 For an idea to catch on, it has to have some way of

moving from one person’s mind to that of another.

The most direct way is through language. What we
communicate can change over time, in part, because
the words we use also change over time. One reason,
among many, is that we are more likely to use words
that are easier to remember. Another reason
information can change over time is that some ideas
are more likely to be communicated than others.
 One way to investigate culturally shared ideas is to
look at the stereotypes people have of certain
cultural groups. Stereotypes can be seen to reflect
shared ideas in particular cultural contexts about
some specific cultural groups.
 It would seem, then, that the content of stereotypes
would be influenced by the type of information
people were inclined to communicate.
 Dynamic social impact theory states that
individuals influence each other through interacting,
ultimately leading to clusters of like-minded people
who are seperated by geography- cultures in other
words. Dynamic social impact theory is thus one
account for the origin of culture: Norms develop
among those who communicate with each other
regularly. For example, there is clear evidence
ofpeople sharing many similarities with those who
cluster around them in terms ofdialect, crime rate,
self-concept, political attitude, product consumption,
and lifestyle.
 In addition to communicable ideas, ideas that are
useful are another category of information that
spreads. Humans are a highly social species, and one
way our social nature is visible is that we like to help
others and be useful to them. If we can easily help
 someone else, especially if there is little cost to
ourselves, we feel a strong urge to do so. Being
useful gives us a reputation for being cooperative
and increases the likelihood that others will in turn
help us when they have the chance.
 Emotional ideas are another factor in the spread of
information. We are motivated to share our emotional
responses because doing so lets us connect with
others. Emotional ideas are more likely than
unemotional ones to spread through a culture.
 There’s one more category relating to the spread of
information: ideas that are largely intuitive, but
contain a few unexpected elements. There was
evidence that narratives that are generally intuitive
but contain a couple of violations of expectations end
up being the most memorable.
 In many ways, these cultural interconnections are
resulting in the formation of a global culture.
Increased interconnectivity, therefore, not only
breeds homogeneity but also serves to underscore
cultural diversity.
 Individualistic cultures include a variety of
practices and customs that encourage individuals to
place their own personal goals ahead of those of the
collective, and to consider how they are distinct from
others. Examples are monitoring children at school,
encouraging college-age children to move out of
their parents’ home, paying office workers based on
merit, giving employees individual offices or
cubicles, and putting older adults in retirement
homes.
 In contrast, collectivistic cultures include many
practices, institutions, and customs that encourage
individuals to place relatively more emphasis on
 collective goals—specifically, the goals of one’s
ingroup. Examples are having children sleep with
their parents, promoting classes of school children
together to the next grade regardless of the
performance of some individuals, having marriages
arranged by parents, compensating company
employees based on length of service, and extended
families living under one roof.
 As discussed earlier, cultures are highly fluid, and
they continue to evolve. Perhaps the more
remarkable fact, then, is that cultures also have an
enduring tendency to persist over time. Once
cultural habits get established, many of them remain
entrenched across generations, despite great
amounts of change within those generations.
 In an egalitarian society, all are considered equal,
regardless of gender, race, religion, or age. There is
not a class system in an egalitarian society but
relatively equal access to income and wealth. ⚠
 Cultural discrimination refers to the practice of
discriminating against the cultural practices of racial
minority groups or individuals on the basis of their
race or cultural identity. It involves prohibiting such
discrimination and recognizing the distinctiveness of
these cultural communities. ⚠
 Although people worldwide are encountering many
similar experiences in this age of globalization, each
culture is following a path with a distinctive origin,
and these distinctive origins preserve the cultural
differences.
 Pluralistic ignorance is the tendency for people to
collectively misinterpret the thoughts that underlie
the behavior of others. When we try to figure out
what others are thinking, all we can go on is what
they tell us, or our observations of how they behave.
We can be pretty accurate in inferring their thoughts
when people’s statements or actions reflect their
private thinking. For example, if I tell you I don’t like
olives, it would be reasonable for you to assume that
my private feelings about olives are similarly
negative. I have no reason to mislead you about that.
But in other kinds of situations, actions and
statements do not truly reflect people’s thoughts.