Scientists at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman have created detailed cultural maps. These maps show how cultures change over time. The team is from the National Institute of Physics (NIP) at the UP Diliman College of Science.
They used data from the Integrated Values Survey (IVS). The IVS has surveys from over 120 countries. Data was collected over forty years, from 1981 to 2022.
How They Did It
The physicists used a method called principal component analysis (PCA). John Lawrence Euste, Hannah Christina Arjonillo, and Dr. Caesar Saloma worked on the project. PCA helped them make two types of maps. One map shows cultural differences between countries. The other shows cultural variations within a country. These variations were based on the survey responses.
Seven surveys were conducted in total. The method allows the scientists to track cultural shifts over time.
Measuring Cultural Evolution
Dr. Saloma explained their goal. “As applied physicists, we wanted to detect and measure how culture has evolved.” He said that cultural evolution is often described anecdotally. Their work is part of sociophysics. Sociophysics uses physics methods to study social phenomena. “We tried to quantify how culture varies over time in geographically separated populations,” he added.
The first map shows countries as points. By tracking their movement, the team saw a trend. Countries are becoming more focused on self-expression values. The second map shows respondents within each country as points.
Cultural Diversity
The team measured cultural diversity using the standard deviational ellipse (SDE) area. Countries with smaller SDEs had less cultural diversity. These countries tended to value tradition more. Countries with larger SDEs had more cultural diversity. They leaned towards self-expression values.
Euste shared his inspiration. “I looked into the literature to see if we could actually measure culture.” He found models of cultural dynamics. “But then I realized that there weren’t many models that actually examined real-world cultural dynamics.” He wanted to see how cultural values have changed based on actual data.
Creating the Maps
The physicists started by averaging survey responses per country. The surveys included over 300,000 respondents. Then, they used PCA on the country-aggregated responses. This created a map with each country as a single point. This made it easier to compare cultural differences.
Euste explained the need for the second map. “The country-level map only shows each country as a single point, which doesn’t reflect the cultural diversity within countries.” He noted that a country like the Philippines isn’t culturally homogeneous.
To solve this, they used a transformation matrix. This matrix maps individual responses onto the same cultural map. This ensures consistency between the country-level and respondent-level representations.
Arjonillo emphasized the consistency of their method. “This method ensures that the outputs from both levels are consistent.” She added, “The third approach helps align the two, allowing us to compare both the country means and the full respondent distributions over time.”
The Philippines in Context
The study revealed interesting insights about the Philippines. At the country level, the Philippines is traditional. It values religion, family ties, and respect for authority. However, it also leans towards self-expression. This is shown through support for environmental protection and gender equality. From 1996 to 2019, the country showed a slight decline in traditional values and a rise in self-expression.
Culturally, the Philippines is closest to Latin American countries. These include Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua. This is likely due to over 300 years of Spanish colonization.
Real-World Impact
The physicists believe their work can help policymakers. Euste said, “The study can help people understand how cultural values change over time, guiding policymakers in tailoring policies that better align with a country’s cultural values.” He added, “This is useful for understanding broader cultural trends and how they evolve.”
Dr. Saloma explained the importance of scientific evidence in policymaking. “Policies work best when they rely on scientific data and findings; it’s why quantifying cultural evolution matters.”
Arjonillo concluded, “What’s important for us is to create tools for measurement—that’s the point of instrumentation.” She hopes to continue making progress, “not just in physics, but wherever we can find useful data.”
