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.Schacter, Daniel L, Daniel Wegner and Daniel Gilbert. 2007. ''Psychology''. Worth Publishers. pp. 26–27 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 Claude Lévi-Strauss (, ; 28 November 1908 – 30 October 2009) was a French anthropologist and ethnologist whose work was key in the development of the theories of structuralism and structural anthropology. He held the chair of Social Anthro ...

, 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: Language and cognition

Society

Beliefs

Technology

* Shelter * Control of fire * Tools, tool making *

Weapon A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, ...

s, spear * Containers *

Cooking Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric stoves, to baking in vari ...

* Lever * Rope

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. Outside influence could be an explanation for some cultural universals. This does not preclude multiple independent inventions of

civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). C ...

and is therefore not the same thing as hyperdiffusionism; it merely means that cultural universals are not proof of innateness.Cultures and Globalization: Cultural Expression, Creativity and Innovation, Helmut K Anheier, Yudhishthir Raj Isar 2010

References

Bibliography

* * *

Joseph H. Greenberg Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages. Life Early life and education Joseph Greenberg was born on M ...

, et al. (1978) ''Universals of Human Language'', 4 vols. Stanford University Press. * Charles D. Laughlin and Eugene G. d'Aquili (1974) ''Biogenetic Structuralism''. New York: Columbia University Press. *

(1966) ''The Savage Mind''. Chicago: The

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including '' The Chicago Manual of Style'' ...

; London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. .

irst published in French in 1962 as ''La Pensee Sauvage''. . An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. IR ...

* 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. * Charles E. Osgood,

William S May William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

, and Murray S Miron (1975) ''Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning'' Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. * Steven Pinker (2002), ''The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature'', New York: Penguin Putnam. * 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 The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

: De Gruyter Mouton. * 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 {{Evolutionary psychology Culture Evolutionary psychology Society-related lists