Talk:Cultural behavior

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Culture

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By definition, cultural behavior is a subset of human behavior, so it is incorrect to assert that cultural behavior "is exhibited by other species, though to a much lesser degree." Rather, "other animal species, notably primates, exhibit many behaviors that are similar to cultural behaviors." Indeed, this is one of the reasons why primatology is so often studied under the auspices of anthropology. -- NetEsq 21:52 Jan 5, 2003 (UTC)

One could argue with that definition, but as long as the animals (especially primates) get a mention, I'm cool with it. By the way, how do you get the automatic date/time stamp? or are you typing that by hand each time? Theanthrope

A series of tildes: ~~~ (three tildes> = username alias and ~~~~ (four tildes) = username and time stamp. You might want to take a look at your user preferences as well to customize the alias for your username. -- NetEsq 22:04 Jan 5, 2003 (UTC)

I deleted the following -- not because it should not be in the article, but because it must be rewritten before it is put back in.

Generally speaking, for a behavior to be considered cultural, it must have four characteristics:

It must be learned.
It must involve concepts, generalizations, abstractions, and ideas.
It must be shared through extragenetic transmission.
It must be realized through the use of artifacts, both concrete and abstract.

I and Netesq have made the same point numerous times: this is unacceptable for failure of NPOV. a behavior does not have to have all four characteristics, "generally speaking." SOME people claim that behavior must have all four characteristics, or even some of these particular four. The article must specify clearly which anthropologists or social or behavioral scientists make this claim, and why -- and allow room for a representation of other views. Slrubenstein

I am just as much at fault for not holding the article's content to the full scrutiny of NPOV principles. Indeed, even the comparative analysis of animal behavior to cultural behavior is a style indicative of the bias of a particular school of anthropological thought, the name of which still escapes me. Such a discussion belongs in the article, but it must be presented in an expository tone, it must be balanced by other points of view, and it must include specific references to the "anthropologists or social or behavioral scientists [who] make [these] claim[s]." -- NetEsq 05:33 Jan 6, 2003 (UTC)