PSYC 307 Chapter 2: Chapter 2 - Culture and Human Nature
Document Summary
Is culture unique to humans: different ways of defining culture create different answers to is culture unique to humans . If culture is defined as having a set of signals, icons, and words that refer to something else that most members of the culture recognizes then yes because no other species has symbolic coding. If culture is defined as being able to learn information from other members of their species through social transmission then no: examples: Macaque (imo) who washed sand off the sweet potato she was given to clean it. 3 months later, imo"s mother and playmates started washing their potatoes too. Three years later, 40% of other macaques in imo"s troupe were: two groups of chimps would fish termites out of their rocks in two washing their potatoes different ways. One group used peeled bark off the twig. Other group peeled the bark off, then used the twig itself.
