No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Tradition–invention dichotomy and optimization in the field of science
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2022
Abstract
The central idea of the bifocal stance theory (BST) by Jagiello et al. has substantial relevance to scientific research. Both tradition-following and exploration-innovation are important in science and researchers subconsciously try to optimize their strategies. We outline three important dimensions of this optimization and argue that attempts to understand this complex process can help us design better science education, research training, investigation, and science publication.
- Type
- Open Peer Commentary
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press
References
Beaty, R. E., Kenett, Y. N., Christensen, A. P., Rosenberg, M. D., Benedek, M., Chen, Q., … Silvia, P. J. (2018). Robust prediction of individual creative ability from brain functional connectivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(5), 1087–1092. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713532115CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Biro, D., Inoue-Nakamura, N., Tonooka, R., Yamakoshi, G., Sousa, C., & Matsuzawa, T. (2003). Cultural innovation and transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees: Evidence from field experiments. Animal Cognition, 6(4), 213–223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-003-0183-xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Boogert, N. J., Reader, S. M., & Laland, K. N. (2006). The relation between social rank, neophobia and individual learning in starlings. Animal Behaviour, 72(6), 1229–1239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2006.02.021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, C. A., Bicca-Marques, J. C., Calvignac-Spencer, S., Fan, P., Fashing, P. J., Gogarten, J., … Stenseth, N. C. (2019). Games academics play and their consequences: How authorship, h-index and journal impact factors are shaping the future of academia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1916), 20192047. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.2047CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coussi-Korbel, S., & Fragaszy, D. M. (1995). On the relation between social dynamics and social learning. Animal Behaviour, 50(6), 1441–1453. https://doi.org/10.1016/0003-3472(95)80001-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Federspiel, I. G., Boeckle, M., von Bayern, A. M. P., & Emery, N. J. (2019). Exploring individual and social learning in jackdaws (Corvus monedula). Learning and Behavior, 47(3), 258–270. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-019-00383-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Germar, M., Albrecht, T., Voss, A., & Mojzisch, A. (2016). Social conformity is due to biased stimulus processing: Electrophysiological and diffusion analyses. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(9), 1449–1459.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, N. A. R., Spence-Jones, H. C., Webster, M., & Rendell, L. (2021). Individual behavioural traits not social context affects learning about novel objects in archerfish. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 75(3), 58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-021-02996-4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendal, R., Hopper, L. M., Whiten, A., Brosnan, S. F., Lambeth, S. P., Schapiro, S. J., & Hoppitt, W. (2015). Chimpanzees copy dominant and knowledgeable individuals: Implications for cultural diversity. Evolution and Human Behavior, 36(1), 65–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.09.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendal, R. L., Coolen, I., van Bergen, Y., & Laland, K. N. (2005). Trade-offs in the adaptive use of social and asocial learning. Advances in the Study of Behavior, 35(05), 333–379. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-3454(05)35008-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuhn, T. (2020). The structure of scientific revolutions Vol I and II. University of Chicago Press (1962, 1970).Google Scholar
Laland, K. N. (2004). Social learning strategies. Learning and Behavior, 32(1), 4–14. https://doi.org/10.1109/COGINF.2005.1532634CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan, T. J. H., Laland, K. N., Biele, G., Yoon, C., & Burke, C. J. (2012). The biological bases of conformity. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 6, 87. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2012.00087CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Padalia, D. (2014). Conformity bias: A fact or an experimental artifact? Psychological Studies, 59(3), 223–230. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-014-0272-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sasaki, T., & Okada, I. (2015). Cheating is evolutionarily assimilated with cooperation in the continuous snowdrift game. BioSystems, 131, 51–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2015.04.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tröhler, U. (2005). Lind and scurvy: 1747 to 1795. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 98(11), 519–522. https://doi.org/10.1258/jrsm.98.11.519CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watve, M. (2017). Social behavioural epistemology and the scientific community. Journal of Genetics, 96(3), 525–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12041-017-0790-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watve, M. (2019). The evolutionary psychology of scientific publishing: Cost–benefit optimization of players in the game. https://doi.org/10.32942/osf.io/nvpe2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weatherall, J. O., & O'Connor, C. (2021). Conformity in scientific networks. Synthese, 198, 7257–7278. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-019-02520-2CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Target article
Tradition and invention: The bifocal stance theory of cultural evolution
Related commentaries (25)
Action sequences, habits, and attention in copying strategies
Activation of stance by cues, or attunement to the invariants in a populated environment?
Bifocal stance theory, the transmission metaphor, and institutional reality
Bifocalism is in the eye of the beholder: Social learning as a developmental response to the accuracy of others' mentalizing
Can bifocal stance theory explain children's selectivity in active information transmission?
Conformity versus transmission in animal cultures
Confucius and the varifocal stance
Considering individual differences and variability is important in the development of the bifocal stance theory
Creativity and tradition: Music and bifocal stance theory
Cultural evolution is not independent of linguistic evolution and social aspects of language use
Culture is an optometrist: Cultural contexts adjust the prescription of social learning bifocals
Fidelity, stances, and explaining cultural stability
If you presume relevance, you don't need a bifocal lens
Implications of instrumental and ritual stances for traditionalism–threat responsivity relationships
Is there a need to distinguish instrumental copying behavior from traditions?
No tinkering allowed: When the end goal requires a highly specific or risky, and complex action sequence, expect ritualistic scaffolding
Non-instrumental actions can communicate roles and relationships, not just rituals
On the evolutionary origins of the bifocal stance
Psychological closeness and concrete construal may underlie high-fidelity social emulation
Representational exchange in social learning: Blurring the lines between the ritual and instrumental
Revisiting an extant framework: Concerns about culture and task generalization
The ritual stance does not apply to magic in general
Tradition–invention dichotomy and optimization in the field of science
What is the simplest model that can account for high-fidelity imitation?
When instrumental inference hides behind seemingly arbitrary conventions
Author response
Bifocal stance theory: An effort to broaden, extend, and clarify