Linking Observed Learning Patterns to the Evolution of Cultural Complexity

Demographic effects on cultural complexity are controversial. Some view the arguments for cultural drift and similar mechanisms as overstating the importance of difficulty in learning, socially or individually. Others stress that social learning is vital, and larger social groups with active cultural transmission yield greater cultural complexity. Using ethnographic data collected among women weavers in the South Pacific, I advance the debate by estimating learning parameters directly relevant to a theoretical model of the evolution of cultural complexity. Through a sensitivity analysis of the estimated model, I show potential learning effects on the production rate of a prestigious cultural good. I advocate further ethnographic work to understand the learning process in naturalistic contexts, as vital to advancing our knowledge of the origins and persistence (or not) of cultural complexity in past and contemporary societies.