Human Universals

Rapport is largely about minimising difference and increasing similarities. When we first meet someone there is usually a period where we ask each other a series of questions with the aim of identifying what we have in common. If we cannot find anything in common the conversation usually becomes stilted, uncomfortable and difficult. When we do find something in common the conversation becomes easier and our perception of the other person changes for the better.

For many years anthropologists have looked into human behaviour and human culture through the filter of looking for the difference. If you were a student of anthropology before the year 2000, chances are you would have completed your doctorate by travelling to some far flung location, finding a tribe who still lives the hunter gatherer lifestyle and then written your thesis on how they are different to other cultures … most likely your own.

To look at our fellow humans through this lens is to miss half the picture. On one level we are all different. At the risk of stating the obvious … everyone is an individual. On another level … we are all the same. Every culture on earth shares certain behaviours.

In his book “Human Universals,” Donald E. Brown[1] conducts a Meta study of the anthropological literature to establish the existence of universals and then builds an astonishing list. According to Brown the following human attributes are common across cultures, history and geography.[2]

Language:

We all share the ability to communicate through language. Common attributes of language include: grammar, nouns, verbs and possessive pronouns. Languages are built around a concept and its opposite (good/bad, light/dark, tall/short etc.). All languages include a large non-verbal component, all cultures gossip and all cultures use language to both inform and misinform others. All cultures also have humour and insults.

Emotions and Deductive Reasoning:

We all share emotions like happiness, anger, envy and shame. We all share an ability to draw conclusions from events we have witnessed or discussed.

Numbers:

We all use numbers even if some societies only have the numbers one, two and many.

Classification:

We all classify and group things.

Understanding Intention:

We all share the ability to read another person’s intention.

Sexual attraction:

Just as well or the species wouldn’t survive!

Tool Making and Shelter:

Common tools include tools that cut, pound, and contain objects and materials that are interwoven.

Mood Altering Substances:

Yes, we all have our drugs.

Caring:

All cultures have rituals around pre-natal and post-natal care.

Sense of Community:

All societies can identify in-groups and out-groups (based on things like location, sex, status and relationship) and all share an emotional connection to their place of birth.

Marriage:

While some cultures allow polygamy and other encourage monogamy, all cultures have a ritual to publicly recognise the right of a man and a woman to produce offspring.

Reciprocity:

We all share the need to share, the need to trade, and the desire to return favours and to shame those who do not return favours.

Politics:

All societies have an awareness of relationships between different people and different groups and the need to successfully navigate these relationships.

Rules, Laws and Penalties:

All societies have rules around how individuals in the group need to act in order to be part of the group and penalties for those who do not comply. All societies also have rules that govern the specific areas of etiquette and hospitality.

Conflicts:

The noble savage is a romantic myth. All humans become embroiled in conflicts.

Theories on Fortune and Misfortune:

The need to attribute fortune to external forces is common to all societies.

Ritual:

We all share rituals around birth, rites of passage to adulthood, marriage and death.

Art:

We also share the need to produce art. There is body art, poetry, music, dance and visual art etc. Another interesting note is that all cultures’ music has rhythm, melody, repeating patterns and a specific form of music for children.

Perhaps what we have here is the beginnings of an answer to the question “What does it mean to be human?” It could also provide the basis for a system of ethics and morals in the tradition of the grand narrative attempts by the Greeks.

[1] Donald E. Brown, 1991, Human Universals, Temple University Press, Philadelphia.

[2] This is based on the literature we have about the cultures we have met and studied. There are some tribes who have not yet made contact with the outside world. Some of them live in the Amazon and are protected by no-go zones that are enforced by South American Governments.