Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2010 Dec 12;365(1559):3787-95. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0046.
The application of phylogenetic methods to cultural variation raises questions about how cultural adaption works and how it is coupled to cultural transmission. Cultural group selection is of particular interest in this context because it depends on the same kinds of mechanisms that lead to tree-like patterns of cultural variation. Here, we review ideas about cultural group selection relevant to cultural phylogenetics. We discuss why group selection among multiple equilibria is not subject to the usual criticisms directed at group selection, why multiple equilibria are a common phenomena, and why selection among multiple equilibria is not likely to be an important force in genetic evolution. We also discuss three forms of group competition and the processes that cause populations to shift from one equilibrium to another and create a mutation-like process at the group level.
系统发育方法在文化变异中的应用引发了一些问题，即文化适应是如何起作用的，以及它如何与文化传播相关联。在这种情况下，文化群体选择特别有趣，因为它取决于导致文化变异树状模式的相同机制。在这里，我们回顾了与文化系统发生学相关的文化群体选择的观点。我们讨论了为什么多个平衡点之间的群体选择不受通常针对群体选择的批评，为什么多个平衡点是常见现象，以及为什么选择多个平衡点不太可能成为遗传进化中的重要力量。我们还讨论了三种形式的群体竞争以及导致群体从一个平衡点转移到另一个平衡点的过程，并在群体水平上产生类似于突变的过程。
