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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2022
The bifocal stance theory posits two stances – the ritual and the instrumental – each a learning strategy with different fidelity outcomes. These differences in turn have long-term consequences for cultural stability. Yet we suggest the key concept of “fidelity” is insufficiently explicated. Pointing to counterexamples and gaps in the theory, we suggest that explicating “fidelity” reveals the stances to be heuristic explanatory strategies: first-pass explanatory glosses of learning and its consequences, not descriptions of the inner machinery of agents.
Target article
Tradition and invention: The bifocal stance theory of cultural evolution
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Author response
Bifocal stance theory: An effort to broaden, extend, and clarify