Jaqueline Yngvason
Saneda/Soc/151
Online article Blog
06-23-06
The article that I found was from a published article on “Cross-cultural evidence of cognitive adaptations for social exchange among the Shiwiar of Ecuadorian Amazonia” by: Lawrence S. Sugiyama a, b, John Tooby b, and Leda Cosmides b c.
I really liked the article because it borders on the basis on some of the things that have been discussed during class. How all cultures are very different in several ways but ultimately we are the same in a lot more ways. This article made that point abundantly clear by showing when a group of ‘Shiwiar of the Ecuadorian Amazonia’ was tested on their ability detect a cheater and as the author states; “As predicted, Shiwiar subjects were as highly proficient at cheater detection as subjects from developed nations. Indeed, the frequency of cheater-relevant choices among Shiwiar hunter-horticulturalists was indistinguishable from that of Harvard undergraduates. Also as predicted, cultural variation was confined to those aspects of reasoning that are irrelevant to social exchange algorithms functioning as an evolutionarily stable strategy. Finally, Shiwiar subjects displayed the same low performance on descriptive conditionals as subjects from developed nations (PNAS).
I liked this a lot because I know that culturally when I first started reading the article I was thinking that these Shiwiar of the Ecuadorian Amazonia would not be able to detect cheater as quickly or as proficiently as someone from a developed nation and of course not a Harvard undergrad. I guess that goes to prove the point that culturally there is a natural stigmatism to judge a group of people (especially in this case indigenous peoples of South America). It all goes back to the point that culture is something that you have to try and be more understanding. I guess I just didn’t think that socially someone or a group of people that lived in the Amazon would have the skills to detect a cheater as quickly as someone from a developed nation. At the same time I underestimated. But you would think that someone with people skills and someone who lives in a jaded world would be much quicker and easier to detect something like that, than per-say someone who lives in the jungle. In my mind it just doesn’t make much sense, then again…
Online site for article: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/99/17/11537
