Why cultural and genetic group selection are unequal partners in the evolution of human behavior

Figures & data

Table 1 Description of evolutionary forces increasing and decreasing between-group variation (V_g)

	Culture	Genes
Increases between-group variation	Moralistic punishment24,25
	Conformist social learning2	Genetic drift
	Cultural drift and related processes22,23	Selection for locally adaptive variants*
	Selection for locally adaptive variants*
Decreases between-group variation	Migration	Migration
	Random variation (cultural analog of genetic mutation)	Mutation
	Selection for locally adaptive variants*	Selection for locally adaptive variants*

* Depending on the details, individual-level selection on variation can increase or decrease between-group variation i.e., altruism by definition is selected against at the individual level resulting in a decrease in between-group variation, whereas the advantages of sickle-cell anemia in malaria-ridden environments shows individual-level selection increasing between-group variation.26

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