# List of human universals NOTE: This is a list of what people *all* seem to do. We could argue about outliers, but barring mental illness, everyone seems to do these things. There are plenty more, but this list to prove that we're not *completely* unrelated to one another (i.e., cultural relativism). Abstractions - We all [perceive](image.md) stuff, then pull [patterns](symbols.md) off it to use elsewhere. - Those patterns reproduce all over our [understanding](understanding.md), including in [analysis](logic.md) and [stories](stories.md). - We then convert those abstractions into [values](values.md) and create [habitual](habits.md) thoughts around them. Aesthetics - We concern ourselves with the function and [appearance](image.md) of things, then assign graded [qualities](values-quality.md) to them. - We create captured [images](image.md) of [reality](reality.md), repetitive elements like music and poetry, and written or spoken [stories](stories.md). - This aesthetic bleeds into our sense of [identity](identity.md), and we adorn ourselves with clothing, [icons](symbols.md), hair fashions, and piercings that reflect it. Affection - We send and receive [affection](mind-feelings.md), often as expressions of [love](people-love.md). - We use endearing terms like nicknames and recognize people by their faces. - When we've found someone to share affection with for the rest of our life, we get married, and even societies that treat it like a [business transaction](people-contracts.md) still [expect](imagination.md) them to [coexist](people-boundaries.md). - We constantly redirect that [attachment](people-love.md) to others towards things that [represent](symbols.md) human-like traits, as well as to strangers. Amusement - We use the leftover time from our work to recreate. - Our [recreation](fun.md) can include imitating [reality](reality.md) with games, consuming [stories](stories.md) from others, listening or dancing to music, or partaking in [play and humor](humor.md). Change - We're *constantly* [adapting](people-changes.md) to our environment, to [new discoveries](understanding.md), and to [social trends](trends.md), which frequently reflect in our [identity](identity.md) and [priorities](people-decisions.md). - While we can't easily see these changes minute-by-minute, everyone changes slowly across years and decades. Comparisons - We're perpetually making "like" comparisons to things, from [stories](stories.md) to [logic](logic.md). - Our comparisons express in [language](language.md) as analogies and metaphors. - Beyond our environment, we also tend to compare ourselves with others, and our [relationships](people-4_friends.md) with other relationships. - This often inspires us to [compete](people-conflicts.md) with others, for [work](results.md) *and* [play](fun.md). Conflicts - We all possess different points of view and opinions, which clash against each other. - First, they [clash](conflicts-inner.md) against our [understanding](understanding.md) inside our minds. - Then, we [push](people-conflicts.md) against others around us with our [beliefs](understanding-certainty.md). - Taken far enough, multiple [groups](groups-large.md) will [oppose](people-conflicts-war.md) each other. Companionship - We all need [friends](people-4_friends.md), even if they're non-human or merely in our [imagination](imagination.md). - Consuming [stories](stories.md) or [religious](religion-answers.md) devotion frequently serves as a reliable proxy for friendship. Conscious/Subconscious - We're all ridiculously [unaware](awareness.md) of most of our thoughts. - Somewhere in the mix of it, we have a [soul](humanity.md) that makes [decisions](people-decisions.md). Decisions - We all make decisions based on an elaborate [calculation](people-decisions.md) that includes managing [power](power.md) and what we [love](people-love.md). - We tend to hand those decisions to more powerful people as we conform to [group](groups-member.md) [standards](people-culture.md). Denying Death - We know we're going to die, but we don't talk or think about it [routinely](habits.md). - We tend to [associate](symbols.md) diseases with death. - Generally, our [beliefs](understanding-certainty.md) about diseases and [how to live](goodlife.md) involve [extending life](religion-answers.md) or [transcending it](legacy.md). - We always [mourn](hardship-death.md) when we experience the death of those we [love](people-love.md). Dreams - While we [sleep](sleep.md), we have [dreams](sleep-dreams.md). - [Amusingly](humor.md), [science](science.md) still has no [idea](understanding.md) *why* we dream. - We interpret our dreams as having some [meaning](purpose.md) to our lives. Expectations - We're *constantly* looking to the future to [predict, expect, and plan](imagination.md) and have a mixed [hope](purpose.md)/[fear](mind-feelings-fear.md) about it. - We build [traditions](people-culture.md) with others around consistent [patterns](symbols.md). - We make [promises](people-contracts.md) based on our expectations of others and [believe](trust.md) people and the surrounding environment will [behave](results.md) a certain way. - Further, we tend to [believe](understanding-certainty.md) that our expectations are the "best" way, and are suspicious of anything that breaks from it. Exploration - Our [purposes](purpose.md) usually start with a question, since we're constantly curious about things and willing to take [risks](socialrisk.md) enough to [find out](understanding.md). - Most of our [purposes](purpose.md) involve [understanding](understanding.md) or [creating](creations.md) something never understood or created before. Expressions - We use elaborate [language](language.md) to [communicate](people-conversation.md) ideas *far* more complex than our environment. - Experts of language can [direct](image-distortion.md) their [image](image.md), and everyone else will consider them far more [powerful](power.md) than they [are](reality.md). - We use the same facial expressions when we [feel](mind-feelings.md) fear, anger, contempt, disgust, happiness, and surprise. - We create body language and gestures to emphasize ourselves, often imitating our [upbringing](people-family.md). - We impulsively cry and laugh to exclaim our thoughts. Faith/Trust - We have a strong enough [belief](understanding-certainty.md) that we [understand](understanding.md) the [world](reality.md) that we take [risks](socialrisk.md) to do things with reality. - We use these risks to calculate [purposes](purpose.md) and focus them on [creating](creations.md) things that make [results](results.md). Feelings - We experience a vast variety of [feelings](mind-feelings.md), which are the same feelings every other human feels, based on a reaction in the brain stem. - We're [happy](mind-feelings-happiness.md) when we don't feel anything is wrong, [scared](mind-feelings-fear.md) when we don't feel [safe](safety.md), angry when we feel [injustice](morality-justice.md), sad when we feel loss, and hopeful when we [believe](understanding-certainty.md) something. - Our feelings are the basis for how we express [sympathy and empathy](people-4_friends.md). Focus - While we can train ourselves against it, we tend to lock into doing things and forget everything else around us when we're devoted to a [purpose](purpose.md). - We tend to self-hypnotize over things we [believe](understanding-certainty.md) and tend to let our [leaders](groups-member.md) [hypnotize](power-influence.md) us. Food - Everyone loves [eating](fun-food.md) and [prefers](humanity.md) certain foods, especially sweets. - We work to constantly improve that experience through [cooking](cooking.md). - We're accustomed to [rituals](habits.md) around mealtime, [identify](identity.md) with it, and share the experience with others. Gender Roles - Every society demarcates a binary grouping of [male and female](gender.md) based on biology. - They have gender-based social statuses and their own way of behaving, especially when interacting with each other. - The genders engage together with a complicated dynamic of attraction, attractiveness, and modesty. - Males and females marry, at least partly out of sexual attraction, with the male often a little older than the female. Healthcare - Every society tries to stave off [death](mind-feelings-fear.md) at varying levels of success. - As a preventative measure, most people practice [hygienic care](people-2_image.md) like brushing teeth or washing hands, which extends to [social interaction](people-3_respect.md). Heat - We feel an animal association with heat. - We find tremendous comfort through a hot shower, a cup of coffee, a hot meal, or a warm fire. - We frequently redirect that pleasure toward physical activity like exercise or dancing. - We associate that heat socially through a warm handshake or hugging. Humor - We all find some things [funny](humor.md). - Those funny things are a "release valve" that we all need to be [happy](mind-feelings-happiness-perma.md). Identity - We [connect ourselves](identity.md) to a self-created [image](image.md) that combines what we [understand](understanding.md) from our environment with our [created](creations.md) [results](results.md). - We often manipulate that [image](image.md) of ourselves as our [understanding](understanding.md) changes. Image - We maintain an [appearance](image.md) that's different from [reality](reality.md). - We frequently [embellish our image](image-distortion.md) by [lying](people-lying.md), accumulating/flaunting possessions, and false modesty. - Further, we'll judge others by our [values](values.md), [expectations](imagination.md), and [conceit](morality-evil.md). Imagination - To understand reality, we [rebuild](image.md) it inside our minds. - Since we're reproducing a bad copy of [reality](reality.md), we can and do manipulate it. - While everyone uses it for specific [purposes](purpose.md), they also do it for fun. Logic - We all construct [logical ideas](logic.md) with if/then premises. - We analyze when we wish to further [understand](understanding.md) things. Math/Measuring - We group [values](values.md) into homogeneous things, then start calculating and [predicting](imagination.md) with them. - Beyond presuming that time exists with a past, present, and future, we also evenly divide it for our [purposes](purpose.md). - We do this for distance, time, weight, movement, and increments. Media - We gain [understanding](understanding.md) of ourselves by observing how others [do things](results.md). - We use [creations](creations.md) to [communicate](people-conversation.md) [stories](stories.md) with others when we believe it will increase their [understanding](understanding.md). Money - As a store of [power](power.md), we always use a currency to track how much we can do or get. - We treat money as a [symbol](symbols.md) of raw human [power](power.md), and we can [trade](economics.md) it for what we want. Morality/Justice - We all have a notion of [right](morality.md) and [wrong](morality-evil.md), which expresses in [loving](people-love.md) generous people and condemning stingy people. - Our idea of right and wrong extends into our environment as a desire for [fairness](morality-justice.md), which expresses through strong [sentiment](mind-feelings.md) as psychological defense mechanisms. - Our sense of justice is why we desire equivalent exchanges in [trading](economics.md) and desire [retribution](people-rules.md) for wrongdoing. - Generally, people are hospitable until they [feel](mind-feelings.md) unfairly treated. - To protect from immorality, society creates [taboos](morality-taboo.md). - Society will often find collective justifications for *extremely* [immoral](morality.md) things like rape or murder. Pain - While we all try to avoid it, we experience a wide variety of pain. - When we get hurt, we suck our wounds. Power - We all consider how much [power](power.md) we have compared to others. - This power dramatically determines the [decisions](people-decisions.md) we make. - The few end up ruling the many as a type of pyramid, which frequently [goes corrupt](mgmt-badsystems.md). Preferences - We all prefer various [foods](fun-food.md), [entertainment](creations.md), and [work](results.md). - These preferences come from our [souls](humanity.md). - For some reason, most people are right-handed. Primal/Animal Impulses - We [understand](understanding.md) and often perform variations of basic animal reactions, such as hissing, spitting, puffing up in size, and many others. - We share this primal wiring that we share with most other animals, but we add those [feelings](mind-feelings.md) together to [symbolically](symbols.md) connect beyond it to many other things. Privacy - We all separate our [private](safety.md) life from our public life, even if it's simply going to the bathroom. - We typically keep things like sex, [marital conflicts](relationships-marriage.md), and dysfunction away from strangers. - We also regularly desire to [hide](image.md) even more things. Routines/Rituals/Habits - We automatically build a plethora of [subconscious patterns](habits.md) to guide us through repetitive experiences. - We create daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly [routines](success-4_routine.md) around the sun's rotation, where we [do much more](results.md) in the day and [sleep](sleep.md) at night. - Further, we create standardized [social greetings](language-speaking.md) among each other. - We make long-term [traditions](people-culture.md) around anything that repeats, such as [marriages](relationships-weddings.md), [births](parenting-babies.md), [deaths](hardship-death.md), and changing seasons. - Those traditions usually include feasts and, if they're a special occasion, a [public speech](language-speaking.md). Rules - Whoever has the most [power](power.md) in a group is declared the [leadership](groups-small.md) and makes the [rules](people-rules.md). - The rules are generally considered [immoral](morality.md) to break, but people still break them and try to [hide it](image-distortion.md). - The most powerful social structure in a region is a [government](groups-large.md). Selfishness - People frequently receive more than they share, often to manage their [power](power.md). - Thus, we tend to neglect common areas when everyone can use it, but nobody is specifically responsible for maintaining. Shelter - We all live in a type of domicile to be [safe](safety.md) from the elements, which is typically a fixed location but is occasionally a large object we can haul around. - We express our [creativity](mind-creativity.md) within and around that structure. Social Structures - We have a [bias](mind-bias.md) toward our [children](parenting-children.md) and [family](people-family.md). - Whenever it fits our [purposes](purpose.md) toward [gaining power](power.md) or [loving others](people-love.md), we'll [work in teams](groups-small.md), live together, give and receive gifts, and [gossip](stories-storytellers.md). - While we'll still [identify](identity.md) as separate beings, we'll also identify as part of that group. - We [specialize in roles](jobs-specialization.md) according to our [age](maturity.md), [gender](gender.md), [preferences](humanity.md), and [talent](success-1_why.md). - We give permanent [statuses](image.md) to people in that group for their [achievements](results.md), which become [types of power](power-types.md). - The group, as a whole, all shares a vague [value](values.md) that separates "in the group" from "outside the group" things and people. Specializations - We break off into [specialized](jobs-specialization.md) [purposes](purpose.md) based on our [preferences](humanity.md). - Those divisions are indefinitely subdivided as more people join the [group](groups-small.md). Stories - We all form our thoughts into [narratives](stories.md) with a beginning, middle, and end. - That end usually implies a [value](values.md) that everyone ought to [understand](understanding.md). - Those stories often take on mythological proportions, folklore, and proverbial statements as [facts](reality.md) are obscured. Substance Habituation - If we ever use something to the point of excess, we'll receive a [diminishing return](people-decisions.md) from it. - Frequently, we'll get drawn into that excess and become [addicted](addiction.md). Supernatural - We group the "[natural](science.md)" against the "[supernatural/subnatural/magic](religion-answers.md)". - We tend to establish the [unknown](trust.md) as having more power than the [known](understanding.md). - Interaction with the non-natural typically includes divination, special rituals, and music. - One of the most legitimate reasons we focus on the supernatural is to stop or stall our inevitable [death](legacy.md). Technology - We combine things together in useful ways to make [tools](technology.md). - We [share](people-conversation.md) how to make those tools with everyone else. - Over time, we build an ever-growing body of knowledge in our [groups](groups-small.md). - Regardless of what society, everyone makes technology around medicine, fighting, and convenience. - We tend to mistake our [creations](creations.md) as "separate" from nature. Understanding - We assemble [ideas](values.md) using our [memory](mind-memory.md) and [perceptions](image.md) until we believe we [know something](understanding.md). - We must practice repetitively to [succeed](success-1_why.md). - We use substances and techniques to increase [awareness](awareness.md) or alter consciousness. Vagueness - We don't generally like vague or [uncertain](understanding-certainty.md) things, especially if they might make us [unsafe](safety.md). - For the sake of [image](image.md) or avoiding [pain](mind-feelings-fear.md) from [understanding](understanding.md), we often keep things vague inside ourselves. - This vagueness frequently expresses as general beliefs about fortune or misfortune, especially with [predicting the future](imagination.md). - To avoid vagueness, we [explain](logic.md) things to ourselves and others. Values - We prioritize some things more than others that [make sense](logic.md) to us. - We assemble those prioritized things into ideas that condense as [values](values.md). - We make clear distinctions for many things: - Colors, shapes, and distance - Speech versus thought versus action - Relative locations and directions - [Elements](science.md) of the [world](reality.md) around us, including [weather conditions](science-earth-weather.md) - [Social status](image.md) - Our separations start as binary distinctions, then divide further as we gain [maturity](maturity.md). - We form [words](language.md) for every one of these categories as we [understand](understanding.md) them. - We tend to [imagine](imagination.md) everyone else thinks the way we do. Violence - Even the most peaceful societies have [evil](morality-evil.md). - This evil frequently becomes outright [fighting and brutality](people-conflicts.md). - Because of this, every society needs [rules](rules-methods.md) for dealing with it. - Sometimes, for the sake of [power](power.md), [large organizations](groups-large.md) will [fight](people-conflicts-war.md) with one another, which can include war. Water - We require water to survive, practice [good hygiene](people-2_image.md), and [prepare food](cooking.md). - Societies very frequently [congregate and form](jobs-specialization.md) around bodies of water. - We [associate](symbols.md) water with life. Youth Love/Hate Relationship - We give children extra [honor](image.md) and care for their untapped potential, which includes specialized [media](creations.md) like music and toys. - Children have temporary behaviors they lose as they [mature](maturity.md), such as pretend play, thumb-sucking, and weaning. - We usually don't regard them as adults until they've attained some [rite of passage](maturity.md). - The roles from our [parenting](people-family.md) become the roles we expect from our spouse and self in [marriage](relationships-marriage.md) later.