Behavior Changes Along With Conditions – “Culture Does Account for Variation in Game Behavior”

I’ll quote the most important line first:

“Thus, as conditions vary, so too does behavior, even if people share such norms.”

Henrich, et al. respond to some criticism of their work by Lamba & Mace in their short article Culture Does Account for Variation in Game Behavior — One of the articles Lamba & Mace were criticizing is Costly Punishment Across Human Societies.

They go on to say:

“Our research is based on the idea that people can acquire context-specific expectations (e.g.,“one wife per man” ) and internalized motivations (e.g.,“extramarital sex is wrong” ) as a consequence of cultural learning. These expectations and motivations then influence their decision making along with other factors, including evolved motivations linked to self-interest and genetic relatedness.”

Any debate between the two parties I’ll leave to them. What I agree with, certainly, is the quote at the top of the page: animal behavior is deeply influenced by context & conditions; there is no separating an animal’s “nature” from its “nurture”; there is a fundamental recursive process between the two.

Now go lift something heavy,
Nick Horton

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