The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature

Scott Atran is Research Director in Anthropology at France's National Center for Scientific Research and Visiting Professor of Psychology and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. He is the coeditor, with Douglas Medin, of Folkbiology (MIT Press, 1999).Douglas L. Medin is Louis W. Menk Professor of Psychology and Professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. He is the coauthor of The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature and coeditor of Folkbiology, both published by the MIT Press.

An analysis of the cognitive consequences of diminished contact with nature examines the relationship between how people think about the natural world and how they act on it, and how these are affected by cultural differences.

The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature beautifully illustrates Atran and Medin's findings in the realm of folkbiology. They present a series of brilliantly conceived and executed studies whose importance goes far beyond being invaluable science to having real implications for social policy, especially in areas concerned with the environmental issues. This book is essential reading for psychologists, who all too often look at problems from the lens of just one culture, for anthropologists, who all too often neglect evolved universals of thought, and for anyone else interested in the relations between culture, thought, and human values. -- Frank Keil, Department of Psychology, Yale University Atran and Medin's innovative ethnographic comparative field experiments will become a model for future research. They have successfully combined the theories, methods, and insights of anthropology and psychology to produce an instant classic on the study of the native mind. This is a remarkable book. -- Brent Berlin, Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia Building on more than ten years of active collaboration, Atran and Medin bring together in this volume a synthesis of their pioneering research on the nature of folkbiological cognition, pointing to new problems and proposing a reconsideration of some of the basic premises of cognitive science. They ground their proposals about how people think about the world of plants and animals in systematic long-term ethnographic description. They describe innovative ethnographic comparative field experiments that include US subjects and non-western communities (the Native American Menominee and the Itza' and Q'eqchi' Maya of Guatemala) that will become a model for future research. Their questions on culture and cognition range widely and include what at first may appear to be unrelated areas of knowledge (folkbiology and sacred values, mental models and environmental decision making) but which in the end are easily encompassed in their emerging theoretical framework. Atran and Medin have successfully combined the theories, methods, and insights of anthropology and psychology to produce an instant classic on the study of the native mind. This is a remarkable book. -- Brent Berlin, Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia Atran and Medin's pioneering account of biocognition unifies anthropology and psychology to move cultural cognition forward in a socially responsible way. Their extraordinary research program shows that naturally selected abilities produce sophisticated biological knowledge when exposure to the environment and cultural support are sufficient -- otherwise nature-deficit disorder results. -- Lawrence W. Barsalou, Emory University Building on more than ten years of active collaboration, Atran and Medin bring together in this volume a synthesis of their pioneering research on the nature of folkbiological cognition, pointing to new problems and proposing a reconsideration of some of the basic premises of cognitive science. They ground their proposals about how people think about the world of plants and animals in systematic long-term ethnographic description. They describe innovative ethnographic comparative field experiments that include US subjects and non-western communities (the Native American Menominee and the Itza' and Q'eqchi' Maya of Guatemala) that will become a model for future research. Their questions on culture and cognition range widely and include what at first may appear to be unrelated areas of knowledge (folkbiology and sacred values, mental models and environmental decision making) but which in the end are easily encompassed in their emerging theoretical framework. Atran and Medin have successfully combined the theories, methods, and insights of anthropology and psychology to produce an instant classic on the study of the native mind. This is a remarkable book. -- Brent Berlin, Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature beautifully illustrates Atran and Medin's findings in the realm of folkbiology. They present a series of brilliantly conceived and executed studies whose importance goes far beyond being invaluable science to having real implications for social policy, especially in areas concerned with the environmental issues. This book is essential reading for psychologists, who all too often look at problems from the lens of just one culture, for anthropologists, who all too often neglect evolved universals of thought, and for anyone else interested in the relations among culture, thought, and human values. -- Frank Keil, Department of Psychology, Yale University