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4.2.3 - Cognitive Aspects of Culture

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Understanding Cognitive Aspects

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Teacher
Teacher

Today we are discussing the cognitive aspects of culture. This dimension involves how we process information and assign meanings to our experiences. Can anyone give an example of this?

Student 1
Student 1

I think when I hear a cell phone ring and immediately know it’s mine, that’s an example.

Student 2
Student 2

Or when I see a cartoon and get the joke about a politician. That’s understanding meaning.

Teacher
Teacher

Exactly! These are examples of how we utilize our cognitive skills in cultural contexts. Remember the acronym 'CUM,' which stands for Cognitive Understanding and Meaning. It's crucial to remember how we engage with culture through cognition.

Student 3
Student 3

So, cognition helps us not just see things, but to understand their significance?

Teacher
Teacher

Correct! It shapes our perceptions and interactions within our culture.

Teacher
Teacher

To recap, the cognitive dimension facilitates our understanding of cultural elements, thereby influencing our identity and social interactions.

Cognitive vs Normative Dimensions

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Teacher
Teacher

Now let's differentiate between cognitive and normative aspects. The cognitive deals with understanding, while normative involves the rules that guide our behavior. Can someone provide an example of normative behavior?

Student 4
Student 4

Like how we shouldn’t open someone else's letters? That’s a rule.

Teacher
Teacher

Exactly! Rules like these emerge from our understanding of social norms. To remember this, think of the acronym 'NORM,' which stands for Norms of Order and Rule-Making.

Student 1
Student 1

So, normative aspects are like guidelines that emerge from the cognitive understanding?

Teacher
Teacher

Exactly! They work hand in hand. Understanding culture involves both cognitive comprehension and adherence to norms.

Teacher
Teacher

In summary, the cognitive dimension allows for sense-making, while the normative dimension informs us of what is acceptable or expected.

The Role of Literacy in Cognition

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Teacher
Teacher

Let’s discuss how literacy changes how we process cultural information. In literate societies, knowledge is documented. How does this affect cognition?

Student 2
Student 2

Maybe it allows people to access information more easily and understand it on a deeper level?

Student 3
Student 3

And isn't it also true that oral cultures depend on memory, so they might approach knowledge differently?

Teacher
Teacher

Exactly! In oral traditions, stories often emphasize repetition for easy recall. To recall this, think of 'RERUN' for Repetition Establishes Recall in Oral Narratives.

Student 4
Student 4

So, literacy not only makes information more widespread but alters how we engage with it?

Teacher
Teacher

Correct! In essence, the literacy available influences cognitive culture differently, impacting perceptions and expressions.

Introduction & Overview

Read a summary of the section's main ideas. Choose from Basic, Medium, or Detailed.

Quick Overview

This section explores the cognitive dimensions of culture, emphasizing how individuals learn to process information and develop an understanding of their environment.

Standard

The cognitive aspects of culture involve how people make sense of their surroundings and assign meaning to their experiences. This section discusses the distinctions between cognitive, normative, and material dimensions of culture, highlighting the nature of knowledge transmission in literate versus non-literate societies.

Detailed

Cognitive Aspects of Culture

This section delves into the cognitive dimension of culture, which refers to the mental processes we use to interpret and give meaning to the vast array of information we encounter in our daily lives. Distinguishing three main dimensions of culture—cognitive, normative, and material—this topic emphasizes the importance of cognition in cultural contexts.

  1. Cognitive Dimension: This refers to how individuals learn and process information. It involves recognizing symbols, meanings, and the underlying concepts embedded in various cultural practices. For example, when a person identifies their cell phone ringing or understands a political cartoon, they are utilizing the cognitive aspects of their culture.
  2. Normative and Material Dimensions: While cognitive aspects deal with mental recognition and understanding, normative aspects involve the rules and values that dictate behavior, and material aspects pertain to tangible tools and technology that support cultural practices. Together, these dimensions show how a culture operates as an interconnected system.
  3. Literacy and Oral Traditions: The text points out the differences between literate and non-literate societies in terms of knowledge dissemination. In literate societies, knowledge is documented in texts, allowing for a wider distribution and preservation of information. In contrast, non-literate societies rely on oral traditions and storytelling to pass down knowledge, which can lead to variations in cultural expressions due to the emphasis on memory and performance.
  4. Impact of Cognition on Art: The section briefly discusses how literacy influences artistic production, with oral traditions promoting repetition and audience engagement differently than written formats. The evolution of media further complicates this relationship and poses questions about modern cognitive culture and attention spans.

This exploration emphasizes that culture is a dynamic system where cognitive understanding plays a critical role in behavior, identity formation, and cultural expression.

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Audio Book

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Dimensions of Culture

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Three dimensions of culture have been distinguished:
(i) Cognitive: This refers to how we learn to process what we hear or see, so as to give it meaning (identifying the ring of a cell-phone as ours, recognising the cartoon of a politician).
(ii) Normative: This refers to rules of conduct (not opening other people’s letters, performing rituals at death).
(iii) Material: This includes any activity made possible by means of materials. Materials also include tools or machines. Examples include internet ‘chatting’, using rice-flour paste to design kolam on floors.

Detailed Explanation

This chunk explains the three key dimensions of culture: cognitive, normative, and material. The cognitive dimension deals with how we understand the world around us through our senses and mental processes. For example, when you hear your phone ring, you recognize the sound as yours. The normative dimension refers to the rules and customs that guide our behavior, such as respecting others' privacy by not opening their letters. Lastly, the material dimension involves the physical tools and technologies that humans create and use, like mobile phones and art made with rice-flour paste. Together, these dimensions shape our cultural experiences and identities.

Examples & Analogies

Think of these dimensions like a smartphone. The cognitive aspect is like the software that processes information. The normative aspect represents the user agreement or terms of service guiding how you should use it responsibly. The material aspect is the physical device itself which you can touch and use. Just like all these components work together to make the smartphone functional, the dimensions of culture interact to create our societal norms and behaviors.

Recognition of Cognitive Aspects

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The cognitive aspects of one’s own culture are harder to recognise than its material aspects (which are tangible or visible or audible) and its normative aspects (which are explicitly stated). Cognition refers to understanding, how we make sense of all the information coming to us from our environment. In literate societies ideas are transcribed in books and documents and preserved in libraries, institutions or archives. But in non-literate societies legend or lore is committed to memory and transmitted orally.

Detailed Explanation

This chunk highlights the challenges we face in recognizing the cognitive aspects of our culture. While we can easily see and touch material aspects like tools and technologies, or verbalize normative rules like laws and etiquette, cognitive aspects are less visible. This is because cognition involves our mental processes—how we interpret and understand the information that surrounds us. In literate societies, knowledge can be written down and stored, whereas non-literate societies rely on oral traditions, where stories and cultural practices are memorized and passed down verbally.

Examples & Analogies

Imagine trying to explain the concept of 'fair play' in sports. It’s not just about the written rules; it's also about the unspoken understanding of sportsmanship that players share. This understanding grows from experience and tradition, much like how oral histories in a community transfer wisdom and values without written records. In this way, cognitive aspects of culture are like the underlying currents of a river—they are there, guiding behavior and thought, but not always easy to see.

Effects of Literacy on Culture

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Let us think about how writing may affect the production and consumption of art. In his influential book, Orality and Literacy Walter Ong cites a study of 1971 that states that only 78 of the approximately 3,000 existing languages possess a literature. Ong suggests that material that is not written down has certain specific characteristics. There is a lot of repetition of words, to make it simpler to remember. The audience of an oral performance is likely to be more receptive and involved than would be readers of a written text from an unfamiliar culture.

Detailed Explanation

This chunk discusses the impact of literacy on culture, particularly in relation to art and expression. Walter Ong emphasizes that many languages lack written literature, which affects how ideas and stories are conveyed. For example, in oral traditions, repetition is a common technique used to help the audience remember details. When people engage with oral performances, they often become more actively involved compared to reading written texts, which can feel more passive, especially when the readers are from different cultural backgrounds.

Examples & Analogies

Consider listening to a story told by a grandparent versus reading that same story in a book. When grandma tells the story, she might use voices, gestures, and repeat parts to make it memorable and captivating. You are likely to feel more connected and engaged, almost participating in the narrative. In contrast, reading the written story alone might not create the same depth of connection. This illustrates how oral traditions foster a communal experience that written forms can sometimes lack.

Cultural Lag

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For instance, in societies like ours historically literacy has been made available only to the more privileged. Sociological studies are often concerned with investigating how literacy can be made relevant to the lives of people whose families have never gone to school. This can lead to unexpected responses, like a vegetable-seller who asked why he needed to know the alphabet when he could mentally calculate what his customers owed him?

Detailed Explanation

This chunk explores the concept of 'cultural lag', particularly how technological advancements, such as access to literacy, lag behind societal values and norms. In many societies, literacy and education have been privileges for the affluent, which creates a divide in how different groups adapt to modern expectations. The example of the vegetable seller illustrates a real-world instance of cultural lag—he doesn't see the immediate value of literacy in his life when he feels capable of managing his business without it. This raises questions about how we assign value to education and literacy within various socio-economic contexts.

Examples & Analogies

Think of people adapting to new technology. Imagine someone who has worked a traditional job for decades suddenly facing the digital shift. They might feel overwhelmed and consider their past skills sufficient, just like the vegetable seller who calculates prices in his head. This situation reflects cultural lag—the struggle between traditional methods and the demands of a tech-savvy world, showing that change does not always happen at a uniform pace across different areas of society.

Definitions & Key Concepts

Learn essential terms and foundational ideas that form the basis of the topic.

Key Concepts

  • Cognitive Dimension: Refers to how individuals process and interpret information in their cultural context.

  • Normative Dimension: Involves the rules and norms that guide social behavior and interactions.

  • Material Culture: Represents the tangible elements that constitute daily life in a culture.

  • Oral Tradition: The method of cultural transmission that relies on storytelling and collective memory.

Examples & Real-Life Applications

See how the concepts apply in real-world scenarios to understand their practical implications.

Examples

  • Recognizing symbols like a cell phone's ring or understanding a political cartoon.

  • Understanding that societal rules, like not reading others' letters, arise from cognitive understanding of respect.

Memory Aids

Use mnemonics, acronyms, or visual cues to help remember key information more easily.

🎵 Rhymes Time

  • Cognition helps us see, it's the mind's ability, to process and agree, making sense of life's tapestry.

📖 Fascinating Stories

  • Imagine a village where stories are told around a fire. Each tale reinforces moral values, crafting their identity through collective memory. This oral tradition shapes who they are.

🧠 Other Memory Gems

  • Remember 'KILL' for Knowledge Is Learned from Listening—emphasizing the role of oral traditions in shaping culture.

🎯 Super Acronyms

Use 'CUNNY' - Cognitive Understanding Nurtures Norms Young, illustrating how cognition shapes normative behavior.

Flash Cards

Review key concepts with flashcards.

Glossary of Terms

Review the Definitions for terms.

  • Term: Cognition

    Definition:

    The mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

  • Term: Normative Dimension

    Definition:

    The aspects of culture that consist of rules and norms guiding social behavior.

  • Term: Material Culture

    Definition:

    The physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture.

  • Term: Oral Tradition

    Definition:

    Cultural material and tradition transmitted orally from one generation to another.

  • Term: Literacy

    Definition:

    The ability to read and write, which impacts the processing and transmission of culture.