| Abstract: |
We use cultural evolutionary models to examine how individual experiences and
culturally-inherited information jointly shape risk attitudes under
environmental uncertainty. We find that learning processes not only generate
plausible variation in risk attitudes, but also that conservative learning
strategies---emphasizing the preservation of generational knowledge---excel in
high-risk environments, promoting stable wealth accumulation and long-term
survival but limiting asset growth as conditions improve. In contrast,
exploratory learning strategies---leveraging risk-free juvenile exploration
and peer influence---foster risk-tolerant attitudes that thrive in affluent,
low-risk settings where wealth buffers and social safety nets reduce the costs
of miscalculations. Introducing economic stratification to the model reveals
how wealth disparities and inter-class interactions reinforce these patterns,
exacerbating differences in learning strategies and risk-taking behaviors, and
perpetuating socioeconomic inequalities through the cultural inertia of
excessive risk aversion. By uniting developmental, social, and evolutionary
perspectives, our framework provides a novel lens on the cultural evolution of
risk attitudes and their broader societal implications. |