Staff profile

After obtaining BSc (Hons) in Biology, University of Nottingham and then MSc in Biological Computation, University of York, I completed a PhD at the sub-department of Animal Behaviour, University of Cambridge, supervised by Kevin Lala (1999-2003). This work focused on the adaptive value of social learning, including experiments of guppy fish behavour and mathematical modelling circumstances under which the capacity for social learning might evolve. I then worked as a post-doc with Marc Feldman at Stanford University, developing mathematical models of cultural evolution in humans, in particular exploring fertility transition patterns within and across populations and a separate project modelling the evolution of costly normative practices. This was followed by a post-doc position with Kevin Lala in St. Andrews running experiments to examine social learning in stickleback fish and modelling the evolution of social learning. In 2007, I moved to Durham to take up an RCUK Research Fellowship in the Department of Anthropology which transitioned to a lectureship. And Durham's such a lovely place I've been here ever since!

Research Interests

I'm interested in how properties of human learning and human-environment interactions shape patterns of cultural variation. I use a wide variety of approaches from mathematical modelling to experiments to interviews and focus groups.

Here are some recent and current collaborative projects:

• adaptive properties of social learning
• coevolution of AI and human behaviour - implications for human knowledge and inequality
• conformist biased transmission dynamics
• cultural practices affecting disease emergence
• cultural evolution of knots - focusing on copying errors and the topology of knot space
• evolution of folktales and folkmusic
• evolution of graphical representations
• evolutionary properties of digital technologies
• how the media and design features of material culture affect their evolvability - case study examining knots
• prestige effects on patterns of social transmission in hierarchical institutions
• social influences on cooperative behaviour
• tacit knowledge in academia
• wayfinding and navigating space - cultural constructs and properties of distributed knowledge

I'd love to run a PhD project on the cultural evolution of climbing grade systems, so please get in touch if this interests you!

Teaching

I teach undergraduate modules concerning: evolutionary approaches to the study of human behaviour; the history of evolutionary anthropology; and scientific methods. 

I'm very excited to be delivering a new third-year module in 2024-25 called Evolving Knowledge Systems. This will take in a range of perspectives from indigenous knowledge to distributed cognition to AI algorithms. 

At Masters level, I run a practical module on running simulations in R that can be incorporated into empirical research projects.

• Social transmission and population dynamics

Chapter in book

• Laland, K., Kendal, J., & Kendal, R. Animal culture: problems and solutions. In K. Laland, & B. J. Galef (Eds.), The Question of Animal Culture. Harvard University Press
• Kendal, J. (2017). Foreword. In C. Deane-Drummond, & A. Fuentes (Eds.), The evolution of human wisdom. Lexington Books
• Kendal, J., & Walters, C. (2015). Cultural Evolution, Gene–Culture Coevolution, and Human Health: an Introduction to Modelling Approaches. In J. Bissell, C. Caiado, S. Curtis, M. Goldstein, & B. Straughan (Eds.), Tipping points : modelling social problems and health (146-167). Wiley
• Kendal, J. (2015). Gene-Culture Coevolution. In J. Wright (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (813-818). (2nd ed.). Elsevier
• Kendal, J. (2013). Gene-culture Coevolution. In J. McGee, & R. Warms (Eds.), Theory in social and cultural anthropology : an encyclopedia (316-319). SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452276311.n101
• Kendal, J. (2011). Interactions between cognition and culture. In V. Swami (Ed.), Evolutionary psychology : a critical introduction (311-342). Wiley
• Laland, K., & Kendal, J. (2003). What the models say about animal social learning. In D. Fragaszy, & S. Perry (Eds.), The Biology of Traditions (33-55). Chicago University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511584022.003

Journal Article

• Street, S., Eerola, T., & Kendal, J. The role of population size in folk tune complexity (preprint). https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/2he8k. Manuscript submitted for publication
• Watson, R., Morgan, T., Kendal, R., Van de Vyer, J., & Kendal, J. (in press). Investigating the effects of social information on spite in an online game. Evolutionary Human Sciences,
• Kendal, J. (in press). Modelling social learning in monkeys. The behavior analyst today, 9(1), 50-56
• Denton, K. K., Kendal, J. R., Ihara, Y., & Feldman, M. W. (2023). Cultural niche construction with application to fertility control: A model for education and social transmission of contraceptive use. Theoretical Population Biology, 153, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tpb.2023.06.001
• Sakamoto Martini, G., Kendal, J., & Tehrani, J. J. (2023). Cinderella’s Family Tree. A Phylomemetic Case Study of ATU 510/511. Fabula: Journal of Folktale Studies, 64(1-2), 7-30. https://doi.org/10.1515/fabula-2023-0002
• Granito, C., Tehrani, J., Kendal, J., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2022). Does Group Contact Shape Styles of Pictorial Representation? A Case Study of Australian Rock Art. Human Nature, 33(3), 237-260. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-022-09430-2
• Street, S., Eerola, T., & Kendal, J. (2022). The role of population size in folk tune complexity. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9, Article 152. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01139-y
• Watson, R., Morgan, T. J., Kendal, R. L., Van de Vyver, J., & Kendal, J. (2021). Social learning strategies and cooperative behaviour: Evidence of payoff bias, but not prestige or conformity, in a social dilemma game. Games, 12(4), Article 89. https://doi.org/10.3390/g12040089
• Scanlon, L., Lobb, A., Tehrani, J. J., & Kendal, J. R. (2019). Unknotting the interactive effects of learning processes on cultural evolutionary dynamics. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 1, Article e17. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2019.17
• Offord, M., Gill, R., & Kendal, J. (2019). The Effects of Prestige on Collective Performance and Information Flow in a Strictly Hierarchical Institution. Palgrave communications, 5, Article 4. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-018-0211-8
• Granito, C., Tehrani, J., Kendal, J., & Scott-Phillips, T. (2019). Style of pictorial representation is shaped by intergroup contact. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 1, Article e8. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2019.8
• Rudman, H., Bailey-Ross, C., Kendal, J., Mursic, Z., Lloyd, A., Ross, B., & Kendal, R. (2018). Multidisciplinary exhibit design in a Science Centre: a participatory action research approach. Educational Action Research, 26(4), 567-588-588. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2017.1360786
• Vale, G., Flynn, E. G., Kendal Jeremy, R., Rawlings, B., Hopper Lydia, M., Schapiro Steven, J., …Kendal Rachel, L. (2017). Testing differential use of payoff-biased social learning strategies in children and chimpanzees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284(1868), Article 20171751. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.1751
• Acerbi, A., Kendal, J., & Tehrani, J. (2017). Cultural complexity and demography: The case of folktales. Evolution and Human Behavior, 38(4), 474-480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2017.03.005
• Skrebyte, A., Garnett, P., & Kendal, J. (2016). Temporal Relationships Between Individualism–Collectivism and the Economy in Soviet Russia: A Word Frequency Analysis Using the Google Ngram Corpus. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(9), 1217-1235. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022116659540
• Offord, M., Gill, R., & Kendal, J. (2016). Leadership between decks: a synthesis and development of engagement and resistance theories of leadership based on evidence from practice in Royal Navy warships. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 37(2), 289-304. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj-07-2014-0119
• Kendal, R., Kendal, J., Mursic, Z., Bailey-Ross, C., Rudman, H., Lloyd, A., & Ross, B. (2016). Designing for creativity and innovation in informal science learning. The informal science review, 20-24
• Attwell, L., Kovarovic, K., & Kendal, J. (2015). Fire in the Plio-Pleistocene: The functions of hominin fire use, and the mechanistic, developmental and evolutionary consequences. Journal of Anthropological Sciences, 93, 1-20. https://doi.org/10.4436/jass.93006
• Walters, C., & Kendal, J. (2013). An SIS model for cultural trait transmission with conformity bias. Theoretical Population Biology, 90, 56-63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tpb.2013.09.010
• Walters, C., Straughan, B., & Kendal, J. (2013). Modelling alcohol problems: Total recovery. Ricerche di matematica, 62(1), 33-53. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11587-012-0138-0
• Flynn, E., Laland, K., Kendal, R., & Kendal, J. (2013). Developmental niche construction. Developmental Science, 16(2), 296-313. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12030
• Kendal, J. (2012). Comment concerning cumulative cultural evolution, on M. O'Brien and K.N. Laland 'Genes, culture and agriculture: an example of human niche construction'. Current Anthropology, 53(4), 434-470. https://doi.org/10.1086/666585
• Kendal, J. (2011). Cultural niche construction and human learning environments: investigating socio-cultural perspectives. Biological Theory, 6(3), 241-250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13752-012-0038-2
• Kendal, J., Tehrani, J., & Odling-Smee, J. (2011). Human Niche Construction in Interdisciplinary Focus. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 366(1566), 785-792. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0306
• Setchell, J., Kendal, J., & Tyniec, P. (2011). Do non-human primates synchronise their menstrual cycles? A test in mandrills. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 36(1), 51-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.06.004
• Hoppitt, W., Kandler, A., Kendal, J., & Laland, K. (2010). The effect of task structure on diffusion dynamics: Implications for diffusion curve and network-based analyses. Learning & Behavior, 38(3), 243-251. https://doi.org/10.3758/lb.38.3.243
• Kendal, R., Custance, D., Kendal, J., Vale, G., Stoinski, T., Rakotomalala, N., & Rasaminanana, H. (2010). Evidence for social learning in wild lemurs (Lemur catta). Learning & Behavior, 38(3), 220-234. https://doi.org/10.3758/lb.38.3.220
• Pike, T., Kendal, J., Rendell, L., & Laland, K. (2010). Learning by proportional observation in a species of fish. Behavioral Ecology, 21, 570-575. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arq025
• Kendal, R., Kendal, J., Hoppitt, W., & Laland, K. (2009). Identifying Social Learning in Animal Populations: A New ‘Option-Bias’ Method. PLoS ONE, 4(8), Article e6541. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0006541
• Laland, K., Odling-Smee, J., Feldman, M., & Kendal, J. (2009). Conceptual Barriers to Progress Within Evolutionary Biology. Foundations of Science, 14, 195-216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-008-9153-8
• Tanaka, M., Kendal, J., & Laland, K. (2009). From Traditional Medicine to Witchcraft: Why Medical Treatments Are Not Always Efficacious. PLoS ONE, 4(4), Article e5192. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0005192
• Kendal, J., Giraldeau, L., & Laland, K. (2009). frequency-dependent biased transmission. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 260(2), 210-219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2009.05.029
• Kendal, J., Rendell, L., Pike, T., & Laland, K. (2009). Nine-spined sticklebacks deploy a hill-climbing social learning strategy. Behavioral Ecology, 20(2), 238-244. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arp016
• Rendell, L., Hoppitt, W., & Kendal, J. (2008). Commentary: Is all learning innovation?. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30(4), 421-422. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x0700252x
• Stanley, E., Kendal, R., Kendal, J., Grounds, S., & Laland, K. (2008). Factors affecting the stability of foraging traditions in fishes. Animal Behaviour, 75, 565-572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.06.014
• Kendal, J., Kendal, R., & Laland, K. (2007). Quantifying and modeling social learning processes in monkey populations
• Laland, K., Kendal, J., & Brown, G. (2007). The niche construction perspective: implications for human behaviour. Journal of cultural and evolutionary psychology, 5(1-4), 51-66. https://doi.org/10.1556/jep.2007.1003
• Kendal, J., Kendal, R., & Laland, K. (2007). Erratum to Quantifying and modelling social learning processes in Monkey Populations
• Borenstein, E., Kendal, J., & Feldman, M. (2006). Cultural Niche Construction in a metapopulation. Theoretical Population Biology, 70(1), 92-104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tpb.2005.10.003
• Kendal, J., Feldman, M., & Aoki, K. (2006). Cultural coevolution of norm adoption and enforcement when punishers are rewarded or non-punishers are punished. Theoretical Population Biology, 70(1), 10-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tpb.2006.01.003
• Kendal, J. (2006). Review of "Social Learning and Imitation": Volume 32(1), 2004, of Learning and Behavior
• Day, R., Coe, R., Kendal, J., & Laland, K. (2003). Neophilia, innovation and social learning: A study of intergeneric differences in Callitrichid monkeys. Animal Behaviour, 65, 559-571. https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2003.2074
• Reader, S., Kendal, J., & Laland, K. (2003). Social learning through local enhancement in wild guppy fish in Trinidad. Animal Behaviour, 66, 729-739. https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2003.2252
• Swaney, W., Kendal, J., Capon, H., Brown, C., & Laland, K. (2001). Familiarity facilitates social learning of foraging behaviour in the guppy. Animal Behaviour, 62, 591-598. https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.2001.1788
• Day, R., Kendal, J., & Laland, K. (2001). Validating cultural transmission in Cetaceans. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(2), 330-331. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x01293960
• Kendal, J., & Laland, K. (2000). Mathematical models for memetics

Manual

• Kendal, J., Tehrani, J., & Kendal, R. (2009). The Evolution of Human Behaviour

Working Paper

• Kendal, J., Ihara, Y., & Feldman, M. (2005). Cultural niche construction with application to fertility control: a model of education and social transmission of contraceptive use