David Stea

Mapping as a Cultural and Cognitive Universal

Abstract We hypothesize that nearly all humans, in all cultures, acquire the ability to read and use map-like models in very early childhood, and that this ability is a fundamental part of human ecological adaptation, comparable in many ways to tool use. Evidence pertaining to this theory should be sought in three kinds of research: studies in differing cultures of the development of young childrens ability to use map-like models; studies probing for evidence of map-like modeling across the ethnographic spectrum; and studies probing for evidence of the use of map-like models in prehistory. We are pursuing all three lines of research. However, our main focus thus far has been on the developmental dimension of the problem. Here, we report evidence that supports the universality hypothesis from seven empirical studies carried out on mapping abilities of three- to five-year-old children in several Western and non-Western cultures; we offer a general ecological theory of the development of mapping abilities, a theory that appears to explain the evidence elicited and accords with the universality hypothesis; and we discuss the implications of this work for early childhood education.

Mapping at the Age of Three

Abstract A study of toy-play mapping by three-, four-, and five-year-old children demonstrates that children can clearly represent a cognitive map at the age of three. Mapping, therefore, is developmentally primitive, and formal map-learning can begin at the age of school entrance.

From the Outside Looking in At the Inside Looking Out

&dquo;The Image&dquo; is back. It retumed to psychology by a side entrance and its conceptual foot seems firmly wedged in the door. Within geography, however, the burgeoning field of environmental perception provided a clear road for the incorporation of imagery and its baggage: borrowed methodology, a pot-pourri of concepts, and liberal doses of borrowed theory. The way ought to have been paved much earlier in the century. In 1913, C. C. Trowbridge, in his &dquo;Fundamental Methods of Orientation and Imaginary Maps,&dquo; introduced &dquo;ego-centric&dquo; and &dquo;domicentric&dquo; as terms denoting the two modes of orientation he observed. This is

Progress on Yindjibarndi ethnophysiography

This paper reviews progress on the Ethnophysiography study of the Yindjibarndi language from the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Concentrating on terms for water-related features, it concludes that there are significant differences to the way such features are conceptualized and spoken of in English. Brief comments regarding a similar project with the Dine (Navajo) people of Southwestern USA are provided, together with conclusions regarding Ethnophysiography.

Mapping as a Cultural Universal

This chapter discusses the hypothesis that mapping behavior, the making of map like models, is a cultural universal, an important component of ecological behavior. The essay presents a theoretical framework for the hypothesis and discusses three categories of evidence developmental, prehistoric, and cross-cultural — which support the hypothesis. Humans must visualize, analyze, describe, and communicate the nature of large environments perceived atomistically, and therefore they create material representations depicting environments as if seen as a whole, from overhead. The result is an organized sign system with certain linguistic properties, including two syntactic transformations (rotation/projection and scale reduction), and the semantic representation of landscape features as iconic or abstract signs. This concept of the map yields useful criteria for the identification and study of maps in culture, history, and behavior. Many examples of prehistoric imagery, mostly parietal, extending to periods earlier than the Neolithic (of both geographical hemispheres), appear map-like, giving evidence of rotated, scale-reduced, and abstracted depiction of the environment and suggesting that mapping may have represented a form of adaptive behavior for modern humans. In a few cases, which are discussed, the representation depicts a real local landscape. Ethnographic studies, while in general not concerned with mapping, have provided evidence that mapping activity occurs in many contemporary cultures. Studies of the behavior of very young children, finally, indicate that mapping abilities appear much earlier than generally supposed, and seem to play an important role in early development.1

Mapping Abilities of Four-Year-Old Children in York, England

Abstract This study reports on the ability of preschool-age children to interpret a black-and-white vertical aerial photograph and to solve a simulated navigation problem on the photo. Preschool-age children in York, England, successfully identified landscape features and solved navigation problems on a 1:1,300 air photo of a section of nearby Sheffield. Both verbal and nonverbal probes were employed. While a steadily increasing body of evidence has tended to contradict the conventional idea that children cannot learn map skills until much later in life, this study shows that children as young as four years old have significant untaught mapping abilities. The results suggest that children upon entering school may be able to benefit from much richer geographical learning experiences than are at present provided.

Cross-cultural similarities and differences in North Americans' geographic location judgments

We examined some potential causes of bias in geographic location estimates by comparing location estimates of North American cities made by Canadian, U.S., and Mexican university students. All three groups placed most Mexican cities near the equator, which implies that all e influenced by shared beliefs about the locationthree groups wers of geographical regions relative to global reference points. However, the groups divided North America into different regions and differed in the relative accuracy of the estimates within them, which implies that there was an influence of culture-specific knowledge. The data support a category-based system of plausible reasoning, in which biases in judgments are multiply determined, and underscore the utility of the estimation paradigm as a tool in cross-cultural cognitive research.

David Mark’s contribution to ethnophysiography research

This article describes Professor David Mark’s considerable contributions over the last 11 years to research in Ethnophysiography, the study of terms used for landscape features in different languages, and toponyms (place-names). His preceding research is briefly discussed to provide a summary of the foundation from which ethnophysiography emerged. This article describes the key stages of development of this new field, including David Mark’s collaborations with Andrew Turk, David Stea, and others. It briefly summarizes the key theories used and the two ethnophysiography case studies undertaken thus far. This article provides an overview of how this collaborative transdisciplinary area of research has developed. It highlights the importance of David Mark’s scholarship in this process and indicates some of the impacts of the research.

Psicologia Ambiental e Política Ambiental: questões teóricas e práticas

O artigo indaga como contribuir para construir uma ponte entre os psicologos ambientais e os politicos dado que os psicologos ambientais estiveram mais preocupados com o desenvolvimento teorico e academico da disciplina do que com conectar areas aplicadas da Psicologia Ambiental ao mundo complexo da Politica Ambiental Aponta que, embora as pontes variem quanto a escala, ha outras suposicoes igualmente importantes a serem consideradas como o contexto democratico e participativo. Apresenta a comunicacao uni-direcional versus a bi-direcional e discute o modo como a PA tem visto esta ponte. Finaliza propondo a PA como processo dentro de uma visao alternativa de participacao.

Conceptualizing Landscapes

Understanding human concepts, spatial and other, is not only one of the most prominent topics in the cognitive and spatial sciences; it is also one of the most challenging. While it is possible to focus on specific aspects of our spatial environment and abstract away complexities for experimental purposes, it is important to understand how cognition in the wild or at least with complex stimuli works, too. The research presented in this paper addresses emerging topics in the area of landscape conceptualization and explicitly uses a diversity fostering approach to uncover potentials, challenges, complexities, and patterns in human landscape concepts. Based on a representation of different landscapes images responses from two different populations were elicited: Navajo and the US crowd. Our data provides support for the idea of conceptual pluralism; we can confirm that participant responses are far from random and that, also diverse, patterns exist that allow for advancing our understanding of human spatial cognition with complex stimuli.Understanding human concepts, spatial and other, is not only one of the most prominent topics in the cognitive and spatial sciences; it is also one of the most challenging. While it is possible to focus on specific aspects of our spa- tial environment and abstract away complexities for experimental purposes, it is important to understand how cognition in the wild or at least with complex stim- uli works, too. The research presented in this paper addresses emerging topics in the area of landscape conceptualization and explicitly uses a diversity fostering approach to uncover potentials, challenges, complexities, and patterns in human landscape concepts. Based on a representation of different landscapes (images) responses from two different populations were elicited: Navajo and the (US) crowd. Our data provides support for the idea of conceptual pluralism; we can confirm that participant responses are far from random and that, also diverse, patterns exist that allow for advancing our understanding of human spatial cog- nition with complex stimuli.