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The cultural transmission of tacit knowledge
Helena Miton1, Simon DeDeo1,2
1Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA.
Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
|October 19, 2022
Summary
Cultural practices with tacit knowledge can be transmitted effectively through a new model of tacit teaching. This model explains how complex skills are passed down, even when not explicitly understood.
Area of Science:
- Cultural evolution
- Cognitive science
- Statistical physics
Background:
- Many cultural practices possess a 'tacit' dimension, with principles that are neither obvious to observers nor explicitly known by experts.
- This presents a significant challenge for cultural evolution, questioning how tacit knowledge is transmitted across generations when direct imitation or explicit instruction is difficult.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a domain-general model of 'tacit teaching' that explains the high-accuracy transmission of tacit knowledge.
- To explore the conditions under which tacit knowledge can be effectively passed from one generation to the next.
Main Methods:
- Developed a model of tacit teaching inspired by statistical physics.
- The model applies to practices with underlying features subject to interacting and competing constraints.
- Analyzed the transmission dynamics of tacit knowledge.
Main Results:
- The model predicts a distinctive distribution of teaching outcomes, with some learners achieving near-perfect performance while others perform poorly despite identical instruction.
- This outcome distribution contrasts with standard cultural evolution models that predict a narrower range of mediocre results.
- Tacit knowledge evolution is predicted to be 'bursty,' characterized by long stable periods followed by rapid change.
Conclusions:
- Tacit teaching provides a mechanism for high-fidelity transmission of tacit knowledge, even when its principles are not fully explicit.
- The model offers insights into the unique dynamics of tacit knowledge evolution, including its potential for rapid change and difficulty in recovery once lost.
- This framework advances our understanding of how complex cultural traits are maintained and evolve over time.
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