Broadly, my research interests lie in evolutionary, cultural and social psychology. My specific research interests lie in (1) the experimental study of cultural transmission, and (2) evolutionary approaches to human culture.
1. Cultural Transmission
This work uses the methods of experimental social psychology to simulate and test various biases in human cultural transmission. In previous studies I have used the "transmission chain method", developed by Bartlett (1932), in which written material is passed along linear chains of participants similar to the children's game "Chinese Whispers" or "Telephone". This allows us to test for hypothesised biases in cultural transmission that distort information in a systematic manner, or favour the transmission of some types of information over others. For example, Mesoudi, Whiten & Dunbar (2006) found that information concerning social relationships is transmitted better than equivalent non-social information, consistent with the "Machiavellian intelligence" or "social brain" hypothesis, which argues that primate (including human) intelligence evolved in order to solve complex social problems. Mesoudi & Whiten (2004) found that a hierarchical structure is spontaneously imposed on descriptions of everyday events (e.g. visiting a restaurant) as those descriptions are transmitted along chains of participants, consistent with schema/script theories from cognitive psychology.
My more recent research has examined cultural transmission within small groups rather than linear chains. This research has focused on the "virtual arrowhead" task, in which participants design their own arrowheads using a computer game. We can then manipulate when participants can learn from others and who they can choose to learn from (click here to see video clips of a participant taking part in the virtual arrowhead game). Initial work in collaboration with Michael O'Brien (University of Missouri) simulated a "copy-successful-individuals" cultural learning bias in order to recreate patterns of actual arrowhead variation observed in the archaeological record (Mesoudi & O'Brien, 2008). Further experiments have used the virtual arrowhead task to explore general cultural phenomena such as adaptive landscapes and informational access costs (Mesoudi, in press).
2. Cultural Evolution
I am also interested in cultural evolution, the notion that human culture (i.e. learned information such as knowledge, beliefs, skills or norms that is passed from individual to individual via social learning) exhibits key Darwinian evolutionary properties (Mesoudi, Whiten & Laland, 2004). Culture can consequently be studied using similar methods, concepts and tools that biologists use to study biological (gene-based) evolution, as part of a unified science of cultural evolution (Mesoudi, Whiten & Laland, 2006). The cultural transmission experiments outlined above, which concern the small-scale details of cultural micro-evolution, can be seen as part of this unified science.
Another way of studying cultural evolution is by using mathematical and computer models. In previous research (Mesoudi & Laland 2007) I have modelled the coevolution of cultural beliefs regarding 'partible
paternity' (the idea that children can have more than one father) with
genetic predispositions regarding human mating behaviour (e.g. monogamy
or polygamy). I have also developed agent based models of the arrowhead experiments described above, where participant behaviour is simulated using computer-generated agents (Mesoudi & O'Brien, in press).