Table : Table 2.3 Cultural Adaptation

Environments	Human Adaptations
The Physical Environment: How do people in groups manage the physical environments in which they live?	Technology (skills and tools).
The Social Environment: How do people in large groups of (mostly) strangers get along with each other?	Shared beliefs systems (e.g., norms, roles, and interaction customs) that reduce uncertainty about the self and one’s actions; orient the self toward relationships with others; and establish and maintain social order.
The Metaphysical Environment: How do people in groups manage the awareness of threatening realities inherent to our existence, most notably the fact that it ends in death?	Faith in a meaning-providing cultural worldview, combined with a feeling of self-esteem, ensures psychological equanimity in the face of death.

Environments

Human Adaptations

The Physical Environment:

How do people in groups manage the physical environments in which they live?

Technology (skills and tools).

The Social Environment:

How do people in large groups of (mostly) strangers get along with each other?

Shared beliefs systems (e.g., norms, roles, and interaction customs) that reduce uncertainty about the self and one’s actions; orient the self toward relationships with others; and establish and maintain social order.

The Metaphysical Environment:

How do people in groups manage the awareness of threatening realities inherent to our existence, most notably the fact that it ends in death?

Faith in a meaning-providing cultural worldview, combined with a feeling of self-esteem, ensures psychological equanimity in the face of death.