Andrea Bender
Biographic Data
| ID | 630045 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Andrea Bender |
| GIVEN NAMES | Andrea |
| FAMILY NAME | Bender |
| SIGNATURE | BENDER A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Freiburg |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9542-2975 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 25 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 21 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The emergence and complexification of symbolic practices in the Homo lineage
Recent archaeological discoveries, reviewed in this essay, challenge traditional views on the emergence of human symbolic cognition. Once believed to have originated in Europe around 40,000 years ago, new evidence shows it emerged much earlier across diverse regions. Geometric engravings from Blombos Cave in South Africa date back 77,000 years, while body ornaments over 140,000 years old have been found in North Africa, with similar artifacts fro…
Introduction to topiCS Volume 18, Issue 1
When I took up my position as Executive Editor of topiCS five years ago, I did so with a strong desire to broaden the scope of cognitive science beyond what had become its dominating core disciplines (Bender, 2019, 2021)—and especially to reconnect it with anthropology, the discipline that, in Margaret Boden's (2006) words, went “missing” (and see Bender, Hutchins, & Medin, 2010; Núñez et al., 2019). While this desire resonates with what has been…
Cognition and Cognitive Science
Cognition refers to activities of the mind and is involved in perception and attention, memory, learning, categorization, thinking and reasoning, evaluations and judgments, decision‐making, problem solving, and communication, including the use of language. It is the main target of research in the cognitive sciences, a cross‐disciplinary endeavor traditionally comprising philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, anthropology, a…
The Cultural Fabric of Human Causal Cognition
Causal cognition emerges early in development and confers an important advantage for survival. But does this mean that it is universal in humans? Our cross-disciplinary review suggests a broad evolutionary basis for core components of causal cognition but also underlines the essential role of culturally transmitted content as being uniquely human. The multiple ways in which both content and the key mechanisms of cultural transmission generate cul…
Cognition, Causal
Causality is a core concept of human cognition, which is essential for our attempts to understand the world—from our physical environment to social interactions. While causal perception and most types of learning processes may be independent of cultural upbringing, other components of causal cognition appear to be saturated by culture. Cultural influences affect not only how but even whether people engage in causal explanations—by shaping the set…
Cognition and Emotion
Emotions are fundamental psychological phenomena, best understood as episodes or sequences of responses. They are set off by an event that is perceived as relevant to the person. Depending on the event's cognitive appraisal along several dimensions, a subjective feeling is then elicited, often accompanied by typical expressive patterns and physiological changes, which prepare the organism for an event‐specific, actual behavior. One of the major c…
Ethnomathematics and Numerical Cognition
Mathematics is concerned with logic, chance, quantity, structure, change, spatial relationships, and their combination into systems. The various ways in which these ideas and principles are interconnected with culture take center stage in the interdisciplinary field of ethnomathematics. Numerical cognition refers to one of the subfields of ethnomathematics (i.e., quantity and numbers) but, more specifically, focuses on how people represent and pr…
Cognitive Anthropology
The mutual challenge of anthropology and cognitive science
Culture or language
Although investigations of linguistic relativity originated in cultural anthropology, the role of culture in the interplay of language and cognition has rarely been addressed. The debate on whether the grammatical gender of nouns affects how people represent the entity denoted by the respective noun is a typical example of this. A common research strategy has been to compare the gender associations for non-animate entities as a function of their …
Two accounts of traditional Mangarevan counting… and how to evaluate them
Among the traditional counting systems in Polynesian languages, those conveyed for Mangarevan provide particularly interesting and challenging cases. Accounting for their peculiarities presupposes accurate descriptions of their structure and key properties. Unfortunately, however, available descriptions are contradictory and partly incoherent. This paper attempts to resolve some of these contradictions by analysing and contrasting two accounts of…
Cultural Variation in Numeration Systems and Their Mapping Onto the Mental Number Line
The ability to exactly assess large numbers hinges on cultural tools such as counting sequences and thus offers a great opportunity to study how culture interacts with cognition. To obtain a more comprehensive picture of the cultural variance in number representation, this article argues for the inclusion of cross-linguistic analyses. It scrutinizes the specific counting systems of Polynesian and Micronesian languages that were once derived from …
Temporal Frames of Reference
Despite a close correspondence between spatial and temporal cognition, empirical approaches to the two domains have used distinct theoretical conceptions: frames of reference for the former, and moving perspectives and reference-point metaphors for the latter. Our analysis reveals that these conceptions can ‐ and should ‐ be related more closely to each other. Mapping spatial frames of reference (FoRs) onto temporal relations, we obtain a taxonom…
Weighing Up Physical Causes
Cross-cultural differences in cognition are often related to one single cultural dimension. Whether this suffices even for simple tasks is examined in the context of causal attribution. Culture-specific attribution biases are well-established for the social domain, but under dispute for the physical domain. In order to identify and assess possible impacts on assigning physical causation, we conducted a cross-cultural experiment with participants …
Conditional Promises and Threats in Germany, China, and Tonga
Conditional promises and threats are speech acts that aim at changing another person's behavior according to one's own goals. They combine several components on different levels: goals and incentives/penalties on the motivational level, formulations on the linguistic level, obligations on the deontic level, action sequences on the behavioral level, and affective responses on the emotional level. In a cross-cultural study – comparing Germany, Chin…
Changes in Social Orientation
While access to marine resources is de jure open in Tonga, this has not led to a decline of resources and an increase in noncooperative strategies. This is partly due to a strong social orientation underlying core values and institutions as well as economic decisions. Food sharing is one institution that strengthens social cohesion and supports sustainable strategies. Yet this social-environmental relationship is increasingly threatened by a tend…
Counting in Tongan
Is the application of more than one number system in a particular culture necessarily an indication of not having abstracted a general concept of number? Does this mean that specific number systems for certain objects are cognitively deficient? The opposite is the case with the traditional number systems in Tongan, where a consistent decimal system is supplemented by diverging systems for certain objects, in which 20 seems to play a special role.…
Anger and Rank in Tonga and Germany
People in Tonga generally display less anger than inhabitants of "Western" countries. This emerges partly from the fact that in Tongan culture, socially disruptive feelings are evaluated negatively. To examine whether anger is also less frequently elicited in Tonga and, if so, which factors mediate such a difference, our interdisciplinary project combines anthropological fieldwork with a psychological survey using questionnaires. Following apprai…
Assessing Marine Resource Exploitation in Lofanga, Tonga
Informal Insurance and Sustainable Management of Common-Pool Marine Resources in Ha'apai, Tonga
Studies the informal insurance and sustainable management of common-pool marine resources at the fisheries in Ha'apai, Tonga. Identification of fishing technologies; History of the property rights system governing marine resources; Regulation of fishing activity
Stabilisierung der Kooperation im Allmende-Dilemma durch institutionelle und kulturelle Rahmenbedingungen
Die Verkn ̈pfung von institutionellen und kulturellen Bedingungen einer nachhaltigen Nutzung von natürlichen Ressourcen wird durch drei methodische Zugänge interdisziplin?r am Beispiel der Fischereiressourcen untersucht. Im sozialpsychologischen Experiment zeigt sich, daß der Grad der Öffentlichkeit von Information ?ber die Ressourcennutzung, besonders die Möglichkeit zur individuellen Suche solcher Information und Sanktionierung von libernutzern…
Temporal Frames of Reference
Despite a close correspondence between spatial and temporal cognition, empirical approaches to the two domains have used distinct theoretical conceptions: frames of reference for the former, and moving perspectives and reference-point metaphors for the latter. Our analysis reveals that these conceptions can ‐ and should ‐ be related more closely to each other. Mapping spatial frames of reference (FoRs) onto temporal relations, we obtain a taxonom…
Culture or language
Although investigations of linguistic relativity originated in cultural anthropology, the role of culture in the interplay of language and cognition has rarely been addressed. The debate on whether the grammatical gender of nouns affects how people represent the entity denoted by the respective noun is a typical example of this. A common research strategy has been to compare the gender associations for non-animate entities as a function of their …
The Cultural Fabric of Human Causal Cognition
Causal cognition emerges early in development and confers an important advantage for survival. But does this mean that it is universal in humans? Our cross-disciplinary review suggests a broad evolutionary basis for core components of causal cognition but also underlines the essential role of culturally transmitted content as being uniquely human. The multiple ways in which both content and the key mechanisms of cultural transmission generate cul…
Anger and Rank in Tonga and Germany
People in Tonga generally display less anger than inhabitants of "Western" countries. This emerges partly from the fact that in Tongan culture, socially disruptive feelings are evaluated negatively. To examine whether anger is also less frequently elicited in Tonga and, if so, which factors mediate such a difference, our interdisciplinary project combines anthropological fieldwork with a psychological survey using questionnaires. Following apprai…
Cultural Variation in Numeration Systems and Their Mapping Onto the Mental Number Line
The ability to exactly assess large numbers hinges on cultural tools such as counting sequences and thus offers a great opportunity to study how culture interacts with cognition. To obtain a more comprehensive picture of the cultural variance in number representation, this article argues for the inclusion of cross-linguistic analyses. It scrutinizes the specific counting systems of Polynesian and Micronesian languages that were once derived from …
Informal Insurance and Sustainable Management of Common-Pool Marine Resources in Ha'apai, Tonga
Studies the informal insurance and sustainable management of common-pool marine resources at the fisheries in Ha'apai, Tonga. Identification of fishing technologies; History of the property rights system governing marine resources; Regulation of fishing activity
Conditional Promises and Threats in Germany, China, and Tonga
Conditional promises and threats are speech acts that aim at changing another person's behavior according to one's own goals. They combine several components on different levels: goals and incentives/penalties on the motivational level, formulations on the linguistic level, obligations on the deontic level, action sequences on the behavioral level, and affective responses on the emotional level. In a cross-cultural study – comparing Germany, Chin…
Counting in Tongan
Is the application of more than one number system in a particular culture necessarily an indication of not having abstracted a general concept of number? Does this mean that specific number systems for certain objects are cognitively deficient? The opposite is the case with the traditional number systems in Tongan, where a consistent decimal system is supplemented by diverging systems for certain objects, in which 20 seems to play a special role.…
Stabilisierung der Kooperation im Allmende-Dilemma durch institutionelle und kulturelle Rahmenbedingungen
Die Verkn ̈pfung von institutionellen und kulturellen Bedingungen einer nachhaltigen Nutzung von natürlichen Ressourcen wird durch drei methodische Zugänge interdisziplin?r am Beispiel der Fischereiressourcen untersucht. Im sozialpsychologischen Experiment zeigt sich, daß der Grad der Öffentlichkeit von Information ?ber die Ressourcennutzung, besonders die Möglichkeit zur individuellen Suche solcher Information und Sanktionierung von libernutzern…
Informal Insurance and Sustainable Management of Common-Pool Marine Resources in Ha'apai, Tonga
Studies the informal insurance and sustainable management of common-pool marine resources at the fisheries in Ha'apai, Tonga. Identification of fishing technologies; History of the property rights system governing marine resources; Regulation of fishing activity
Changes in Social Orientation
While access to marine resources is de jure open in Tonga, this has not led to a decline of resources and an increase in noncooperative strategies. This is partly due to a strong social orientation underlying core values and institutions as well as economic decisions. Food sharing is one institution that strengthens social cohesion and supports sustainable strategies. Yet this social-environmental relationship is increasingly threatened by a tend…
Counting in Tongan
Is the application of more than one number system in a particular culture necessarily an indication of not having abstracted a general concept of number? Does this mean that specific number systems for certain objects are cognitively deficient? The opposite is the case with the traditional number systems in Tongan, where a consistent decimal system is supplemented by diverging systems for certain objects, in which 20 seems to play a special role.…
Anger and Rank in Tonga and Germany
People in Tonga generally display less anger than inhabitants of "Western" countries. This emerges partly from the fact that in Tongan culture, socially disruptive feelings are evaluated negatively. To examine whether anger is also less frequently elicited in Tonga and, if so, which factors mediate such a difference, our interdisciplinary project combines anthropological fieldwork with a psychological survey using questionnaires. Following apprai…
Assessing Marine Resource Exploitation in Lofanga, Tonga
Weighing Up Physical Causes
Cross-cultural differences in cognition are often related to one single cultural dimension. Whether this suffices even for simple tasks is examined in the context of causal attribution. Culture-specific attribution biases are well-established for the social domain, but under dispute for the physical domain. In order to identify and assess possible impacts on assigning physical causation, we conducted a cross-cultural experiment with participants …
Conditional Promises and Threats in Germany, China, and Tonga
Conditional promises and threats are speech acts that aim at changing another person's behavior according to one's own goals. They combine several components on different levels: goals and incentives/penalties on the motivational level, formulations on the linguistic level, obligations on the deontic level, action sequences on the behavioral level, and affective responses on the emotional level. In a cross-cultural study – comparing Germany, Chin…
Temporal Frames of Reference
Despite a close correspondence between spatial and temporal cognition, empirical approaches to the two domains have used distinct theoretical conceptions: frames of reference for the former, and moving perspectives and reference-point metaphors for the latter. Our analysis reveals that these conceptions can ‐ and should ‐ be related more closely to each other. Mapping spatial frames of reference (FoRs) onto temporal relations, we obtain a taxonom…
Cultural Variation in Numeration Systems and Their Mapping Onto the Mental Number Line
The ability to exactly assess large numbers hinges on cultural tools such as counting sequences and thus offers a great opportunity to study how culture interacts with cognition. To obtain a more comprehensive picture of the cultural variance in number representation, this article argues for the inclusion of cross-linguistic analyses. It scrutinizes the specific counting systems of Polynesian and Micronesian languages that were once derived from …
Two accounts of traditional Mangarevan counting… and how to evaluate them
Among the traditional counting systems in Polynesian languages, those conveyed for Mangarevan provide particularly interesting and challenging cases. Accounting for their peculiarities presupposes accurate descriptions of their structure and key properties. Unfortunately, however, available descriptions are contradictory and partly incoherent. This paper attempts to resolve some of these contradictions by analysing and contrasting two accounts of…
Cognitive Anthropology
The mutual challenge of anthropology and cognitive science
Culture or language
Although investigations of linguistic relativity originated in cultural anthropology, the role of culture in the interplay of language and cognition has rarely been addressed. The debate on whether the grammatical gender of nouns affects how people represent the entity denoted by the respective noun is a typical example of this. A common research strategy has been to compare the gender associations for non-animate entities as a function of their …
Cognition, Causal
Causality is a core concept of human cognition, which is essential for our attempts to understand the world—from our physical environment to social interactions. While causal perception and most types of learning processes may be independent of cultural upbringing, other components of causal cognition appear to be saturated by culture. Cultural influences affect not only how but even whether people engage in causal explanations—by shaping the set…
Cognition and Emotion
Emotions are fundamental psychological phenomena, best understood as episodes or sequences of responses. They are set off by an event that is perceived as relevant to the person. Depending on the event's cognitive appraisal along several dimensions, a subjective feeling is then elicited, often accompanied by typical expressive patterns and physiological changes, which prepare the organism for an event‐specific, actual behavior. One of the major c…
Ethnomathematics and Numerical Cognition
Mathematics is concerned with logic, chance, quantity, structure, change, spatial relationships, and their combination into systems. The various ways in which these ideas and principles are interconnected with culture take center stage in the interdisciplinary field of ethnomathematics. Numerical cognition refers to one of the subfields of ethnomathematics (i.e., quantity and numbers) but, more specifically, focuses on how people represent and pr…
The Cultural Fabric of Human Causal Cognition
Causal cognition emerges early in development and confers an important advantage for survival. But does this mean that it is universal in humans? Our cross-disciplinary review suggests a broad evolutionary basis for core components of causal cognition but also underlines the essential role of culturally transmitted content as being uniquely human. The multiple ways in which both content and the key mechanisms of cultural transmission generate cul…
Cognition and Cognitive Science
Cognition refers to activities of the mind and is involved in perception and attention, memory, learning, categorization, thinking and reasoning, evaluations and judgments, decision‐making, problem solving, and communication, including the use of language. It is the main target of research in the cognitive sciences, a cross‐disciplinary endeavor traditionally comprising philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, anthropology, a…
The emergence and complexification of symbolic practices in the Homo lineage
Recent archaeological discoveries, reviewed in this essay, challenge traditional views on the emergence of human symbolic cognition. Once believed to have originated in Europe around 40,000 years ago, new evidence shows it emerged much earlier across diverse regions. Geometric engravings from Blombos Cave in South Africa date back 77,000 years, while body ornaments over 140,000 years old have been found in North Africa, with similar artifacts fro…
Introduction to topiCS Volume 18, Issue 1
When I took up my position as Executive Editor of topiCS five years ago, I did so with a strong desire to broaden the scope of cognitive science beyond what had become its dominating core disciplines (Bender, 2019, 2021)—and especially to reconnect it with anthropology, the discipline that, in Margaret Boden's (2006) words, went “missing” (and see Bender, Hutchins, & Medin, 2010; Núñez et al., 2019). While this desire resonates with what has been…
Cognition (14 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Cognitive science (8 works) · Linguistics (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Cognitive psychology (7 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Computer Science (6 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (6 works) · Categorization, perception, and language (5 works)