Human Nature and Culture: Understanding Behavior

Human Nature and Culture

Human Nature Coincides with the Genetic Heritage of Humanity

Human behavior would not be possible without the influence of culture. Human behavior has a genetic basis but is developed and made concrete in the company of others.

Human Behavior: The Relationship of an Animal's Activity with its Environment

Each animal responds appropriately to the demands of the environment where it lives and reacts to specific stimuli that promote or threaten its survival. Such behavior may be innate or acquired.

Innate Behavior

When behavior is innate, it is hereditary in origin, fixed, and programmed. Reflexes and instincts are the two most important forms of innate behavior.

• Reflexes: Innate motor responses caused by sensory stimulation. These mechanisms are simple to conduct, unintentional, and have a survival purpose. Example: When we hit the joint, the foot tends to rise, or when a foreign body enters the airway, we tend to expel it.
• Instinct: Innate patterns of behavior that, in some cases, appear during the development or maturation of individuals of a species. Example: Self-preservation instinct or sexual instinct. Trends drive instincts to act a certain way.

Acquired Behavior

Acquired behaviors are the result of experience obtained through learning; they have more weight than innate behaviors. Learning is the process by which an animal acquires new information and behavior, more or less permanently, so it can use them when needed.

Social and Cultural Dimensions of Behavior

Aristotle defined humans as social animals by nature; we are prepared to live in society. It is impossible for humans to live alone, except if they have been socialized and then decided to isolate themselves. It is normal for humans to form groups that depend on each other.

Sociability: The natural inclination or tendency of humans to live together, that is, living in societies and social groups, more or less stable. Although humans are born, they do not behave as humans without contact with others. Humans have the ability to create and develop new patterns of behavior.

Society and Culture

Culture is the socially learned way of life that is found in human societies and covers all aspects of social life, including thinking and behavior. Culture is a social creation and a product of the human brain. There is a causal chain that goes from biology to culture, as in human genes is the possibility of language, the manufacture of utensils, the creation of forms of social life, and many others. Culture for the human being is a kind of social inheritance, not biological, where it develops, molds, and makes concrete our genetic heritage. The mechanism of cultural transmission is language, education, and observation of the behavior of others. This process of cultural transmission is socialization.

Cultural Diversity

There is only one human species, but there are many cultures, each with a language, beliefs, and traditions, and there are some cultures that are more widespread and influential than others. The prestige of a culture is a debatable point. Western culture includes many subcultures; these are characterized by specific beliefs, norms, and values. Cultural diversity is threatened by the expansion of Western culture, technology, and capitalism over other cultures. Cultural racism, a form of xenophobia, also threatens diversity.

The Human Being as a Symbolic Animal

The human being can be described as a symbolic animal: able to create symbols with which to think and communicate reality. A symbol is a material intended to represent the idea of something that has no natural relationship. The meaning of symbols must be learned because the relationship between a symbol and its meaning is arbitrary. Symbols and their meanings are the result of habit or tradition; it is said that symbols are conventional. Languages are systems of symbols. Through words, we can represent reality, think about things, and communicate with other humans. According to Cassirer, humans can never have a direct relationship with the real world; we will always need the mediation of a system of symbols through which we can actually translate our mindsets.

The Human Being: A Rational Animal