Not ‘culture’ as Hofstede assumed, but ‘context’ is the software of the mind

This paper reviews and discusses the neuroscience of a dynamic, contextual and polycultural self.

Advances in neuro-science suggests that: (1) the brain can acquire contradictory cultural systems at the same time; (2) all three groups of multi/ and mono-cultural individuals can activate corresponding cultural patterns of the self, based on the cultural cues given in a specific cultural context; (3) individuals may be born with some genetic predispositions and these interact with the cultural environment, such that the same genetic predisposition may have opposite expressions of the self in different cultural contexts.

Based on these insights, future research could invest more in (1) understanding the Neuroscience of polycultural and global citizens who may have a universal identity; (2) advancing new identity development models for monocultural individuals who have the potential of a dynamic, contextual and polycultural self, but don’t benefit from living in a diverse cultural environment; and (3) because people can be both products and producers of culture, future research can focus on ‘technologies of the self’, in the sense that individuals, organisations and governments can promote human agency (i.e. people as producers/authors of culture), proactively raise awareness and support the cultivation of a dynamic, contextual and polycultural self.