Teaching by example and induced beliefs in a model of cultural transmission
We augment standard models of cultural transmission with an explicit account of social learning, grounded in the information transmission literature. Youngsters observe the behavioral trait of a role model and form beliefs about the desirability of that trait. Adults have better information about ea...
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| Format: | Article |
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Elsevier
2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48512/ |
| _version_ | 1848797780779204608 |
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| author | Adriani, Fabrizio Matheson, Jesse A. Sonderegger, Silvia |
| author_facet | Adriani, Fabrizio Matheson, Jesse A. Sonderegger, Silvia |
| author_sort | Adriani, Fabrizio |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | We augment standard models of cultural transmission with an explicit account of social learning, grounded in the information transmission literature. Youngsters observe the behavioral trait of a role model and form beliefs about the desirability of that trait. Adults have better information about each trait and have a paternalistic attitude toward their children. This makes them reluctant to adopt myopic behavior to avoid setting a negative example to their children. This signaling distortion increases in the influence parents have over their offspring. We extend the model to allow parental influence to depend on the population frequency of each trait and show that cultural complementarity does not imply convergence to a homogeneous population. We find empirical support for a positive relationship between parental influence and propensity to exert self-restraint by looking at alcohol and tobacco consumption. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:09:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-48512 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:09:19Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-485122020-05-04T19:25:16Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48512/ Teaching by example and induced beliefs in a model of cultural transmission Adriani, Fabrizio Matheson, Jesse A. Sonderegger, Silvia We augment standard models of cultural transmission with an explicit account of social learning, grounded in the information transmission literature. Youngsters observe the behavioral trait of a role model and form beliefs about the desirability of that trait. Adults have better information about each trait and have a paternalistic attitude toward their children. This makes them reluctant to adopt myopic behavior to avoid setting a negative example to their children. This signaling distortion increases in the influence parents have over their offspring. We extend the model to allow parental influence to depend on the population frequency of each trait and show that cultural complementarity does not imply convergence to a homogeneous population. We find empirical support for a positive relationship between parental influence and propensity to exert self-restraint by looking at alcohol and tobacco consumption. Elsevier 2018-01-02 Article PeerReviewed Adriani, Fabrizio, Matheson, Jesse A. and Sonderegger, Silvia (2018) Teaching by example and induced beliefs in a model of cultural transmission. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 145 . pp. 511-529. ISSN 0167-2681 Parent-Child Signaling Cultural Transmission Social Learning Conformity https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268117303414 doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2017.11.031 doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2017.11.031 |
| spellingShingle | Parent-Child Signaling Cultural Transmission Social Learning Conformity Adriani, Fabrizio Matheson, Jesse A. Sonderegger, Silvia Teaching by example and induced beliefs in a model of cultural transmission |
| title | Teaching by example and induced beliefs in a model of cultural transmission |
| title_full | Teaching by example and induced beliefs in a model of cultural transmission |
| title_fullStr | Teaching by example and induced beliefs in a model of cultural transmission |
| title_full_unstemmed | Teaching by example and induced beliefs in a model of cultural transmission |
| title_short | Teaching by example and induced beliefs in a model of cultural transmission |
| title_sort | teaching by example and induced beliefs in a model of cultural transmission |
| topic | Parent-Child Signaling Cultural Transmission Social Learning Conformity |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48512/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48512/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48512/ |