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362 BOOK REVIEWS record (i.e., the rate of evolution is inversely of the presumed flaws in Sewall Wright’s evo- related to generation time, because genotypic lutionary model. What are the limits of phy- variance, which acts as a limit to natural selec- letic evolution? There is much fodder for tion in populations, varies inversely with gen- debate here; the treatment of human evolution, eration time)? What is the best predictor of the for instance, is skimpy and is likely to perturb rate of macroevolutionary change in different many anthropologists. But it is good to see the clades? How can we best account for “explo- punctuational arguments so thoroughly sions” of new forms in adaptive radiations? treated in a single well-written resource. And it When will adaptive radiations occur? How do is refreshing to see well-conceived challenges inferred evolutionary rates for origins of taxa to ideas that have become entrenched in the lit- compare with measured rates of phyletic evo- erature. This book should stimulate lively dis- lution in well-documented continuous lineages? cussion, and whether or not punctuationalism Does macroevolution track changes in cli- prevails in its current form, it will help to mate? Why does sex prevail? Are “living fos- advance the development of evolutionary sils” products of restricted ecological theory. competition? What is missing is a good quantitative LAURIEGODFREY analysis of gene flow, and an in-depth analysis University of Massachusetts, Amherst CULTURALTRANSMISSION AND EVOLUTION:theless, the considerable influence of genetic A QUANTITATIVEAPPROACH. By L.L. Cavalli- theory on their models is quite evident. Sforza and M.W. Feldman. Princeton, N.J.: In the introduction the difference between Princeton University Press, 1981. xiv + 388 Darwinian selection, which operates on indi- pp., figures, tables, bibliography, index. vidual differences in fitness or on the differen- $25.00 (cloth),$10.50 (paper). tial survival of individuals, is clearly distin- guished from cultural selection, which is the major mechanism for the persistence of cul- Since the generally-accepted modern synthe- tural traits and can have no relationship to sis of evolutionary theory forty years ago, biol- individual survival. The authors cite the rapid ogy has had a predictive model based on gene acceptance of Coca-Cola and frisbies as ex- frequency change and the forces that cause it. amples of cultural diffusion that have no effect On the other hand, cultural evolution has been on individual survival and of parachute jump- an important concept in anthropology and other ing and other dangerous sports that have in- social sciences for at least as long, but no effec- creased in frequency despite their adverse ef- tive model to predict the rate of change or the fect on individual fitness. This is the setting forces involved has been developed despite for their definition of cultural selection that is numerous attempts. With the resurgence of in- the major determinant of cultural evolution. terest in behavioral evolution and the develop- Selection for cultural traits is similar to ment of the relatively new fields of ethology natural selection in that it involves differential and sociobiology, many biologists have at- transmission to the next generation. The most tempted to explain human behavioral and cul- significant part of the authors’ model is their tural evolution. For the most part this invasion exposition of the various ways by which cul- of cultural anthropology has been the applica- tural traits can be transmitted from one person tion of evolutionary theory as it is known in to another. Except for an epilogue, the remain- biology to human change. This results in a re- ing chapters are progressive elaborations of ductionist approach which continually asserts their basic model. They begin with vertical that man is just another animal. Cavalli-Sforza transmission; that is, transmission from par- and Feldman in this book on cultural transmis- ents to offspring. For various matings of par- sion certainly cannot be accused of such reduc- ents with and without a particular cultural tionism but instead have developed an entirely trait, the probabilities of the offspring “inherit- new set of models of evolutionary change that ing” the trait can be specified. From these they apply to such diverse cultural phenomena probabilities, the ultimate fate of a trait can be as language or cognate change, the acceptance determined; whether there will be fixation, ex- of weed-killers among Iowa farmers, and the tinction, or a stable polymorphism. In addi- changing attitudes toward marriage. Never- tion, there is oblique transmission for cultural BOOK REVIEWS 363 traits, where an individual can learn and thus model to the “inheritance” of religious “inherit” a trait from an unrelated individual in preference. In addition, the book includes a the parental generation such as a teacher, and great many other quantitative models that horizontal transmission, which is learning a have been applied to cultural change including trait from a peer in one’s own generation. After simple growth models, which fit a considerable the detailed presentation of the cultural trans- amount of data, glottochronology, and even mission of a simple trait with only two states, epidemiological models of the spread of infec- present or absent, the authors extend their tious disease. model to multiple-state traits and then to Whether or not their basic model of cultural traits with a continuous distribution. Genetic transmission will be the basis of a predictive evolution is also included in the model; natural science of cultural evolution remains to be selection by varying the viabilities of the seen. I don’t think so because the essential pro- phenotypes associated with the cultural trait, cess of cultural change is not the transmission while assortative mating and the correlation of traits among individuals or the increasing between relatives can be calculated as they are acceptance of a trait by individuals. Instead for genetic traits. cultural change is caused more by the problems The mathematical ramifications of the basic of the survival and persistence of societies, but model are worked out in great detail, but at this is the opinion of a longtime, steadfast times the relevance of the analysis to the data believer in culture as a superorganism. of cultural change is tenuous. However, the model is applied to many sets of data, for ex- ample, the simplest two state trait model to a FRANKB. LIVINGSTONE survey of the habits and beliefs of Stanford The University of Michigan University students and the multiple state Ann Arbor, Michigan THEEVOLUTION OF HUMAN SOCIAL BEHAVIOR development. The theoretical framework in By J. S. Lockard. New York: Elsevier these two chapters and throughout the volume North Holland, 1980.336pp., figures, tables, is essentially sociobiological in form and con references, glossary, index. $22.95 (cloth). tent. Social signals are interpreted as having an ultimate impact on inclusive fitness of the The Evolution of Human Social Behavior is individual and a correlated impact on the social the product of the collaborative efforts of structure of a population. In support of socio- psychologists, anthropologists, ecologists, biological theory Lockard reviews studies of biologists, sociologists, and mathematicians facial expression, intention movements, postu- which arose from a Spectrum course taught at ral stances, solicitous behavior, and food beg- the University of Washington, Seattle. The ging among chimpanzees and in pan-handling book’s editor is a psychologist with stimu- among humans, hitch-hiking behavior, and in- lating ideas concerning the nature of human fant carrying behavior. The second chapter by nature and with clever methodologies for inter- Daris Swindler is an overview of primate evolu- preting the relationships between the biologi- tion. Swindler dwells on morphological cal and the sociocultural aspects of humans. changes and briefly touches on behavioral im- The text certainly stimulated me to think plications. His chapter seems anomalous in its about these complex relationships. However, emphasis on anatomy rather than on psyche it did not quite fulfill its ambitions: to cross- physiological and behavioral traits that are fertilize evolutionary biology and the social emphasized in the other chapters. Chapter sciences producing hybrid vigor for these in- three by Gordon Orians focuses on habitat vestigations (p. 210). One result of this at- selection and the evolutionary mechanisms tempt is the discussion of social behaviors in that may account for our species’ preferences terms of both proximate causation, which for sites with savanna vegetation rather than often involves social variables, and ultimate closed forests and open plains. He draws a causation, which involves evolutionary and number of conclusions regarding the signifi- genetic considerations. cance of habitat selection for both the macro- The first and last chapters by Lockard con- and micro-evolutionary development of homi- sider human social signals in terms of their nids. Chapter four by Pierre L. van den Berghe phyletic precursors and their ontogenetic examines the human family from a sociobiolog- .

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