Brain and culture : neurobiology, ideology, and social change / Bruce E. Wexler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wexler, Bruce E.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social change--Psychological aspects.

Social change.

Culture--Psychological aspects.

Culture.

Neurobiology--Social aspects.

Neurobiology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (320 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"Brain and Culture reviews extensive neuroscience, psychological, social science, and historical research to offer a new view of the relationship between people and their environments. Our brains require sensory input from the environment to develop normally, and that input shapes the brain systems necessary for perception, memory, and thinking. Environmental shaping of the brain is much greater in people that in other animals and, more importantly, we shape the environment that shapes our brains to an extent without precedent. Even the structure and function of DNA that codes for brain proteins are changed by early life experience. Through these processes our brains shape themselves to the individual cultural and interpersonal environments in which we are reared."--Jacket.

Contents:

Introduction

PART 1: Background: Some basic facts about the human brain

1. Transgenerational shaping of the human brain function

2. Effects of sensory deprivation and sensory enrichment on brain structure and function

3. Effects of the social environment on brain structure and function

PART II: The neurobiology of ideology

4. Self-preservation and the difficulty of change in adulthood

5. The meeting of cultures

Epilogue.

Notes:

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

"A Bradford book."

Includes bibliographical references (p. [255]-298) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-10091-2

9786612100918

0-262-28602-5

1-4237-7452-3

OCLC:

568007548