The very existence and the diversity of human cultures are made possible by human species-specific cognitive capacities. But how? Do cultures emerge and diverge as a result of the deployment, over generations and in different populations, of general abilities to learn, to imitate, and to communicate? What role if any do domain specific evolved cognitive abilities play in the emergence and evolution of cultures? These questions have been approached from different vantage points in different disciplines. Here we present a view currently developing out of the converging works of developmental psychologists, evolutionary psychologists, and cognitive anthropologists
