Comments on: How Culture Shapes Our Mind and Brain

By: Are We Out of Our Minds, or Are They Out of Us? | Brain Blogger

Are We Out of Our Minds, or Are They Out of Us? | Brain Blogger — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:00:47 +0000

[...] have a better idea today of how the physical brain gives rise to mind consciousness any better than Descartes did when he thought the soul gave rise to consciousness one hundred years ago. The mind is not [...]

By: terry

terry — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:50:09 +0000

The Institute of Natural Excellence has a new way to look at this and many other things in life, which is called Natural Excellence. It is based on recent research such as brain scans plus Asian and Western cultures combined with many new and old theories. According to Natural Excellence behaviour is based on a combination of your genes, the environment we grow up within, plus the situation we are in at the time a decision is made. This, together with our health and any “patterns” we have built up through experience effects our thoughts. Natural Excellence can help individuals, team and organisations work in harmony and deliver the maximum (including considering the environment as you need to be aware of this – its impact on you and you on it). It started in Asia and is spreading across the World. Many organisations are currently reviewing Natural Excellence to adopt it or have already done so- Barclays, SAP, Siemens, Foremost etc. So, genes, diet, health, your upbringing, the situation, the people around you and environment are all linked .. we are not islands, but a complex cocktail! Terry

By: Citizen Campanola

Citizen Campanola — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:20:47 +0000

I think both sides of this argument are interesting, but I tend to lean towards culture affecting your habits and upbringing instead of race.. I have been overseas and even though I look the same as most of those people– I can not relate to them whatsoever.
-Sylvia

By: Frank

Frank — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:32:24 +0000

I would highly disagree with Daniel. As an Asian who has spent most of her formative years in England; an Asian that spends more time with the local population – I’ve always had far more of an affinity to Westerners than I do other Asians. In fact when I go to my home country I always find it far harder to interact with those who have grown up here (irrespective of race). I’m not suggesting that genetics have absolutely no effect on the mind/brain, I’m just saying one would be foolish to underestimate the extent to which culture can affect our mind. I’d suggest that while genetics give us the base – what produces the possible delineations in which we can develop – it is culture that ultimately moulds us.

By: De como la cultura modela nuestra mente y nuestro cerebro

De como la cultura modela nuestra mente y nuestro cerebro — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:12:37 +0000

[...] De como la cultura modela nuestra mente y nuestro cerebro [...]

By: Naomi Most

Naomi Most — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:01:38 +0000

Interesting stuff. However, while I wouldn’t say the experiment sounds “ridiculous”, I do agree with Daniel that to be able to draw conclusions about how culture shapes cognition, you’d need to rule out genetic influences.

By: Situationism in the Blogosphere – October 2009, Part I « The Situationist

Situationism in the Blogosphere – October 2009, Part I « The Situationist — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:02:15 +0000

[...] From Brain Blogger: “How Culture Shapes Our Mind and Brain” [...]

By: Wednesday Round Up #86 « Neuroanthropology

Wednesday Round Up #86 « Neuroanthropology — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:52:53 +0000

[...] Meyer, How Culture Shapes Our Mind And Brain Brain Blogger gets it! Now we just need a more robust notion of culture on the neuro [...]

By: Collection Development Blog » Psychology Headlines from PSYCHNEWS

Collection Development Blog » Psychology Headlines from PSYCHNEWS — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:24:16 +0000

[...] How Culture Shapes Our Mind and Brain [...]

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:21:45 +0000

This study sounds ridiculous… how do you separate culture from race? It looks like you should take say Chinese people growing up in America and compare them to Chinese people that had grown up in China for a worthwhile comparison.

By: loci

loci — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:39:36 +0000

“Culture is your operating system”
Terence Mckenna

By: Simoleon Sense » Blog Archive » Weekly Wisdom Roundup #48 (You Do Want To Get Smarter Right?)

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:16:36 +0000

[...] How Culture Shapes Our Mind and Brain – Via BrainBlogger – Most people would agree that culture can have a large effect on our daily lives — influencing what we may wear, say, or find humorous. But many people may be surprised to learn that culture may even effect how our brain responds to different stimuli. Indeed, until recently, most psychology and neuroscience researchers took for granted that their findings translated across individuals in various cultures. In the past decade, however, research has begun to unravel how cultural belief systems shape our thoughts and behaviors. One of the strongest divides in thinking across cultures is the different perspectives about ‘the individual’ in East-Asian and Western-European/American cultures. Western-Europeans and Americans emphasize individuals as unique entities from others, while East-Asian cultures emphasize the individual in relation to other people and their environmental context. These viewpoints can be traced to the cultures’ unique philosophies concerning the individual. After all, Descartes noted “I think therefore I am,” which he used to prove that if one wonders whether or not they exist, they therefore must exist because they are capable of this and other such internal thoughts. Confucian philosophy, on the other hand, emphasizes that a person cannot fully exist alone, and that a person only reaches the highest form of existence once he/she mentally severs the divide between themselves, others and the environment. [...]

By: Cole Bitting

Cole Bitting — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:43:51 +0000

Awesome article. Do you think it would be fair to look at the way society create a normative sense of perspective? Western: highly first-person. Eastern: a witness to the first-person.

By: Moonlit Minds « Moonlit Minds

Moonlit Minds « Moonlit Minds — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:05:06 +0000

[...] How Culture Shapes Our Mind and Brain Share and Enjoy: [...]