-based technologies are viewed as serving some...

The present study examined two fundamental social behaviours, social curiosity and gossip, and their interrelations in an English (n = 218) and a German sample (n = 152). Analyses showed that both samples believed that they are less gossipy but more curious than their peers. Multidimensional SEM of self and trait conceptions indicated that social curiosity and gossip are related constructs but ...