The Encultured Brain

by Lende, Daniel H.; Downey, Greg

• ISBN13: 9780262017787
• ISBN10: 0262017784
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-08-24
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

The brain and the nervous system are our most cultural organs. Our nervous system is especially immature at birth, our brain disproportionately small in relation to its adult size and open to cultural sculpting at multiple levels. Recognizing this, the new field of neuroanthropology places the brain at the center of discussions about human nature and culture. Anthropology offers brain science more robust accounts of enculturation to explain observable difference in brain function; neuroscience offers anthropology evidence of neuroplasticity's role in social and cultural dynamics. This book provides a foundational text for neuroanthropology, offering basic concepts and case studies at the intersection of brain and culture. After an overview of the field and background information on recent research in biology, a series of case studies demonstrate neuroanthropology in practice. Contributors first focus on capabilities and skills--including memory in medical practice, skill acquisition in martial arts, and the role of humor in coping with breast cancer treatment and recovery--then report on problems and pathologies that range from post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans to smoking as a part of college social life.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
On the Encultured Brain	p. 1
The Encultured Brain: Development, Case Studies, and Methods	p. 3
Neuroanthropology and the Encultured Brain	p. 23
Primate Social Cognition, Human Evolution, and Niche Construction: A Core Context for Neuroanthropology	p. 67
Evolution and the Brain	p. 103
Case Studies on Human Capacities, Skills, and Variation	p. 139
Memory and Medicine	p. 141
Balancing between Cultures: Equilibrium in Capoeira	p. 169
From Habits of Doing to Habits of Feeling: Skill Acquisition in Taijutsu Practice	p. 195
Holistic Humor: Coping with Breast Cancer	p. 213
Embodiment and Male Vitality in Subsistence Societies	p. 237
Case Studies on Human Problems, Pathologies, and Variation	p. 261
War and Dislocation: A Neuroanthropological Model of Trauma among American Veterans with Combat PTSD	p. 263
Autism as a Case for Neuroanthropology: Delineating the Role of Theory of Mind in Religious Development	p. 291
Collective Excitement and Lapse in Agency: Fostering an Appetite for Cigarettes	p. 315
Addiction and Neuroanthropology	p. 339
Cultural Consonance, Consciousness, and Depression: Genetic Moderating Effects on the Psychological Mediators of Culture	p. 363
Conclusion	p. 389
The Encultured Brain-Toward the Future	p. 391
Contributors	p. 421
Index	p. 423
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