Cognitive Scaffold

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MENTAL MODEL · M3789

Meme

Meme
CollaborateHigh supportCommunication Studies
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

The gene of culture. Refers to an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person through imitation. It replicates, mutates, and is selected like a virus.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

A unit of cultural transmission. Understand how a buzzword, a meme, or an ideology spreads. To create a successful meme, it must possess: high fidelity (easy to copy), fecundity (spreads quickly), and longevity (lasts long).

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Dawkins proposed: culture is analogous to genes, with units (memes) that evolve through replication, mutation, and selection as they spread from mind to mind via imitation. Ideas reproduce.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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