Culture

To give a single, uncontroversial definition of culture is a difficult task. Any definition of culture is itself an expression of a theoretical stance. With this caveat, this entry offers a definition that conveys a conception of culture widely used in contemporary psychology. Broadly, culture is a collection of information (or meanings) that is (a) nongenetically transmitted between individuals, (b) more or less shared within a population of individuals, and (c) maintained across some generations over a period of time.

This definition of culture excludes behavior or artifacts. Artifacts may take a material form, such as tools, machines, and objects, or a more symbolic form, such as stories, poems, and pictures. Social institutions such as rituals, laws, and the like are special kinds of artifacts that ...