Introduction

The aim of this book is to describe a novel theoretical orientation and set of research methods for examining the relationship between culture and the individual in medical and psychological anthropology. The concept of “cultural consonance” was developed to examine how cultural models are variably realized in individual lives and the implications of this for human biology and health. Cultural consonance is the degree to which individuals approximate, in their own beliefs and behaviors, the prototypes for belief and behavior encoded in shared cultural models. In this book, cultural consonance as a theory and method are examined in detail.