Sociocultural Sciences – Comprehensive Exam Notes

Page 1 – Sociobiology, Evolution & Foundational Terms

• Sociobiology (E. O. Wilson, 1975): Study of human behaviour via transmission/modification of genetically influenced traits; asks ultimate “why” questions.

• Evolution: Any change in the genetic make-up of a population; paradigm uniting ethology, population biology, ecology, anthropology, game theory & genetics.

  • Darwinian natural selection: Differential reproduction in competitive environments → heritable advantageous traits spread.

  • $\text{Fitness}=\text{Reproductive success}$

• Key behavioural themes

  • Competition: Defence of territory; success = high resource-holding potential.

  • Aggression: Expands territory, eliminates competitors.

Page 2 – Reproduction, Dimorphism & Altruism

• Reproduction & Sexual Competition

  • Males show higher variance in reproductive success ⇒ intra-male competition (even at sperm level).

  • Female competition tends toward social undermining.

  • Sexual dimorphism: Evolved behavioural/physical differences secure resources & mating.

• Altruism (gene-level “selfishness”): Behaviour ↓ initiator’s direct reproductive success, ↑ recipient’s.

  • Darwinian puzzle → solved via kin selection (e.g., sterile worker bees) & group selection (groups with altruists out-compete selfish groups despite within-group cost).

• Psychiatric implications

  • Some disorders seen as maladaptive extensions of adaptive strategies, e.g.:

  • Anorexia nervosa = delaying maturation when mates scarce.

  • Risk-taking = resource acquisition & social signalling.

  • Post-menopausal erotomania = compensation for reproductive loss.

Page 3 – Nature vs. Nurture: Twin Studies (General Findings)

• Monozygotic twins reared apart = “natural experiments”.

  • Hundreds studied → genetics critical in behaviour.

  • Famous pairs (Laura & Catherine; Jack & Oskar; Bessie & Jessie) show striking concordance in habits, careers, IQ, etc.

Page 4 – Detailed Twin Anecdotes (Behavioural Concordance)

• Examples of identical twins with parallel life choices despite separate upbringings – reinforces genetic influence.

Page 5 – Quantitative Twin Data & Behavioural Genetics

• MMPI: Reared-apart MZ twins share trait correlations ≈ reared-together twins.

• IQ correlations

  • MZ apart $r=0.75$

  • DZ apart $r=0.38$

  • Siblings $r=0.45{-}0.50$

  • Conclusion: ≈ $\tfrac23$ genetics, $\tfrac13$ environment.

• Genes influence: alcohol/substance use, antisocial traits, risk aversion, sensory reactivity, religious & vocational interests.

Page 6 – Ethologic Glossary (Key Terms I)

• Action-specific energy, Aggression, Appetitive behaviour, Consummatory response, Critical period, etc. – foundational vocabulary linking stimuli, drives & fixed patterns.

Page 7 – Ethologic Glossary (Key Terms II)

• FAP (Fixed Action Pattern), Imprinting, IRM (Innate Releasing Mechanism), Instinct, Redirection, Ritualization.

Page 8 – Ethology & Nobelists

• Ethology: Systematic study of animal behaviour.

• 1973 Nobel Prize: Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen.

• Lorenz: Imprinting in goslings; concept of sign stimuli/social releasers; balance of aggression vs. flight within territories.

Page 9 – Lorenz: Human Implications

• Aggression as historically adaptive (territorial defence) but perilous with modern weapons.

Page 10 – Tinbergen

• Quantified stimulus strength; described displacement activities (irrelevant acts under conflict); applied ethologic observation to childhood autism (fear–contact conflict).

Page 11 – von Frisch & Communication

• Bee “dance language” → sparked interest in animal & human communication.

• Handicap principle: Costly signals ensure honesty (peacock tail; human conspicuous consumption).

Page 12 – Primate Social Deprivation Research

• Harlow (rhesus monkeys): Isolation vs. separation; contact comfort preferred over food.

• Suomi’s therapist monkeys: Rehabilitation via gentle social partners → reversibility of early deficits.

Page 13 – Continued Primate Findings

• Isolates regain play & normal behaviour after 6-month therapy; informs treatment of withdrawn children.

Page 14 – Primate Models of Depression & Anxiety

• Separation produces protest → despair cycle; ECT & tricyclics reverse monkey depressive signs.

Page 15 – Table 34-9: Effects of Social Deprivation

• Total isolation >6 mo = no recovery; other conditions produce specific fear, self-orality, maternal failures, etc.

Page 16 – Temperament & Maternal Outcomes

• Stable individual differences: fearful infants remain high-risk; in stressful upbringing they later neglect/abuse offspring.

Page 17 – Experimental Disorders in Animals

• Pavlov/Gantt/Liddell: Conflict conditioning → “experimental neurosis”.

• Seligman: Learned helplessness model of depression; links to opiate release, immune suppression.

• Educational application: teach persistence to reverse child helplessness.

Page 18 – Unpredictable Stress & Hierarchy

• Chronic unpredictable stress in rats → ↓ exploration (reversed by antidepressants).

• Dominance shifts correlate with mood (loss → depression).

Page 19 – Brain Stimulation & Pharmacologic Models

• Self-stimulation (medial forebrain bundle) rewarding; catecholamines central.

• Reserpine model → depressive signs; amphetamine model → paranoid psychosis.

Page 20 – Executive Monkey Study

• Decision-making monkey under chronic tension; illustrates stress of control responsibility.

Page 21 – Drug–Social Interaction Synergy

• Catecholamine depletion + social separation = severe depression; mirroring drug-induced human syndromes.

Page 22 – Sensory Deprivation

• Laboratory isolation (Hebb): ↑ suggestibility, anxiety, hallucinations; Freud’s speculation on ego under reduced stimuli.

• Cognitive view: Lack of input → faulty “cognitive maps”.

• Physiologic view: Reduced stimuli ↓ reticular activating system arousal → internal sensations dominate.

Page 23 – Transcultural Psychiatry: Culture Definitions

• Culture = learned, transmissible, meaning-laden, evolving template shaping symptom expression & health-care interactions.

• Race: Questioned biological validity, but potent social construct.

• Ethnicity: Subjective group belonging (origin, beliefs).

Page 24 – DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Outline

1. Cultural identity.

2. Cultural explanations (explanatory models).

3. Cultural factors in psychosocial environment/function.

4. Cultural elements in clinician–patient relationship.

5. Overall cultural assessment for diagnosis & care.

Page 25 – Explanatory Models & Help-Seeking

• Moral, religious, magical, biomedical, psychosocial stress models.

• Culture shapes stigma, expectations of clinician role (authoritarian ↔ nondirective).

Page 26 – Psychosocial Environment & Clinician Factors

• Family definitions/roles vary; clinician self-awareness vital; culture influences transference/counter-transference.

Page 27 – Diagnosis & Category Fallacy

• Avoid mislabelling culturally normative behaviour as pathology; watch for reality-testing errors.

Page 28 – Acculturation Outcomes

• Four possibilities: Rejection, Integration (biculturalism), Assimilation, Marginalization.

• Stress level depends on host-society openness & migrant valuation of heritage vs. contact.

Page 29 – Psychiatric Assessment of Immigrants/Refugees

• Thorough migration history (premigration trauma, planning, socioeconomic loss).

• Culturally sensitive MSE: language, idioms, proverbs, hallucination norms.

Page 30 – Global Migration Pressures

• Restrictive policies post-terrorism; heightened acculturative stress.

Page 31 – U.S. Epidemiology by Race/Ethnicity

• Lower prevalence of mood/anxiety/substance disorders in African & Hispanic Americans vs. whites, yet greater chronicity.

• Higher schizophrenia diagnosis rates in African Americans (SES confound).

Page 32 – Protective Factors & Early Onset Differences

• Cultural identity, communal/religious participation may protect; differences appear <10 yrs old.

Page 33 – Mental-Health Service Disparities

• Minorities receive less care, more coercive pathways, higher inpatient & restraint rates; diagnostic bias (African Americans → schizophrenia over mood disorder).

Page 34 – Treatment Disparities (Medications & Therapy)

• Lower antidepressant & ECT use in African Americans; higher depot neuroleptic use; fewer primary-care mental-health referrals.

Page 35 – Diagnostic Instrument Bias

• Symptom-to-diagnosis mapping differs by race; misattribution of hallucinations.

Page 36 – Disparities in Adolescents & Asian American Linguistic Barriers

• Language-based discrimination → negative attitudes toward formal care; reliance on informal help.

Page 37 – Future Research Directions

• Focus areas: epidemiology, neurobiology, idioms of distress, social desirability, ethnography, explanatory models.

• Need rigorous sampling, culturally adapted instruments.

Page 38 – Conceptual & Operational Challenges

• Cultural relativism vs. evidence-based practice; defining normality; weighting cultural variables (language, religion, gender orientation).

Page 39 – Test Translation Approaches

1. Ethnocentric (assume full overlap).

2. Pragmatic (measure overlapping emic elements).

3. Emic + Etic (include culture-specific parts).

4. Non-translatable (no conceptual overlap).

Page 40 – Culture-Bound Syndromes Overview

• All psychiatric categories are culture-grounded; “culture-bound” = syndromes first described outside Western nosology.

• Detailed cases: Amok, Ataques de nervios, Possession syndrome, Shenjing shuairuo (Chinese neurasthenia).

Selected Culture-Bound Syndromes (Condensed)

Amok (Malaysia/SE Asia)

1. Trigger (loss/shame) → withdrawal → sudden frenzied indiscriminate violence.

2. Mostly males 20-45 yrs; often precipitated by minor insults.

3. Partial amnesia; cultural “insanity” defence; treated via hospitalization.

Ataque de nervios (Caribbean Latinos)

1. Acute uncontrollable shouting/crying, aggression, dissociation; family-linked stressors.

2. Risk factors: female, low education, disrupted marriage.

3. Strong links to suicidality; treatment = support, storytelling, psychotherapy.

Possession Syndrome (South Asia)

1. Involuntary trance with alternate identities (spirits, deceased kin).

2. 3 : 1 female predominance; triggers = marital/family conflict.

3. Managed with exorcism, spirit-medium rituals; psychiatric avoidance common.

Shenjing Shuairuo (Chinese Neurasthenia)

1. Gradual fatigue, insomnia, somatic pains tied to work/family stress & powerlessness.

2. Popular diagnosis (~80 % neuroses in 1980); treated with traditional medicine, sedatives, psychosocial change.

End of comprehensive notes.