The cognitive foundations of cultural stability and diversity.
The existence and diversity of human cultures are made possible by our species-specific cognitive capacities. But how? Do cultures emerge and diverge as a result of the deployment, over generations and in different populations, of general abilities to learn, imitate and communicate? What role if any do domain-specific evolved cognitive abilities play in the emergence and evolution of cultures? These questions have been approached from different vantage points in different disciplines. Here we present a view that is currently developing out of the converging work of developmental psychologists, evolutionary psychologists and cognitive anthropologists.
Sperber
Dan
D
Institut Jean-Nicod, CNRS, EHESS, and ENS, Paris, France. dan@sperber.com
Hirschfeld
Lawrence A
LA
D003071:Cognition; D003142:Communication; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D003468:Cultural Evolution; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007858:Learning; D012925:Social Conformity; D012933:Social Identification; D013045:Species Specificity