This chapter presents a model of cognition as an attribute of groups and not just individuals, bringing into play cultural conceptualizations as the instrument of analysis. In this sense, cognition is viewed as an emergent phenomenon resulting from the interactions between the members of a group, who form a cognitive network across time and space. Collective cognitions, such as what I term cult...

A prevailing concept of cognition in psychology is inspired by the computer metaphor. Its focus on mental states that are generated and altered by information input, processing, storage and transmission invites a disregard for the cultural dimension of cognition, based on three (implicit) assumptions: cognition is internal, processing can be distinguished from content, and processing is indepen...

It has been proposed that cultural evolution was made possible by a cognitive transition brought about by onset of the capacity for self-triggered recall and rehearsal. Here we develop a novel idea that models of collectively autocatalytic networks, developed for understanding the origin and organization of life, may also help explain the origin of the kind of cognitive structure that makes cul...

Although many species display behavioural traditions, human culture is unique in the complexity of its technological, symbolic and social contents. Is this extraordinary complexity a product of cognitive evolution, cultural evolution or some interaction of the two? Answering this question will require a much better understanding of patterns of increasing cultural diversity, complexity and rates...

Normative cognition – a uniquely human cognitive capacity ’Normative cognition’ is a ’mongrel’ concept covering human cognition of symbolically mediated normative information. Humans have social and cultural cognition of which normative cognition is a subset. Humans can produce, distribute, acquire and implement social norms and values. Normative cognition requires certain cognitive skills such...

Cultural psychologists have often sought to explaincross-culturaldifferences in social cognition as differences rooted in the cultures’ positions on a small collection of pan-cultural dimensions (e.g., individualism-collectivism). In this paper, we argue for a paradigm shift in cultural psychology.Drawing on the arguments and data presented in the papers of this special issue, we propose to vie...