The Diverse Human Mind

It absolutely amazes me how the cultures around the world are so incredibly diverse. The diversity is not only outward, in clothing, food, etc., but also in cultural practices, values, and beliefs. Many different cultures express the same feelings and have similar goals, but their method is different. One example of this can be how all cultures express love, but the way they do it can vary greatly. It can be through word, touch, etc. Different communities develop different speech codes, they develop different ways to analyze similar actions and ideas. I’ve always wondered how these actions stay intact within a culture for hundreds, and even thousands, of years. I was amazed when I discovered an article on cultural neuroscience.

            Cultural neuroscience emerges from the union of two outwardly immiscible fields, neuroscience and cultural psychology. Research explores and exposes possibilities of cultural differences both lower level and higher order processes. Interestingly enough, human brains are biologically prepared to acquire culture. This goes back to early hominids and their developed ability to coordinate thoughts and behaviors within social groups that aided in survival, and thus evolutionarily adapted. Requisite neurobiological capabilities are necessary for culture to function.

            Perception, for example, is something which seems to be shared and the same amongst all cultures. However, it has been found that “perceptual styles” that decode visual scenes differ greatly. Westerners tend to focus on objects in a context free manner, whereas East Asians tend to focus more on contexts, relationships, and backgrounds. Neural investigations, such as through fMRI, supported this conclusion. Similar results were found in other areas such as inferring emotion, view of the self, etc.

            It is incredibly important for us as humans to understand ourselves and each other, both the differences and similarities between us. For, in an increasingly diverse world where cultures and beliefs can clash and cause harm to human lives, science may be able to aid us in understanding and respecting where we all come from in relation to the way we look at the world and how we can work together using our different strengths and weakness for positive efforts.

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1467-839X.2010.01301.x/full