ABSTRACT
Inevitably, every culture or particular social structure at any given moment promotes the development of a series of dominant intellectual abilities in keeping with the particular structure of that society. This chapter focuses on some negative cultural trends that might interfere with the goal of promoting new mental attitudes. There are a number of recurring and salient aspects in the historical development of Latin America that can be closely related to the evolution of specific mental attitudes. The tight and orderly style of thinking that fosters objective and scientific reasoning is not generally speaking a natural product of the present Latin American sociocultural tradition, nor for the most of third world countries. The three main cultures that contributed most of the present cultural character of Latin America, the Hispanic, and Amerindian, and the African stand out for their strong identity and expressive capacity. Objectivity and rationality can indeed be considered survival skills, especially in highly developed societies.
