So my task was one of revealing the human universals hidden within the plight of one who was both black and American...

DIT is seen by some as a "middle-ground" between views that emphasize human universals versus those that emphasize cultural variation.

Characteristics that have been demonstrated to be cross cultural human universals such as smiling, crying, facial expressions are presumed to be evolved psychological adaptations.

"A good poem," Paglia writes, "is iridescent and incandescent, catching the light at unexpected angles and illuminating human universals."

It is the idea that goes against the idea that some things are always the same in every human culture (human universals).

Brown says human universals, "comprise those features of culture, society, language, behavior, and psyche for which there are no known exception."

The belief in magic and divination, and attempts to use magic to influence personal well-being (to increase life, win love, etc.) are human cultural universals.

While dance, music, visual art, story-telling, and architecture are human universals, they are expressed in the West in certain characteristic ways.

It covers vocal communication in non-human animal species, theories of the evolution of human music, and cross-cultural human universals in musical ability and processing.

It is important to test so-called "human universals" against the ethnographic record.