The idea of the mind and its cultural influences
The idea of the mind is the foundation for analyzing other people's behavior and beliefs. As a result, ethnopsychology, which derives from cultural influences, is related to perceptions, emotions, and motivation as a construct of knowledge. The capacity of cultural variations to categorize the behaviors displayed by various people according to the cultural model in which they were raised. The revealed theory of mind that people grow up with is determined by models like the European American Model (EA) and European American Social Science Model (EASSM). The theory of mind thus directs one to comprehend oneself and others and organizes the mental faculties. The essay aims at examining the extent of variability in cultures, mental theories and potential universals, and more specifically, it will delve into interpersonal and interpersonal understanding.
Interpersonal understanding and the theory of mind
Interpersonal understanding can best be drawn from knowledge of theory of mind which aids in proper analysis of ones traits, personality, and behaviour. In this view, social cognition further explains why people in a social setting act and show variability in their cultural aptitudes. Furthermore, the analysis of other people is through a number of ways. This includes simulation and evidence of innate beliefs (nativism) that depends on priori expectations which indicates the level variability in folk psychologies. In regard to this, the internal operations of others can be predicted successfully in which case the universal (the development process) is enhanced when a child grows in its conception of the mind. Also, the cultural changes concerns with specific traits or experiences portrayed by individuals such as feelings, dreams, antisocialness, and more others (Lillard, 1998).
Cultural variability and its reasons
Considering cultural variability, a number of reasons attribute to this phenomena. For instance, the optional construals, changes in preconditions, nuance, existence, and need determine the variation in cultures. In this regard, a number of cultures have varied beliefs and thus define individuals as per its demands of them. Also, the correlation between language and thought integrates a person into culture as a whole and determines their consequential behaviour and psychological personality, as the author says, "culture is to the person as water is presumably is to the fish" (Lillard, 1998). Each culture has its own conceptual systems which are distinctly hard to understand or carry out research on. As a result, one must be able to use other methods to translate the cultures such as the use universal fundamental concepts, causal relations, and ontological distinctions. These methods are applicable to the EA and non-EA cultures across the globe. Additionally, non-EA cultures and EA evolutionism is so dominant that most of the cultures across the world are gaining knowledge from them. Therefore, other cultures have copied the concepts of the mind from the EA and EASSM which have shown significance of the mind concept and identity in a myriad ways. As an evidence of cognitive therapy, the mind culture is considered as a mediator.
Variation in importance and attention to the mind
Finally, the variation in importance and attention is evident in each cultures where close attention is paid to the mind. The mind reading processes are different in each culture and therefore, behaviour of people can be determined significantly using the mind theory. As the author says, "mind produce behaviour" and as a result, the perceptions held by individuals influences their mental states (Lillard, 1998).
References
Lillard, A. (1998). Ethnopsychologies: cultural variations in theories of mind. Psychological bulletin, 123(1), 3.
