Cultural universal

A cultural universal (also called an anthropological universal or human universal) is an element, pattern, trait, or institution that is common to all known human cultures worldwide. Taken together, the whole body of cultural universals is known as the human condition. Evolutionary psychologists hold that behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures are good candidates for evolutionary adaptations.^[1] Some anthropological and sociological theorists that take a cultural relativist perspective may deny the existence of cultural universals: the extent to which these universals are "cultural" in the narrow sense, or in fact biologically inherited behavior is an issue of "nature versus nurture". Prominent scholars on the topic include Emile Durkheim, George Murdock, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Donald Brown.

Donald Brown's list in Human Universals

In his book Human Universals (1991), Donald Brown defines human universals as comprising "those features of culture, society, language, behavior, and psyche for which there are no known exception", providing a list of hundreds of items he suggests as universal. Among the cultural universals listed by Donald Brown are:^[2]

Language and cognition

Language is translatable
Abstraction in speech and thought
Antonyms, synonyms
Logical notions of "and", "not", "opposite", "equivalent", "part/whole", "general/particular"
Binary cognitive distinctions
Color terms: black, white
Classification of: age, behavioral propensities, body parts, colors, fauna, flora, inner states, kin, gender, space, tools, weather conditions
Continua (ordering as cognitive pattern)
Discrepancies between speech, thought, and action
Figurative speech, metaphors
Symbolism, symbolic speech
Synesthetic metaphors
Tabooed utterances
Special speech for special occasions
Prestige from proficient use of language (e.g. poetry)
Planning
Units of time
Language employed to manipulate, misinform, or mislead

Society

Personal names
Family or household
Kin groups
Peer groups not based on family
Actions under self-control distinguished from those not under control
Affection expressed and felt
Age grades, statuses, and terms
Law: rights and obligations, rules of membership
Moral sentiments
Distinguishing right and wrong, good and bad
Promise/oath
Prestige inequalities
Statuses and roles^[3]^[4]
Leaders
Inclination towards patriarchy (dominance of men in society)
De facto oligarchy
Property
Coalitions
Collective identities
Conflict
Cooperative labor
Gender roles
Males on average travel greater distances over lifetime
Marriage
Husband older than wife on average
Copulation normally conducted in privacy
Incest prevention or avoidance, incest between mother and son unthinkable
Collective decision making
Etiquette
Inheritance rules
Generosity admired, gift giving
Mood- or consciousness-altering techniques and/or substances
Redress of wrongs, sanctions
Sexual jealousy
Sexual violence
Shame
Territoriality
Triangular awareness (assessing relationships among the self and two other people)
Some forms of proscribed violence
Visiting
Trade

Beliefs

Magical thinking
Use of magic to increase life and win love
Beliefs about death
Beliefs about disease
Beliefs about fortune and misfortune
Divination
Attempts to control weather
Dream interpretation
Beliefs and narratives
Proverbs, sayings
Poetry/rhetorics
Healing practices, medicine
Childbirth customs
Rites of passage
Music, rhythm, dance, and to some degree associations between music and emotion
Play
Toys, playthings
Death rituals, mourning
Feasting
Body adornment
Hairstyles
Art

Technology

Shelter
Control of fire
Tools, tool making
Weapons, spear
Containers
Cooking
Lever
Rope

Nicholas Christakis' innate social universals

Based on experiments and studies of accidental and utopian societies, sociologist and evolutionary biologist Nicholas Christakis proposes that humans have evolved to genetically favor societies that have eight universal attributes, including:^[5]

Non-nativist explanations

The observation of the same or similar behavior in different cultures does not prove that they are the results of a common underlying psychological mechanism. One possibility is that they may have been invented independently due to a common practical problem.^[6]

Outside influence could be an explanation for some cultural universals.^[7] This does not preclude multiple independent inventions of civilization and is therefore not the same thing as hyperdiffusionism; it merely means that cultural universals are not proof of innateness.^[8]

References

^ Schacter, Daniel L, Daniel Wegner and Daniel Gilbert. 2007. Psychology. Worth Publishers. pp. 26–27
^ Brown, Donald (1991). Human Universals. Template University Press. ISBN 978-0070082090.
^ Anderson, C.; Kraus, M. W.; Galinsky, A. D.; Keltner, D. (2012). "The Local-Ladder Effect: Social Status and Subjective Well-Being". Psychological Science. 23 (7): 764–71. doi:10.1177/0956797611434537. PMID 22653798. S2CID 8406753.
^ Anderson, Cameron; Hildreth, John Angus D.; Howland, Laura (May 2015). "Is the desire for status a fundamental human motive? A review of the empirical literature". Psychological Bulletin. 141 (3): 574–601. doi:10.1037/a0038781. PMID 25774679. S2CID 17129083.
^ Nicholas Christakis (2019). Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society. Little, Brown Spark.
^ Language: The cultural tool DL Everett - 2012 - Vintage
^ Equal Recognition: The Moral Foundations of Minority Rights, Alan Patten 2014
^ Cultures and Globalization: Cultural Expression, Creativity and Innovation, Helmut K Anheier, Yudhishthir Raj Isar 2010

Bibliography

Bourguignon, Erika; Greenbaum Ucko, Lenora (1973). Diversity and Homogeneity in World Societies. New Haven, Connecticut: HRAF Press. ISBN 978-0875363301.
Brown, Donald (1991). Human Universals. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-0070082090.
Joseph H. Greenberg, et al. (1978) Universals of Human Language, 4 vols. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804709653
Charles D. Laughlin and Eugene G. d'Aquili (1974) Biogenetic Structuralism. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231038171
Claude Lévi-Strauss (1966) The Savage Mind. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press; London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. ISBN 0226474844. [First published in French in 1962 as La Pensee Sauvage. ISBN 2259002110.]
George P. Murdock (1945), "The Common Denominator of Culture", in The Science of Man in the World Crisis, Ralph Linton (ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 4871872386
Charles E. Osgood, William S May, and Murray S Miron (1975) Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0252004261
Steven Pinker (2002), The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, New York: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 9780142003343
Rik Pinxten (1976). "Epistemic universals: A contribution to cognitive anthropology" (PART II: Chapter 7). In Pinxten, Rik (ed.). Universalism Versus Relativism in Language and Thought. The Hague: De Gruyter Mouton. ISBN 9783110805826
Brief news report of Psychological Bulletin article, Anderson, Hildreth, Howland (2015): Berkeley Haas School of Business. (May 6, 2015) "We all want high social status". ScienceDaily. Berkeley: University of California. Retrieved 24 March 2021

[Psychology-1] Schacter, Daniel L, Daniel Wegner and Daniel Gilbert. 2007. Psychology. Worth Publishers. pp. 26–27

[2] Brown, Donald (1991). Human Universals. Template University Press. ISBN 978-0070082090.

[3] Anderson, C.; Kraus, M. W.; Galinsky, A. D.; Keltner, D. (2012). "The Local-Ladder Effect: Social Status and Subjective Well-Being". Psychological Science. 23 (7): 764–71. doi:10.1177/0956797611434537. PMID 22653798. S2CID 8406753.

[Status_desire_2015-4] Anderson, Cameron; Hildreth, John Angus D.; Howland, Laura (May 2015). "Is the desire for status a fundamental human motive? A review of the empirical literature". Psychological Bulletin. 141 (3): 574–601. doi:10.1037/a0038781. PMID 25774679. S2CID 17129083.

[5] Nicholas Christakis (2019). Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society. Little, Brown Spark.

[6] Language: The cultural tool DL Everett - 2012 - Vintage

[7] Equal Recognition: The Moral Foundations of Minority Rights, Alan Patten 2014

[8] Cultures and Globalization: Cultural Expression, Creativity and Innovation, Helmut K Anheier, Yudhishthir Raj Isar 2010

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v t e Culture
Outline
Sciences	Cultural anthropology Cultural astronomy Cultural ecology Cultural geography Cultural neuroscience Cultural studies Culturology Culture theory
Subfields	Bioculture Cross-cultural studies Cross-cultural communication Cross-cultural leadership Cross-cultural psychiatry Cross-cultural psychology Cultural analytics Cultural economics Cultural entomology Cultural history Cultural mapping Cultural mediation Cultural psychology Cultural values Culturomics Intercultural learning Intercultural relations Philosophy of culture Popular culture studies Postcritique Semiotics of culture Sociology of culture Sound culture Theology of culture Transcultural nursing
Types	Constructed culture Dominant culture Folk culture High culture Individualistic culture Legal culture Microculture Official culture Political culture Civic Popular culture Low culture Media culture Recombinant culture Remix culture Trash culture Urban Primitive culture Resistance through culture Subculture Alternative culture Counterculture Fandom Far-right subcultures Underground culture Youth subculture list Super culture Vernacular culture Culture by location
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