Universals of Human Thought
Some African Evidence
Cambridge University Press
Published on 5. March 1981
Book
Hardback
296 pages
978-0-521-22953-1 (ISBN)
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Description
This book was originally published in 1981 and the theme of universals attracted a great deal of attention in the decade preceding publication. Psychologists and linguists in particular attempted to identify substantive universals that underlie the social diversity across cultures, which anthropologists and others documented. The contributors to this volume all focus on the relevant data in Africa to explain and test the major questions at issue. The book is divided into three main sections, dealing respectively with perception, cognitive development and language. There is also a general Review and Prospectus by Jerome Bruner, and a wide-ranging introduction to the philosophical background by Ernst Gellner. The volume will be of particular interest to cross-cultural psychologists, linguists, Africanists and anthropologists.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
630 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-22953-1 (9780521229531)
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Book
03/1981
Cambridge University Press
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Additional editions

Book
03/1981
Cambridge University Press
€49.20
Shipment within 15-20 days
Content
Preface; Michael Ogbolu Okonji: African psychologist Herman A. Witkins; Contributors; 1. General introduction: relativism and universals Ernest Gellner; Part I. Perception: 2. Pictorial perception and the problem of universals Gustav Jahoda; 3. Tallensi children's drawings Meyer Fortes; 4. Space and community behaviour: a discussion of the form and function of spatial order in settlements Roland Fletcher; 5. Taxonomic and multi-dimensional representations of reality John Gay; Part II. Cognitive Development: 6. 'Strong' and 'weak' universals: sensori-motor intelligence and concrete operations Pierre Dasen; 7. Psychological differentiation Ogbolu Okonji; 8. Cognitive development, education and social mobility Barbara Lloyd; Part III. Language: 9. Language and learning: some observations on the linguistic determination of cognitive processes Nigel Lemon; 10. The formation of relative clauses Bernard Comrie; 11. Literacy and literature Ruth Finnegan; 12. Review and prospectus Jerome Bruner; Indexes.