Despite the recognized importance of cultural diversity in understanding the modern world, the emerging science of cognitive psychology has relied far more on experimental psychology, neurobiology, and computer science than on cultural anthropology for its models of how we think.

In new book, anthropologist Bradd Shore has created the first study linking multiculturalism to cognitive psychology, exploring the complex relationship between cultural expressions in public institutions and in mental representations. In so doing, he answers in a completely new way the age-old question of whether humans are basically the same psychologically, independent of cultures, or essentially different.

1. The author argues that culture must be considered an intrinsic component of the human mind to a degree that most psychologists and even many anthropologists have not recognized. This new position of cultural models will make absorbing reading for psychologists, anthropologists, linguists, and philosophers, and for anyone interested in the issues of cultural diversity, multiculturalism, or cognitive science in general.