Why the behavioural sciences need the concept of the culture-ready brain

Bibliographic Data

ID2401812
AuthorsC Whitehead (0000-0003-4389-8036, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume12
Issue1
Pages43-71
Publication date2012-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropological Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1463-4996 • E-ISSN: 1741-2641
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1463499612436464
OpenAlexW2068074898
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited90

From the conceptual gulf dividing social from biological anthropology this paper infers an ideological problem affecting science as a whole. Cultural biases have tended to inhibit or subvert appropriate theorizing and research into unique aspects of the human mind, brain and behaviour. To resolve this problem I suggest that we need a systematic anthropological critique of 'collective deceptions' affecting western science, and greater anthropological collaboration with neuroscience and other disciplines. I discuss recent imaging studies which may contribute to a better understanding of the culture-ready brain. Taken in conjunction with fossil and archaeological data, the findings seem more consistent with a 'play and display' hypothesis of hominid brain expansion than with current cognocentric hypotheses, suggesting new directions for research. Such research, I argue, could assist integration between behavioural disciplines

Cognitive science · Cultural analysis · Cultural neuroscience · Epistemology · Ideology · Philosophy of science · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Action Observation and Synchronization · Child and Animal Learning Development · Language and cultural evolution · Philosophy · Psychology

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