Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Conformity01:20

Conformity

45.3K
Conformity is the change in a person’s behavior to go along with the group, even if that person does not agree with the group.
45.3K
Evolutionary Psychology01:20

Evolutionary Psychology

378
Evolutionary psychology explores the origins of human behavior and mental processes by framing them within the context of natural selection, a theory famously propounded by Charles Darwin. This field asserts that many behaviors common across human societies — ranging from instinctive fear reactions to complex social interactions — arose as evolutionary adaptations. These adaptations enhanced the survival and reproductive success of our ancestors, thereby becoming embedded in the...
378
Convergent Evolution01:54

Convergent Evolution

28.5K
Evolution shapes the features of organisms over time, ensuring that they are suited for the environments in which they live. Sometimes, selection pressure leads to the rise of similar but unrelated adaptations in organisms with no recent common ancestors, a process known as convergent evolution.
28.5K
Multiple Allele Traits01:49

Multiple Allele Traits

34.6K
The Concept of Multiple Allelism
34.6K
Social Proof00:52

Social Proof

28.2K
Social proof is a form of persuasion based on comparison and conformity. People compare their behavior and actions to what others are doing and will change to conform to do what their peers do.
28.2K
Trait Theory by Gordon Allport01:20

Trait Theory by Gordon Allport

1.1K
Gordon Allport, often regarded as the father of American personality psychology, developed a theory that emphasized the importance of understanding people in their present lives rather than focusing on their past, as psychoanalysis did. Allport believed that personality should be studied in healthy, well-adjusted individuals rather than those with psychological problems. He was particularly interested in defining traits, which he saw as fundamental mental structures that guide behavior across...
1.1K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Conformity to popular, not average, opinions: Models, data, and evolution.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same author

Erratum: Impediments to countering racist pseudoscience - CORRIGENDUM.

Evolutionary human sciences·2025
Same author

Impediments to countering racist pseudoscience.

Evolutionary human sciences·2025
Same author

Conformity to continuous and discrete ordered traits.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025
Same author

Energy-poverty-inequality SDGs: A large-scale household analysis and forecasting in China.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025
Same author

Cultural transmission, networks, and clusters among Austronesian-speaking peoples.

Evolutionary human sciences·2024
Same journal

Tau protein as a regulator of mitochondrial function and dynamics.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

A scalable, dividing cell model for the robust propagation and quantification of human sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease prions.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Epigenetic regulation of mesenchymal BMP signaling directs postnatal organ innervation.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Single-shot wide-field biochemical imaging at 1 kHz frame rate.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

Morphogenesis and topological evolution of a frustrated nematic liquid crystal under confinement.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same journal

B cell-intrinsic CXCR3 drives efficient generation of ectopic pulmonary germinal center responses to influenza A virus infection.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 28, 2025

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations
04:52

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Published on: February 3, 2023

1.0K

Polychotomous traits and evolution under conformity.

Kaleda K Denton1, Uri Liberman2, Marcus W Feldman1

  • 1Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|September 19, 2022
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study models cultural trait transmission with multiple variants and role models. It reveals that anticonformity leads to stable equilibria, while conformity can result in variant extinction, with complex dynamics possible under general conditions.

Keywords:
conformityglobal convergencepolychotomous traitpolymorphismstable equilibria

More Related Videos

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli
15:00

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli

Published on: August 18, 2023

3.4K
Boldness, Aggression, and Shoaling Assays for Zebrafish Behavioral Syndromes
08:43

Boldness, Aggression, and Shoaling Assays for Zebrafish Behavioral Syndromes

Published on: August 29, 2016

10.4K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Aug 28, 2025

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations
04:52

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Published on: February 3, 2023

1.0K
Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli
15:00

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli

Published on: August 18, 2023

3.4K
Boldness, Aggression, and Shoaling Assays for Zebrafish Behavioral Syndromes
08:43

Boldness, Aggression, and Shoaling Assays for Zebrafish Behavioral Syndromes

Published on: August 29, 2016

10.4K

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Anthropology
  • Mathematical Biology
  • Cultural Evolution

Background:

  • Previous models of cultural trait transmission primarily focused on dichotomous traits (two variants).
  • Limited theoretical frameworks exist for understanding conformity and anticonformity in polychotomous traits (more than two variants).
  • Existing research often infers conformity from population data, lacking individual-level bias models for multiple variants.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To generalize existing conformity models to polychotomous cultural traits with multiple role models.
  • To analyze the stability and dynamics of cultural trait equilibria under conformity and anticonformity.
  • To provide a framework for quantifying individual (anti)conformist biases in polychotomous trait selection.

Main Methods:

  • Mathematical modeling, generalizing the Boyd and Richerson dichotomous trait conformity model.
  • Analysis of equilibria and stability for models incorporating 'n' role models and 'k' variants.
  • Exploration of conditions leading to stable equilibria, cycles, or chaotic dynamics.

Main Results:

  • Under anticonformity with two role models, the central equilibrium is globally stable.
  • Under conformity with two role models, convergence to an equilibrium with a single dominant variant is observed.
  • With 'n' role models, conformity maintains similar outcomes, while anticonformity can lead to complex dynamics like cycles or chaos.

Conclusions:

  • The generalized model offers new insights into the evolution of polychotomous cultural traits.
  • Conformity and anticonformity exhibit distinct population-level outcomes, especially with increasing complexity.
  • The framework facilitates future empirical research to quantify individual biases in cultural transmission.