Human Culture, Learned Behavior, and Classical Conditioning

An Anthropological View of Human Culture

The fundamental difference between animal and human culture is the complexity of human cultural productions and the capacity for accumulation facilitated by language. Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, science, art, law, morality, and all those customs, habits, and attitudes that a person acquires as a member of a society.

Characteristics of Human Culture

• Culture is a complex whole, a set of interrelated elements of different natures.
• Culture transcends the organic; humans broaden their biological survival capabilities through culture.
• Culture is a social product, emerging from a network of social relations.

Understanding Cultural Identity

Cultural identity is the set of common characteristics that identify a group of people. These features are of two types:

• On one hand, a number of shared material elements (ceremonies, institutions, arts, etc.).
• On the other hand, other subjective and social components (the very idea of belonging to the group, knowledge, myths, common habits, etc.).

The Role of Learning in Culture

Learning is the process of acquiring new, more or less permanent, patterns of behavior through experience. Instinctive behaviors limit the possibilities of response, whereas the ability to learn allows for free action. Learning enables the construction of culture, and only animals with this ability can generate it. The mechanisms of cultural learning are based on education, imitation, and the assimilation of information.

Classical Conditioning: Pavlov's Discovery

Ivan Pavlov investigated the physiological aspects of digestion in dogs and discovered so-called conditioned reflexes. Pavlov's classical conditioning has three phases:

• First, a neutral stimulus (e.g., a buzzer) does not cause a behavioral modification (no saliva is produced by the dog).
• Next, the unconditioned stimulus (meat) is associated with the neutral stimulus (the buzzer) through successive repetitions.
• Finally, the now conditioned stimulus (the buzzer) produces the same effect as the unconditioned stimulus. The dog secretes saliva when it hears the buzzer. This final reaction is called a conditioned response.