Chapter 2: Culture and Nature

Question 1

Psyche

Answer 1

Mind, including emotions, desires, perceptions & all psychological processes.

Question 2

Nature of people

Answer 2

Genes, hormones, brain structure & other processes dictate the way what they choose and act.

Question 3

Cultural explanations of people

Answer 3

What people learn from their parents, from society and from their own experiences.

Question 4

What determines one’s behaviour?

Answer 4

Body perceives what’s happening → brain has to understand events → body has to carry out decisions.

Nature comes first & culture builds on what nature provided → They shape each other.

Question 5

Culture characteristics

Answer 5

→ Language
→ Flexible self
→ Advanced ability to understand other’s mental state

These characteristics enable people to create and sustain culture.

Question 6

Nature

Answer 6

Physical world around us, including its laws and processes.

→Trees and grass
→Insects and elephants
→Gravity
→The weather
→Hunger and Thirst
→Birth and death

Question 7

Theory of evolution

Answer 7

Theory proposed by Charles Darwin to explain how change occurs in nature.

Question 8

What type of interactions do we have with other individuals?

Answer 8

→Sexual desire
→Competition
→Aggressive impulses
→Family ties
→Friendly companionship

Question 9

Why is change a common trait amongst living things?

Answer 9

→Each living thing changes as it grows older.
→Change occurs from one generation to another.
→Changes are produced randomly.

Question 10

Natural selection

Answer 10

This process decides which traits will continue and which shall disappear.