Folk conceptions of humanness: Beliefs about distinctive and core human characteristics in Australia, Italy, and China

Paul Bain; Jeroen Vaes; Yoshihisa Kashima; Nick Haslam; Yanjun Guan

doi:10.1177/0022022111419029

Folk conceptions of humanness: Beliefs about distinctive and core human characteristics in Australia, Italy, and China

Paul Bain, Jeroen Vaes, Yoshihisa Kashima, Nick Haslam, Yanjun Guan

Research output: Journal Publication › Article › peer-review

47 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The present research explores cultural understandings of what it means to be human. We used open-ended responses to examine whether the most culturally salient aspects of humanness are captured by two theoretical dimensions: human uniqueness (HU) and human nature (HN). Australians, Italians, and Chinese (N = 315) showed differences in the characteristics considered human and in the emphasis placed on HU and HN. These findings contribute to developing cross-cultural folk psychological models of humanness.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	53-58
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Volume	43
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022111419029
Publication status	Published - Jan 2012
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

folk psychology
human nature
human uniqueness
humanness

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
Cultural Studies
Anthropology

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10.1177/0022022111419029

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abstract = "The present research explores cultural understandings of what it means to be human. We used open-ended responses to examine whether the most culturally salient aspects of humanness are captured by two theoretical dimensions: human uniqueness (HU) and human nature (HN). Australians, Italians, and Chinese (N = 315) showed differences in the characteristics considered human and in the emphasis placed on HU and HN. These findings contribute to developing cross-cultural folk psychological models of humanness.",

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author = "Paul Bain and Jeroen Vaes and Yoshihisa Kashima and Nick Haslam and Yanjun Guan",

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AU - Haslam, Nick

AU - Guan, Yanjun

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N2 - The present research explores cultural understandings of what it means to be human. We used open-ended responses to examine whether the most culturally salient aspects of humanness are captured by two theoretical dimensions: human uniqueness (HU) and human nature (HN). Australians, Italians, and Chinese (N = 315) showed differences in the characteristics considered human and in the emphasis placed on HU and HN. These findings contribute to developing cross-cultural folk psychological models of humanness.

AB - The present research explores cultural understandings of what it means to be human. We used open-ended responses to examine whether the most culturally salient aspects of humanness are captured by two theoretical dimensions: human uniqueness (HU) and human nature (HN). Australians, Italians, and Chinese (N = 315) showed differences in the characteristics considered human and in the emphasis placed on HU and HN. These findings contribute to developing cross-cultural folk psychological models of humanness.

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KW - human nature

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Folk conceptions of humanness: Beliefs about distinctive and core human characteristics in Australia, Italy, and China

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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