We present two experiments on the role of culture in the categorization of object part-whole structures. A triadic categorization task pitted shape against function as factors driving similarity judgments on selected parts of different types of objects. Speakers of American English were significantly more likely than speakers of two indigenous languages of Mexico, Tseltal Maya and Isthmus Zapotec, to choose categorization by function, even when familiarity of the various stimulus objects was factored in. In the second study, members of the two indigenous groups matched parts of a doll to parts of novel objects of unfamiliar shape. The Tseltal participants were significantly more likely to match according to a shape-analytical algorithm rather than global analogy, consistent with predictions based on prevalent strategies in verbal part labeling in the two languages. We conclude that while cognition of object parts undoubtedly has a strong biological basis, there are also robust cultural effects.

Speakers of Mandarin, Spanish, and Yucatec Maya watched videos of two actors involved in a causal chain initiated by one of them. After watching each video, participants divided 10 tokens into piles indicating their assignment of responsibility for the resulting event. There was a significant interaction between intentionality and population: causer and causee intentionality made a significant difference only for the Spanish and Yucatec participants, but not for the Chinese participants. This is in line with previous findings suggesting that internal dispositions play a lesser role in responsibility attribution in societies in which attention to individual agency is far more common than attention to group agency.