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How language and agriculture promote culture- and peace-promoting norms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2024

Thomas R. Zentall Open the ORCID record for Thomas R. Zentall [Opens in a new window]
Thomas R. Zentall*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA Zentall@uky.edu uky.edu/~zentall
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

Humans are predisposed to form in-groups and out-groups that are remarkably flexible in their definition due largely to the complex language that has evolved in them. Language has allowed for the creation of shared “background stories” that can unite people who do not know each other. Second, the discovery of agriculture has resulted in the critical need to negotiate boundaries, a process that can lead to peace (but also war).

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 47 , 2024 , e31
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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