E-Book Overview
How is it that cultures come into existence at all? How do cultures develop particular customs and characteristics rather than others? How do cultures persist and change over time? Most previous attempts to address these questions have been descriptive and historical. The purpose of this book is to provide answers that are explanatory, predictive, and relevant to the emergence and continuing evolution of cultures past, present, and future. Most other investigations into "cultural psychology" have focused on the impact that culture has on the psychology of the individual. The focus of this book is the reverse. The authors show how questions about the origins and evolution of culture can be fruitfully answered through rigorous and creative examination of fundamental characteristics of human cognition, motivation, and social interaction. They review recent theory and research that, in many different ways, points to the influence of basic psychological processes on the collective structures that define cultures. These processes operate in all sorts of different populations, ranging from very small interacting groups to grand-scale masses of people occupying the same demographic or geographic category. The cultural effects--often unintended--of individuals' thoughts and actions are demonstrated in a wide variety of customs, ritualized practices, and shared mythologies: for example, religious beliefs, moral standards, rules for the allocation of resources, norms for the acceptable expression of aggression, gender stereotypes, and scientific values. The Psychological Foundations of Culture reveals that the consequences of psychological processes resonate well beyond the disciplinary constraints of psychology. By taking a psychological approach to questions usually addressed by anthropologists, sociologists, and other social scientists, it suggests that psychological research into the foundations of culture is a useful--perhaps even necessary--complement to other forms of inquiry.
E-Book Content
The Psychological Foundations of Culture
Edited by
Mark Schaller • Christian S. Crandall
The Psychological Foundations of Culture
The Psychological Foundations of Culture
Edited by
Mark Schaller University of British Columbia
Christian S. Crandall University of Kansas
2004
LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS Mahwah, New Jersey London
Copyright © 2004 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of the book may be reproduced in Any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other means, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 10 Industrial Avenue Mahwah, New Jersey 07430
Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The psychological foundations of culture / edited by Mark Schaller, Christian S. Crandall. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8058-3839-2 (cloth : alk. paper) – ISBN 0-8058-3840-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Social change—Psychological aspects. 2. Culture—Origin—Psychological aspects. 3. Ethnopsychology. I. Schaller, Mark, 1962- II. Crandall, Christian S., 1959GN514.P78 2004 306—dc21 2003040839
Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contributors
Glen Adams, University of Kansas Jamie Arndt, University of Missouri Holly Arrow, University of Oregon Scott Atran, University of Michigan Martin J. Bourgeois, University of Wyoming K. L. Burns, University of Oregon Erica Carranza, Princeton University Chi-yue Chiu, University of Illinois Anna Clark, University of Melbourne Dov Cohen, Univers