An experimental approach to studying cultural variation and convergence

The primary aim of the project is to address the important question of the potential diversity of, and constraints on, culturally transmitted human behaviours.
Human cultures show a great deal of variation, much of which seems difficult to explain in terms of environmental adaptation. In their book 'Not by Genes Alone (2005)', Richerson and Boyd give the example of how it could possibly be adaptive to eat horse meat in France but not America. Clearly cultures do not inevitably converge on common solutions in all situations, even when environments are highly similar.
To date such questions might have been regarded as out of the realms of empirical testability, but the methods to be employed have been developed by the researchers in a previous ESRC-funded project (RES-061-23-0072) and they have shown these methods to be effective in providing a laboratory model of cultural evolution (Caldwell Millen, 2008).
The researchers plan to test hypotheses regarding the diversity of cultural variation within experimentally generated micro societies. The secondary aim is to tie this research in with an extensive program of public engagement, with communication about the research to members of the public forming part of the day to day routine of the project.