Evidence that cultural transmission biases differentially influence human communication

Gene-culture coevolutionary theory proposes that cultural transmission (copying) is guided by various biases. Over five experiments using a communication game, this thesis shows that 1) existing evidence of cultural transmission biases generalises to a setting where variation is high and copying can be partial, 2) model-based biases (copying someone based on their success, prestige or similarity to oneself) may be weaker than frequency-dependent biases (copying something based on its frequency), and may operate through a fundamentally different mechanism, and 3) these are both overshadowed by an egocentric bias favouring one's own behaviour.