There is a perceived dichotomy between evolutionary explanations for behaviour and social or cultural ones. In this essay, I attempt to dissolve this dichotomy by pointing out that organisms are susceptible to social or cultural influence because they have evolved mechanisms that make them so. I review two classes of evolutionary explanation for cultural variation, ‘evoked’ and ‘transmitted’ cu...

Misunderstandings arise in international trade due to difference in cultural background of trade partners. Trust and the role it plays in trade are influenced by culture. Considering that trade always involves working on the relationship with the trade partner, understanding the behaviour of the other is of the essence. This paper proposes to involve cultural dimensions in the modelling of trus...

This study set out to examine to what extent ethnic ingroup friendship in secondary school classes are a by-product of cultural and socioeconomic ingroup friendship. Based on homophily theory, we expected dolescent ultilevel p2 model urope similar opinions, leisure activities, religion, risk behaviour and socioeconomic factors to (partly) explain ethnic ingroup preferences. Multilevel p2 models...

Two studies are described examining the correlation between selfand culture referenced values at a culture level (study 1) and correlation between selfand culturereferenced values and self-reported behaviour at an individual level (study 2). It is found that values related to individual – group relationships (embeddedness) and expression and experience of affective feelings and emotions (affect...

Culture is commonly regarded as a factor in pain behaviour and experience, but the meaning of the term is often unclear. There is little evidence that pain perception is modified by cultural or ethnic factors, but pain expression by children and interpretation by caregivers may be affected by the culture of the patient or the caregiver. The present paper examines some of the research regarding ...

China has been referred to as the shame-society by some social and behaviour scientists. The shame-related studies carried out in China are broadly reviewed. The subjects of the study are varied. Topics include shame and relevant factors; shame, stress and coping; shame, personality, and social anxiety; and shame and guilt. It has been indicated that cultural background plays an obvious and imp...

This article examines how anti-poverty policy has considered the role of culture and how it ought to do so. While some have explained poverty as a function of the presumed cultural deficiency or distinctiveness of the poor, we suggest that these explanations have not been convincing and that policy requires a broader and more sophisticated understanding of the relationship between culture and b...

As human beings we are endowed with gregarious tendencies. Like most other primates we need to live in groups. Since we are also endowed with the capacity to communicate in sophisticated ways, particularly through language, we create cultural milieus. Cultural milieus prescribe and proscribe behaviour, that is, what people should do and should not do given their social surroundings and circumst...

Over the last two decades the world economy has dramatically transformed, with strategic alliances and partnerships across industrial and global boundaries becoming an important means to maintaining and regaining competitive positioning. In spite of an increase in partnership activity, alliances continue to face problems fuelled by factors such as partner opportunism, and cultural incompatibili...