Thus utility maximization and equilibrium should be thought of as the end result of a learning dynamic shaped by efficient social institutions. Unfortunately, social institutions evolve on a slower time scale and not always towards the efficient institutions. Our basic human nature as social creatures shapes the evolution of our institutions, and it in turn is subject to the slow force of genetic evolution. Psychologists' learning models and data do not yet focus on the impact of institutions or on equilibrating tendencies. Anthropologists and other social scientists who study social institutions have mostly shied away from explicit evolutionary analysis.
Sociobiologists often conflate social and genetic evolution.
In the laboratory the institution can be varied in a systematic manner and information and payoffs can be observed, permitting much sharper tests of learning models than field evidence. But field evidence will also be required to check for external validity and to observe social evolution at work. New model construction will certainly be in order as evidence accumulates on current models. Computer simulation will become an increasingly important part of model construction and analysis. See the list of affiliated institutions and drop us a line if your research program connects to ours.