Psychology Discussion Post: Analyzing Biology and Culture's Influence

This discussion post, responding to a prompt, examines the interplay between biology and culture in shaping human behavior. The student argues that culture significantly influences biological evolution, drawing upon Vygotsky's social learning theory and examples of cultural differences. The post analyzes how culture shapes cognition and behavior, citing research such as an eye-tracking study on tourism advertising preferences. The author concludes by acknowledging the influence of culture but raises questions about factors facilitating or hindering its impact on individuals. The post references relevant literature to support its arguments and contributes to a nuanced understanding of the complex relationship between biology and culture in determining human behavior, providing valuable insights on Desklib.

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Introduction
Taking insights from the interesting findings highlighted by Blessing, I truly believe that
culture shapes our biological evolution and not the other way around. The following sections will
briefly expound this point of view by drawing insights from current literature as well as age old
theoretical perspectives of human behavior and learning.
Discussion
One of the most prominent aspects influencing human behavior and reflective of
evolutionary changes is human cognition, or the process of understanding, perceiving,
interpreting and learning from surroundings (Pathan et al., 2018). Traditional developmental
theories of learning, such as the social learning theory by Vygotsky, emphasized the role of
culture on the behavior of individuals within the zone of proximal development which in turn, is
acquired and imitated by children (Marginson & Dang, 2017). The influence of culture in
learning and behavior of an individual can further be observed in real life in the form of cultural
differences observed between Asian and Western cultures. While Asian cultures since traditional
times have relied upon collectivism and valued activities involving the family or community,
Western cultures continue to emphasize upon behaviors and activities associated with
independence and individualism (Roland, 2016). To further understand the role of culture upon
human behavior, the eye tracking study by Xu, Scott and Gao (2017) can be considered which
aimed to assess how culture influenced understanding of tourism advertisements between
Australian and Chinese tourists. Using eye tracking methodology and a survey, participants were
required to look through tourism advertisements with one reflecting families and another
reflecting an individual sand tobogganing. It was observed that 61.8% of Australians self-

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reported a preference for the picture with the man as compared to individual families despite
both groups demonstrating greater fixation and gaze time on the family picture (p < 0.01). Such
findings undoubtedly strengthens the view that culture shapes cognition and thus behavior.
Conclusion
However, despite the strong influence of culture, there continues to remain behavioral
differences across people belonging to the same culture (Reno et al., 2017). Thus, in conclusion,
this raises the question, what are the factors facilitating or hindering the influence of culture
across individuals’ behaviors?

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References
Marginson, S., & Dang, T. K. A. (2017). Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory in the context of
globalization. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 37(1), 116-129.
Pathan, H., Memon, R. A., Memon, S., Khoso, A. R., & Bux, I. (2018). A Critical Review of
Vygotsky’s Socio-Cultural Theory in Second Language Acquisition. International
Journal of English Linguistics, 8(4), 232.
Reno, G. D., Friend, J., Caruthers, L., & Smith, D. (2017). Who’s getting targeted for behavioral
interventions? Exploring the connections between school culture, positive behavior
support, and elementary student achievement. The Journal of Negro Education, 86(4),
423-438.
Roland, G. É. R. A. R. D. (2016). Individualist and Collectivist Culture and Their Economic
Effects. Constraints and Driving Forces in Economic Systems: Studies in Honour of
János Kornai, 31-50.
Xu, X., Scott, N., & Gao, J. (2017). Cultural influences on viewing tourism advertising: An eye-
tracking study comparing Chinese and Australian tourists. Journal of Tourism &
Services, 8(14).