Cultural refers to the patterns of human behavior within a society and the values that give significance to those behaviors. It also refers to the ways in which a group expresses its beliefs and values, including art, music, dance, literature, and other forms of creative expression. A society may have many different cultures within it; in addition, each individual member of a culture carries his or her own unique culture. A person’s culture is influenced by his or her beliefs, experiences, and genetics, as well as the socialization process that occurs during childhood.
Many people have attempted to define culture. Edward Burnett Tylor was one of the first English-speaking scholars to use the term in a general sense, defining it as “all that binds people together into a common whole.” Others have taken a more narrow approach to the concept. Some have viewed it as the “mental aspects of culture,” such as values, norms, worldviews, and so on, while others have considered it to include all of the physical aspects of life, such as art, cuisines, fashion, and architectural styles. Still others have viewed it as a system that changes over time.
Regardless of its definition, most anthropologists have recognized that culture is a complex phenomenon with an inextricable relationship to human behavior and development. This is why a great deal of effort has been put into identifying how and why culture influences behavior and development, as well as determining the extent to which individuals are bound by their own cultural systems.
The debate over how to define culture continues to this day. Some anthropologists, such as Franz Boas, view culture as an organic, working system that should be studied as a whole. Other anthropologists, such as Edward Burnett Tylor and Lewis H. Morgan, favored a hierarchical perspective that separated high culture of the social elite from low culture or folk culture of the lower classes.
A common thread that runs through all definitions of culture is that it is learned, shared, symbolic, holistic, dynamic, and integrated. These characteristics are not mutually exclusive; they reinforce and enrich each other. A person’s beliefs, experiences, and genetics shape his or her culture, while the ways in which a society and its members express their culture shape the beliefs, experiences, and genetics of future generations.
In order to better understand the role that culture plays in human development, psychologists are beginning to recognize the importance of incorporating cultural processes into models of psychological development. This is particularly true when examining the relationship between culture and development of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functions. It is important to realize that current neurological explanations of behavior and development are largely deterministic and obfuscate the role of culturally variable socialization processes. It is essential to recognize that the cultural environment in which an individual grows up shapes the way in which he or she learns, and it also determines his or her level of success at adapting to a new situation.