A team of researchers looking for ubiquitous human concepts in a dozen languages as diverse as the Afroasiatic tongue Afar and the Australian language Wik-mungkan discovered that ideas of morality - reflected in words that translate as ‘good,’ ‘bad,’ ‘disobedient’ and ‘ashamed’ - occur in all 12. Also common are concepts of competence, or lack thereof: ‘strong,’ ‘weak,’ ‘useless’ and ‘stupid,’ says the team, led by Gerard Saucier of the University of Oregon. The ubiquity of the concept of shame may indicate that a central part of the human experience is the response to behavioural constraints imposed by social groups, the researchers suggest.

(Source: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, August 25th, 2014