# Cultural universal

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{{Short description|Anthropological concept, element common to all human cultures}}
{{redirect|Human universals|the 1991 anthropology book|Human Universals{{!}}''Human Universals''}}
{{multiple issues|
{{More footnotes|date=May 2014}}
{{expert| anthropology| reason=add citations or discredit |date=January 2022}}
{{Tone|date=March 2025}}
}}
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 culture](/source/human_culture)s worldwide. Taken together, the whole body of cultural universals is known as the [human condition](/source/human_condition). [Evolutionary psychologists](/source/Evolutionary_psychology) hold that behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures are good candidates for evolutionary adaptations.<ref name="Psychology">Schacter, Daniel L, Daniel Wegner and Daniel Gilbert. 2007. ''Psychology''. Worth Publishers. pp. 26–27</ref> Some anthropological and sociological theorists that take a [cultural relativist](/source/cultural_relativist) 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](/source/ethology) is an issue of "[nature versus nurture](/source/nature_versus_nurture)". Prominent scholars on the topic include [Emile Durkheim](/source/Emile_Durkheim), [George Murdock](/source/George_Murdock), [Claude Lévi-Strauss](/source/Claude_L%C3%A9vi-Strauss), and [Donald Brown](/source/Donald_Brown_(anthropologist)).

== Donald Brown's list in ''Human Universals'' ==
<!-- This list is based on the work by the mentioned author. Please no removing or adding based on original research or unrelated authors about whether these listed below are or are not cultural universals -->
In his book ''[Human Universals](/source/Human_Universals)'' (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:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Donald |title=Human Universals |date=1991 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-0070082090}}</ref> 

===Language and cognition===
{{main|Linguistic universal}}

{{columns-list|
* Language is [translatable](/source/translation)
* [Abstraction](/source/Abstraction) in speech and thought
* [Antonym](/source/Antonym)s, [synonym](/source/synonym)s
* [Logical notions](/source/Logical_predicate)  of "and", "not", "opposite", "equivalent", "part/whole", "general/particular"
* Binary cognitive distinctions
* [Color term](/source/Color_term)s: black, white
* Classification of: age, behavioral propensities, body parts,  colors, fauna, flora, inner states, kin, gender, space, tools, weather conditions
* Continua (ordering as cognitive pattern)
* Discrepancies between speech, thought, and action
* [Figurative speech](/source/Figurative_speech), [metaphor](/source/metaphor)s
* Symbolism, [symbolic speech](/source/symbolic_speech)
* [Synesthetic](/source/Synaesthesia_(rhetorical_device)) metaphors
* [Taboo](/source/Taboo)ed utterances
* Special speech for special occasions
* Prestige from proficient use of language (e.g. poetry)
* Planning
* Units of time
* Language employed to manipulate, misinform, or mislead
}}

===Society===

{{columns-list|
* [Personal names](/source/Given_name)
* Family or household
* [Kin groups](/source/kinship)
* [Peer group](/source/Peer_group)s not based on family
* Actions under self-control distinguished from those not under control
* Affection expressed and felt
* Age grades, statuses, and terms
* [Law](/source/Law): rights and obligations, rules of membership
* [Moral sentiments](/source/Morality)
* Distinguishing right and wrong, good and bad
* Promise/oath
* Prestige [inequalities](/source/social_inequality)
* [Statuses](/source/Social_status) and roles<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Local-Ladder Effect: Social Status and Subjective Well-Being|journal = Psychological Science|volume = 23|issue = 7|pages = 764–71|doi = 10.1177/0956797611434537|pmid = 22653798|year = 2012|last1 = Anderson|first1 = C.|last2 = Kraus|first2 = M. W.|last3 = Galinsky|first3 = A. D.|last4 = Keltner|first4 = D.|s2cid = 8406753}}</ref><ref name="Status desire 2015">{{cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=Cameron |last2=Hildreth |first2=John Angus D. |last3=Howland |first3=Laura |title=Is the desire for status a fundamental human motive? A review of the empirical literature. |journal=Psychological Bulletin |date=May 2015 |volume=141 |issue=3 |pages=574–601 |doi=10.1037/a0038781|pmid=25774679 |s2cid=17129083 }}</ref>
* Leaders
* Inclination towards [patriarchy](/source/patriarchy) (dominance of men in society)
* De facto [oligarchy](/source/oligarchy)
* [Property](/source/Property)
* Coalitions
* Collective identities
* Conflict
* Cooperative labor
* [Gender role](/source/Gender_role)s
* Males on average travel greater distances over lifetime
* [Marriage](/source/Marriage)
* [Husband older than wife on average](/source/Age_disparity_in_sexual_relationships)
* Copulation normally conducted in privacy
* [Incest](/source/Incest) prevention or avoidance, incest between mother and son unthinkable
* [Collective decision making](/source/Collective_decision_making)
* [Etiquette](/source/Etiquette)
* [Inheritance](/source/Inheritance) rules
* Generosity admired, gift giving
* Mood- or consciousness-altering techniques and/or substances
* Redress of wrongs, sanctions
* [Sexual jealousy](/source/Sexual_jealousy_in_humans)
* [Sexual violence](/source/Sexual_violence)
* [Shame](/source/Shame)
* [Territoriality](/source/Territoriality)
* Triangular awareness (assessing relationships among the self and two other people)
* Some forms of proscribed violence
* Visiting
* [Trade](/source/Trade)
}}

===Beliefs===
{{further|Myth and ritual}}

{{columns-list|
* [Magical thinking](/source/Magical_thinking)
* Use of magic to increase life and win love
* Beliefs about death
* Beliefs about disease
* Beliefs about fortune and misfortune
* [Divination](/source/Divination)
* Attempts to control weather
* Dream interpretation
* Beliefs and narratives
* [Proverb](/source/Proverb)s, sayings
* Poetry/[rhetorics](/source/rhetorics)
* [Healing](/source/Healing) practices, medicine
* Childbirth customs
* Rites of passage
* [Music](/source/Music), [rhythm](/source/rhythm), [dance](/source/dance), and to some degree associations between [music and emotion](/source/music_and_emotion)
* Play
* Toys, playthings
* Death rituals, mourning, [funerals](/source/Funeral)
* [Feasting](/source/Feasting)
* [Body adornment](/source/Body_ornamentation_(disambiguation))<!--intentional link to DAB page-->
* Hairstyles
* [Art](/source/Art)
}}

===Technology===
* [Shelter](/source/Shelter)
* [Control of fire](/source/Control_of_fire)
* [Tools](/source/Tool), tool making
* [Weapon](/source/Weapon)s, spear
* Containers
* [Cooking](/source/Cooking)
* [Lever](/source/Lever)
* [Rope](/source/Rope)

==Nicholas Christakis' innate social universals==

Based on experiments and studies of accidental and utopian societies, sociologist and evolutionary biologist Nicholas Christakis proposes that humans have evolved to genetically favor societies that have eight universal attributes, including:<ref>{{cite book |author=Nicholas Christakis |title=Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society |year=2019 |publisher=Little, Brown Spark}}</ref>
* [Love](/source/Love) for [romantic partner](/source/romantic_partner)s
* [Love for offspring](/source/Parental_love)
* [Friendship](/source/Friendship)
* [Social network](/source/Social_network)s
* [Cooperation](/source/Cooperation)
* [In-group favoritism](/source/In-group_favoritism)

==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.<ref>Language: The cultural tool DL Everett - 2012 - Vintage</ref>

Outside influence could be an explanation for some cultural universals.<ref>Equal Recognition: The Moral Foundations of Minority Rights, Alan Patten 2014</ref> This does not preclude multiple independent inventions of [civilization](/source/civilization) and is therefore not the same thing as [hyperdiffusionism](/source/hyperdiffusionism); it merely means that cultural universals are not proof of [innateness](/source/Instinct).<ref>Cultures and Globalization: Cultural Expression, Creativity and Innovation, Helmut K Anheier, Yudhishthir Raj Isar 2010</ref>

==See also==
* [Animal culture](/source/Animal_culture)
* [Archetype](/source/Archetype)
* [Biocultural anthropology](/source/Biocultural_anthropology)
* [Culture](/source/Culture)
* [Social learning](/source/Social_learning_(social_pedagogy))
* [Social norm](/source/Social_norm)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |author1-first=Erika |author1-last=Bourguignon |author2-first=Lenora |author2-last=Greenbaum Ucko |year=1973 |title= Diversity and Homogeneity in World Societies |location=New Haven, Connecticut |publisher=HRAF Press |isbn = 978-0875363301}}
* {{Cite book |first = Donald |last = Brown |author-link = Donald Brown (anthropologist) |title =Human Universals |publisher = [Temple University Press](/source/Temple_University_Press) |date = 1991 |location = Philadelphia |url = http://condor.depaul.edu/~mfiddler/hyphen/humunivers.htm |isbn = 978-0070082090}}
* [Joseph H. Greenberg](/source/Joseph_H._Greenberg), et al. (1978) ''Universals of Human Language'', 4 vols. [Stanford University Press](/source/Stanford_University_Press). {{ISBN|0804709653}}
* [Charles D. Laughlin](/source/Charles_D._Laughlin) and [Eugene G. d'Aquili](/source/Eugene_G._d'Aquili) (1974) ''Biogenetic Structuralism''. New York: Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|9780231038171}}
* [Claude Lévi-Strauss](/source/Claude_L%C3%A9vi-Strauss) (1966) ''The Savage Mind''. Chicago: The [University of Chicago Press](/source/University_of_Chicago_Press); London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd. {{ISBN|0226474844}}. [First published in French in 1962 as ''La Pensee Sauvage''. {{ISBN|2259002110}}.]
* [George P. Murdock](/source/George_P._Murdock) (1945), "The Common Denominator of Culture", in ''The Science of Man in the World Crisis'', Ralph Linton (ed.). New York: Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|4871872386}}
* [Charles E. Osgood](/source/Charles_E._Osgood), [William S May](/source/William_S_May), and [Murray S Miron](/source/Murray_S_Miron) (1975) ''Cross-Cultural Universals of Affective Meaning'' Champaign, IL: [University of Illinois Press](/source/University_of_Illinois_Press). {{ISBN|978-0252004261}}
* [Steven Pinker](/source/Steven_Pinker) (2002), [''The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature''](/source/The_Blank_Slate), New York: [Penguin Putnam](/source/Penguin_Putnam). {{ISBN|9780142003343}}
* [Rik Pinxten](/source/Rik_Pinxten) (1976). [https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110805826.117/html "Epistemic universals: A contribution to cognitive anthropology"] (PART II: Chapter 7). In Pinxten, Rik (ed.). ''Universalism Versus Relativism in Language and Thought''. [The Hague](/source/The_Hague): De Gruyter Mouton. {{ISBN|9783110805826}} 
* Brief news report of Psychological Bulletin article, Anderson, Hildreth, Howland (2015): Berkeley Haas School of Business. (May 6, 2015) [https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150506094925.htm "We all want high social status"]. ''ScienceDaily''. Berkeley: University of California. Retrieved 24 March 2021

{{Culture}}
{{Evolutionary psychology}}

Category:Culture
Category:Evolutionary psychology
Category:Society-related lists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cultural universal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_universal) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_universal?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.