Ross, N. (2002). “Cognitive Aspects of Intergenerational Change: Mental Models, Cultural change and Environmental behavior among the Lacandon Maya of Southern Mexico.”

Human Organization, Vol. 61(2):125-137.

The life of the Lacandon-Maya of Mensäbäk (Chiapas, Mexico) has undergone tremendous changes in the last 30 years. These changes are manifested in a generational split among the adult population with respect to social relations, household location and economic behavior. In this paper I argue that the changes affecting social life as well as decision-making processes are paralleled by changes concerning environmental cognition among the adult members of the community. Older individuals reveal a systematic awareness of the ecological complexity involving animals and plants of the rainforest. The data suggest that the emerging patterns of change are not due to different stages of a development (from novice to expert), nor do they seem to be reversible. Rather, they indicate an intricate system that closely links culture, cognition and behavior.