Exploring culture from the standpoint of a cognitive architecture

This article focuses on the relationship between cultural and cognitive-psychological processes, and discusses the potential impact of the cognitive sciences (broadly defined) on understanding culture, as well as on the social sciences in general. It utilizes a computational cognitive architecture to illustrate the potential of combining the cognitive sciences with the social sciences. A cognitive architecture can provide not only detailed, mechanistic, process-based, micro-level interpretations of cultural phenomena, but also conceptual tools for addressing relevant theoretical issues.