Context and perceptual salience influence the formation of novel stereotypes via cumulative cultural evolution

We use a transmission chain method to establish how context and category salience influence the formation of novel stereotypes through cumulative cultural evolution. We created novel alien targets by combining features from three category dimensions—color, movement, and shape—thereby creating social targets that were individually unique but that also shared category membership with other aliens (e.g., two aliens might be the same color and shape but move differently). At the start of the transmission chains each alien was randomly assigned attributes that described it (e.g., arrogant, caring, confident). Participants were given training on the alien-attribute assignments and were then tested on their memory for these. The alien-attribute assignments participants produced during test were used as the training materials for the next participant in the transmission chain. As information was repeatedly transmitted an increasingly simplified, learnable stereotype-like structure emerged for targets who shared the same color, such that by the end of the chains targets who shared the same color were more likely to share the same attributes (a reanalysis of data from Martin et al., 2014 which we term Experiment 1). The apparent bias toward the formation of novel stereotypes around the color category dimension was also found for objects (Experiment 2). However, when the category dimension of color was made less salient, it no longer dominated the formation of novel stereotypes (Experiment 3). The current findings suggest that context and category salience influence category dimension salience, which in turn influences the cumulative cultural evolution of information.<br/

Indigenous intellectual and cultural property rights

Paper presented at the 8th Asia-Pacific Specials, Health and Law Librarians Conference 22-26 August 1999 Hobart, Tasmania1999 heralds the beginning of the United Nations Decade for Indigenous Peoples. A number of issues will be highlighted throughout the decade and new opportunities will emerge. In recent years both Australia and New Zealand have witnessed a rebirth of interest in indigenous issues. One of the more complex issues that has emerged has been that of cultural and intellectual property rights. Assertion of property rights over traditional forms of knowledge will become one of the leading challenges for indigenous peoples during this decade. Indigenous intellectual and cultural property rights do not fit neatly into western legal frameworks and this therefore leaves the knowledge of indigenous peoples vulnerable to exploitation. Indigenous peoples are establishing their own networks and working through international organisations such as the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations to identify sectors where cultural and/or intellectual property rights are being compromised. Libraries and information centres store and provide access to a variety of resources that fall into the category of intellectual and cultural property and this will subject our sector to intense scrutiny. This paper will identify what constitutes cultural and intellectual property rights, how it conflicts with western law, and what the implications for libraries and information centres are

Ethics in cultural policy

Cultural rights are just one category of human rights; other common human rights being civic, political, economic and educational rights. This D\u27Art was used to help gather information for a project of Finland?s Ministry of Education, Science and Culture on the ethical dimensions of cultural policy. With the help of the D\u27Art process, the Ministry published a review document, Fair Culture? Ethical dimension of cultural policy and cultural rights, which develops a concept of ?fair culture? and explores the many ethical issues associated with cultural policies and practices. The publication argues that cultural rights are central to the identity, coherence and autonomy of nations. It identifies three main ways of viewing ethical issues in cultural policy (as cultural freedoms, as cultural rights and as cultural benefits), none of which is necessarily more \u27correct\u27 or valuable than the other. Drafted by Hannele Koivunen and Leena Marsio, the D\u27Art report summarises the Ministry\u27s research project to date, outlines future directions for the project, and provides an extract from the Ministry\u27s \u27Fair Culture?\u27 repor