Culture and Cognition

Norbert Ross (Ph.D., University of Freiburg, 1998) is at Vanderbilt University. Prior to his current position, he was a research assistant professor at Northwestern University, where he co-founded the Program in Culture, Language and Cognition, a cross-disciplinary program that targets teaching and research. He is Affiliated Researcher at the Program in Cognitive Studies of the Environment (Northwestern University) and the Centro Estudies Indigenas in San Cristobal de Lasa Casas, Mexico. He has taught classes at Northwestern University, the University of Freiburg, the College of the Menominee Nation, and the UNACH (Mexico). Ross's research focuses on cultural differences, within cultural differences as well as the acquisition of cultural knowledge among children, and he has received several NSF/NIH grants. He has published two books in Germany, including a case study of cognitive aspects of intergenerational change among the Lacandon Maya of Chiapas, Mexico. He is also author and co-author of several research articles in major journals of anthropology, psychology and the general sciences. These include articles in The Proceedings of the National academy of Sciences, Current Anthropology, Human Organization, Cognitive Development, and The Psychology of Learning and Motivation.

Introduction 1. Culture & Cognition: Ethnography of the Mind - A Cognitive Approach to Culture 2. Cultural Studies & Comparative Design The Logic of Cultural Studies Cross-Cultural Studies & Comparative Design 3. Toward a Cognitive Theory of Culture The Problem with Culture, Folk Beliefs, Scientific Concepts, & their (ab-)use The Authenticity Crisis of Cultural Concepts: Cultural Differences & Different Cultures Culture as Socially Transmitted Models Toward a Cognitive Theory of Culture The Sharing of Culture & the Exploration of Cultural Differences Public & Private Culture: The Emergence of Shared Meaning. 4. Research Methods: Data Gathering The Experimental Design Scientific Methods & the Role of Participant Observation Research Design & Field Methods Experimental Methods in the Field: Data Collection Cognition & Observational Studies Social Network Analysis & Informant Agreement. 5. Patterns of Informant Agreement: Some Analytical Implications Informant Agreement/Disagreement Adjustment for Guessing. Agreement Pattern & Residual Analysis. 6. Combining Strength: Toward a New Science of Culture Schemata, Cultural Models, & Consensus A New Ethnography & an Enhanced Cognitive Science References Author Index Subject Index

"The subject matter is very timely for such a book. The field of culture and cognition is in a state of considerable flux, and it requires the kind of knowledge that Ross has not only of cognitive anthropology but of cognitive psychology to make a synthesis and to develop guideposts and steer the field towards viable future objectives. Ross possesses complete familiarity with the literature.... This should make for an excellent contribution." -- Douglas White "Norbert Ross is a fine scholar, and the book does something useful and new.... an important contribution by a respected researcher who knows what he is talking about and who has done creative basic work in the field." -- Roy D'Andrade "In view of a current trend to integrate knowledge re 'culture' and 'cognition' in psychology (particularly marked) and anthropology, there is a growing demand for good textbooks in these fields. The ideas proposed by Ross are interesting and potentially productive." -- Chizuko Izawa