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 Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evo ...

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 Cultural relativism is the idea that a person's beliefs and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture. Proponents of cultural relativism also tend to argue that the norms and values of one culture should not be evaluated ...

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 Anthr ...

, and Donald Brown.

Donald Brown's list in ''Human Universals''

In his book ''

Human Universals 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 ...

'' (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 ...

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 vario ...

Lever A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '' fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is d ...

Rope A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similarl ...

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). ...

and is therefore not the same thing as

hyperdiffusionism Hyperdiffusionism is a pseudoarchaeological hypothesis suggesting that certain historical technologies or ideas originated with a single people or civilization before their adoption by other cultures. Thus, all great civilizations that share simi ...

; 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, 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''. .*

George P. Murdock George Peter ("Pete") Murdock (May 11, 1897 – March 29, 1985), also known as G. P. Murdock, was an American anthropologist who was professor at Yale University and University of Pittsburgh. He is remembered for his empirical approach to ethn ...

(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 Charles Egerton Osgood (20 November 1916 – 15 September 1991) was an American psychologist and professor at the University of Illinois. He was known for his research on behaviourism versus cognitivism, semantics (he introduced the term "seman ...

, William S May, and Murray S Miron (1975) ''Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning'' Champaign, IL:

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...

. * Steven Pinker (2002), ''The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature'', New York: Penguin Putnam. *

Rik Pinxten Rik Pinxten (born 12 March 1947 in Antwerp) is a professor and researcher in cultural anthropology at Ghent University. Between 2003 and 2010 he was chairman of the Liberal Humanist Association of Flanders, the Flemish section of The Humanist Ass ...

(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 city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

: 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