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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2022
Understanding how culture evolves in society is an extremely difficult task. The bifocal stance theory (BST) deploys two copying strategies which can be linked to dual-system theories of behavior. BST would benefit from incorporating results from these theories, such as the evolution of attention to goals or steps of a behavioral sequence, and the role of the environment in prompting different copying strategies.
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?
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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
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Cultural evolution is not independent of linguistic evolution and social aspects of language use
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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