Culture

Learned symbolic meanings approximately shared by most members of a society or by identifiable segments of the society (e.g., status groups), and generally transmitted from one generation to the next. (Note: this definition and concepts within it are amplified in Rohner, 1984.) The important point here is that the concept "culture" in PARTheory refers exclusively to some degree of consensus about symbolic meanings among members of a population. The concept does not include behavior except insofar as behavior is motivated by or expresses symbolic meanings. (See culture learning; enculturation; equivalence of meaning; mental representation)