This research by a cultural anthropologist, psychologists and linguists explores biological categorization and reasoning about ecological relationships. The investigators will ask where and how differences in cultural belief systems and experience with nature affect folk-biological categorization and reasoning. Using elicitation techniques from anthropology and psychology involving prepared stimulus materials as well as open-ended discussions and observations of people's interactions with their natural environment, the investigators will seek to show how the perceptual and morphological organization of living kinds, which is apparent in the folk taxonomies of cultures the world over, is integrated with a more causal and relational understanding of biology. Native Maya and Spanish speaking residents of Peten, Guatemala will be studied. The extent to which local knowledge of plants and animals represents the structure of ecological communities will be a special focus of the study. The project builds on prior fieldwork and laboratory experiments, using methods including consensus analysis and computational models of categorization and reasoning. This study is important because it will advance our understanding of how people categorize and reason about the living world, and will provide a cognitive baseline for understanding similarities and differences in the ways humans interact with nature.
