Reply to Cook and Over: Social learning and evolutionary mechanisms are not mutually exclusive.

We thank Cook and Over (1) for their response to our recent article, where we find that unique experiences drive individual differences in impression formation (2). Overall, our theoretical positions are similar: We suggest that social associative learning underlies this core finding (2), and Cook and Over (1) clearly agree. Here, we take the opportunity to address a critical misunderstanding, namely that evolutionary and social learning mechanisms are mutually exclusive. We propose that both processes shape impression formation. To clarify, previous models of consensus facial impressions are not purely evolutionary. For example, in Sutherland et al.’s model (3), both evolution and media-based stereotypes are suggested to account … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: clare.sutherland{at}abdn.ac.uk. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1