A Cognitive Theory of Cultural Meaning

Reviews a range of current psychological theories of cultural meaning.

Anthropologists must draw on psychological theories of cognition in order to understand how culture is learnt, and shapes everyday actions and decision. The authors offer an approach, based on psychological theories of cultural meaning, illustrating it with original research on understandings of marriage, and success, in the United States.'Culture' and 'meaning' are central to anthropology, but anthropologists do not agree on what they are. Claudia Strauss and Naomi Quinn propose a new theory of cultural meaning, one that gives priority to the way people's experiences are internalized. Drawing on 'connectionist' or 'neural network' models as well as other psychological theories, they argue that cultural meanings are not fixed or limited to static groups, but neither are they constantly revised and contested. Their approach is illustrated by original research on understandings of marriage and ideas of success in the United States.