The life history of culture learning in a face-to-face society

This article identifies the temporal sequence during which important cultur al beliefs (food taboos) are transmitted to individuals in an oral society living in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Results are based on patterns o f correlation in scaled measures of cultural similarity between same-househ old and same-clan members. In the first phase of the cultural life history (zero to ten years of age), individuals are innocent of food taboos. In Pha se Two (11 to 20 years of age), when most taboos are acquired, parents domi nate the enculturation of the young. Phase Three (over 20 years of age) con sists of a less intense period of changing beliefs transmitted from individ uals outside the family. This adult learning is usually ignored in socializ ation studies, but has a significant impact on cultural population dynamics . Since this sequence of early family-based, and later more broadly based, cultural influences reflects the temporal expansion of the social universe of individuals everywhere, this life history is probably representative of how cultural traits are generally acquired. Further, the timing of this ont ogenetic process mirrors changes in the influence of family environment on cognitive ability in behavioral genetic studies. This parallel suggests tha t both cultural and psychological traits evolve similarly in response to ag e-related changes in the social environment. Finally, comparing studies bas ed on statistical models of cultural similarity with those based on reporte d transmission pathways suggests that the latter, which indicate overwhelmi ng parental influence, probably reflect normative response biases.