ABSTRACT
As Aronson (1995) has pointed out, human beings possess a unique ability to construct, communicate, and change culture. This capacity is perhaps the characteristic of human evolution. Culture, “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by humans as a member of society” (Tylor, 1877), plays a predominant role in shaping the human way of life, by ensuring the transmission and communication of thoughts, words, concepts, and feelings. Experiencing, construing, and communicating “reality” thus constitute the building blocks of personal belief and social interaction. Culture then provides the conceptual framework for explaining how groups of individuals arrive at socially shaped yet personally distinctive sets of values, attributes, attitudes, and patterns of social behavior.
