Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Cultural Transmission Vectors Of Essential Knowledge And Skills Among Tsimane Forager-Farmers, Eric Schniter, Hillard Kaplan, Michael Gurven

ESI Publications

Humans transmit cultural information to others in a variety of ways that can affect productivity, cultural success, and ultimately fitness. Not all potential transmitters are expected to be equally preferred by learners or equally willing to influence their culture acquisition. Across socioeconomic opportunities and ages in the human life course, costs and benefits to both learners and potential transmitters are expected to vary, affecting rates of culture transmission from different vectors. Here we examine reported patterns of culture transmission contributing to 92 essential skills among a sample of 421 Tsimane forager-farmers native to Bolivia. Consistent with the expectation that the …