Cognition In and Out of the Mind: Advances in Cultural Model Theory (Culture, Mind, and Society)

This edited collection presents an agenda for the interdisciplinary study of anthropology and cognitive science. It consists of fifteen chapters written by international experts on the relationship between culture and cognition. This volume is unique in that it includes both inside (i.e., shared mental templates) and outside (i.e., extended, embedded, enactive and ecological) theories of cognition. The contributors come from the diverse disciplinary fields of anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, and cognitive science. The aim is to investigate the mental production of shared knowledge, goals, and desires around which human social life revolves. The coverage spans cultural and linguistic evolution, the importance of local histories, and the role of cultural models to understand and interact with the world. Drawing on cultural model theory, this volume is an invaluable resource for linguists, cognitive scientists, anthropologists, and other social scientists willing to explore and understand how the sharedness of culture can bond us all together across relative cultural differences and (mis)perceived divisions. Series Editor’s Preface Acknowledgments Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures List of Tables Introduction Part I: Cultural Model Theory 1: Cultural Model Theory: Culture, Mind, and Knowledge 1 Introduction 2 Mental Architecture 3 Mental Processes 4 A Blended Approach to Cognition (Architecture and Processes) 5 Organization of Knowledge 6 Cultural Model Theory (Axioms/Assumptions and Theorems/Deductions) 7 Place of Culture in Mind 8 Methodology 9 Conclusion References 2: Affordances, Culture, and the Self: Constituting a New Cognitive-Behavioral Paradigm 1 Introduction 2 The Self 2.1 Cross Cultural Studies 2.2 Cognitive Philosophical/Psychological Studies 2.3 Narrative Theories of Self 2.4 Anthropological Concepts of Self 2.5 Bloch: The Levels of Self 2.6 Quinn: The Self Is All of Me 2.7 de Munck: The Self as a Self Symbol 3 Affordances and Effectivities 4 Cultural Models: An Inconvenient Truth 5 Conclusion: Putting It All Together References 3: Cultural Models: A Constructed Reality 1 Introduction 2 Cultural Models and Community Structural Organization 3 Binary Oppositions 4 Generation of a Domain of Kinship Concepts 5 Generation of Kinship Relations 6 Sibling Relations: Primary and Secondary 7 Generate Kin Relations Through Kin Term Products 8 Kin Terms as Names for Kin Term Products 9 Kinship Terminology 10 Logical Boundary on Kin Terms 11 Primary Sibling Terms 12 SiblingA and SiblingD Versus “Older Sibling” and “Younger Sibling” 13 Logical Necessity for Two Sibling Terms 14 Cultural Naming of SiblingA o Parent and SiblingD o Parent 15 Concordance Between Theory and Empirical Observation 16 Male Terms Versus Female Terms 17 Conclusion References Part II: Defining Cultural Models 4: What Is (and Is Not) a Cultural Model 1 Introduction 2 What Is the Problem? 3 Cultural Models Originally: Shared, Implicit Cognitive Schemas 3.1 Associative Network Structure 3.2 Basis on Multiple Episodes 3.3 Lack of Unit Detail 3.4 Adaptability 3.5 Shared with Others 3.6 Learned from Social Experiences 3.7 Taken-for-Granted Understandings 4 What Mental Representations Are NOT Good Examples of Cultural Models? 4.1 Knowledge of Specific Narratives 4.2 Other Knowledge Memorized as Verbatim Propositions 4.3 Any Innate Knowledge 4.4 Cultural Themes That Are Not Mentally Represented in Tightly Interconnected Associative Networks 4.5 Methods That Do Not Elicit an Interconnected Set of Elements and the Ways in which They Are Related to Each Other 5 Expanding the Definition of Cultural Models 6 Conclusion References 5: Cultural Models Are Intrinsically Normative 1 Introduction 2 Cultural Models 3 Cultural Concepts, Theories, and Other Cultural Stuff (Which Are Not Cultural Models) 4 Culture and Normative Cognition 4.1 Ontogenesis of Normativity 4.2 Proximate Cognitive Mechanisms of Normativity 4.3 Evolutionary Origins of Normativity 4.4 Cultural Models Are Intrinsically Normative and Opaque 5 Illustration: The Case of Mongolian Yos 6 Conclusions References 6: Thinking While Doing: Active Cognition in Bartending 1 Introduction 2 Conceptual Background 3 Linguistic and Sociolinguistic Aspects of “Drink Names” 4 Common Misconceptions of Bartending 5 Taking Orders, Making Drinks 5.1 Example 1—Single Drink Order 5.2 Example 2—Multiple-Drink Order 6 Lessons from the Bartending Example References Part III: Cultural Consensus Theory 7: Validating Cultural Models with Cultural Consensus Theory 1 Introduction 2 Cultural Consensus Theory 2.1 Example 1: Content Validity—Comparing Features in Descriptive Cultural Models and Cultural Consensus Cultural Models 2.2 Example 2: Content Validity—Testing Cultural Model Propositions with Cultural Consensus Theory 2.3 Example 3: Construct Validity—Using Cultural Models to Predict Other Aspects of Everyday Life 3 Conclusion References 8: Measuring Shared Collective Knowledge and Belief Systems 1 The Role of Measurement in Constructing Arguments in Social Sciences 2 Consensus as a Marker of Knowledge 3 Cultural Models as Shared Collective Belief Systems 4 The Methodology of Extraction of Cultural Models 4.1 Data Reduction Techniques 4.2 Constructing Multi-item Scales to Measure Collective Constructs 4.3 Using Multiple Correspondence Analysis to Illustrate Internal Organization of the Dimension and Patterned Consensus 5 Conclusions References 9: Cultural Consonance: Extending Cultural Consensus Theory 1 Introduction 2 Cultural Models and Cultural Consensus 3 Measuring Cultural Consonance 4 Cultural Consonance: Outcomes, Antecedents, and Interactions 5 Discussion References Part IV: Cultural Models: Evolution, History, and Development 10: Culture as Cognitive Technology: An Evolutionary Perspective 1 Some Reservations About Current Cultural Models 2 Culture as Cognitive Technology 2.1 The Idea of a Cognitive Artifact 2.2 How Cognitive Artifacts Work—Thought Transduction 2.3 Language as a Cognitive Artifact 2.4 Generalizing the Idea: Other Kinds of Cognitive Artifact 2.5 The Payoffs of Viewing Cultures as Built out of Cognitive Artifacts References 11: Products, not Prerequisites: The Becoming of Cultural Models 1 Introduction 2 Taking a Paleoanthropological Perspective 3 Development of Cultural Performances 4 Habituation and Cumulative Culture 5 Individual Becoming in a Social Community 6 Cultural Models: The I/We Distinction and Cultural Abstraction 7 Conclusion References 12: Relying on Grandma’s Mushrooms: How Cultural Models Affect Appraisals of Edibility 1 The Three Challenges of the Elfin Saddle 2 Diverging Perspectives on Mushrooms 2.1 Edibility and Potential Toxicity of Mushrooms 2.2 Cultural Models and the Diversity in Attitudes Toward Mushrooms 3 Edibility Recommendations in Norway 3.1 The Norwegian “Normlisten” 3.2 Iversby’s List and Its Sources Sources of Edibility Recommendations Descriptive Characteristics and Coding 3.3 Variability in Edibility Recommendations 4 Caveats 5 Conclusion References 13: Learning Moral Norms: “Cultural Models” in Children’s Eyes 1 Introduction 2 Sharing in a Shanghai Preschool: “Evil Kiddo” or Bright Learner? 3 Fighting in a Taiwanese Village: Parental Ideology Versus Children’s Reality 4 Concluding Remarks References Part V: Cultural Models and Language 14: The Linguistic Codification and Verification of Cultural Models 1 Introduction 2 What Is the Relationship of Cultural Models to Language? 3 What Kinds of Linguistic Approaches Fit with Cultural Models? 3.1 Conceptual Metaphor 3.2 Lexical Semantics 3.3 Natural Semantic Metalanguage 3.4 Semplates 4 How Can We Use Language to Verify Cultural Models? 5 Future Directions References 15: Cultural Concepts of Person and Social Relationships in Tongan Language and Cultural Practices 1 Introduction 2 Studying the Relationship Between Language, Culture, and Cognition 2.1 Cognitive Approaches to Culture and Language 2.2 Language, Culture, and Cognition—A Complex Relationship 2.3 Suggestions for Empirical Research of Cultural Concepts and Models 3 Cultural Concepts of Person and Social Relationships in Tongan 3.1 Kinship Terminologies and Other Expressions of Gender Differences, Status Inequalities, and Reciprocity 3.2 Honorific Registers and Other Expressions of Rank and Taboo 4 Concluding Remarks on Cultural Models of Person and Social Relationships in Tonga, Polynesia, and the Pacific Area References Conclusion Summary of the Main Contribution of this Volume The Development of Cognitive Anthropology in Extending Cognition beyond Concepts Cultural Cognition Can be Studied as an Inside-Outside Dynamic References Index This edited collection seeks to present a new, well-defined agenda for the interdisciplinary study of anthropology and cognitive science. Featuring fifteen chapters written by international experts as well as emerging voices in the fields of anthropology, linguistics, archaeology, philosophy, and cognitive science, this book aims to investigate the mental production of shared knowledge, goals, and desires around which human social life revolves. The coverage spans biological, cultural, and linguistic evolution; the importance of local histories and their ontological particulars; the effects of socio-cultural processes and technological change; the role of cultural models as mental constructs to understand and interact with the world. Drawing on cultural model theory, this volume is an invaluable resource for linguists, cognitive scientists, anthropologists, and other social scientists willing to explore and understand how the sharedness of culture can bond us all together across relative cultural differences and (mis)perceived divisions.