Psychology and Anthropology

Psychology

DEFINITION OF PSYCHOLOGY

• the scientific study of mental processes and behaviour

• it is the science of the mind

• Psychologists study the relationship between brain, mind and behaviour

QUESTIONS A PSYCHOLOGIST WOULD ASK

1. what are the common behaviours of people with ADHD?

2. how is music used to treat symptoms of Dementia?

3. what experiences cause a person to become a bully?

4. is schizophrenia hereditary?

5. how do you Geel on Valentine’s day

BRANCHES OF PSYCHOLOGY

| Structuralism | • Founded by William Wundt • Tried to observe the inner workings of the mind by conducting experiments on sensation, perception, and attention • Short-lived branch, but it marked the arrival of psychology as a scientific discipline. | | --- | --- | | functionalism | • Founded by American William James • He was impressed with how people adapted their behaviour to the needs of their surroundings. • He read Charles Darwin’s theory that human physical characteristics developed and adapted. • Believed that mental characteristics had also developed to allow people to survive by solving problems • Studied the development of children, how learning and education can be improved and how men and women behave differently | | psychoanalysis | • Developed by sigmund freud • A process designed to uncover patients’ unconscious thoughts by talking about feelings, backgrounds, etc. with trained professional • Talk therapy | | behaviourism | • Founded by John Watson • Believed that to be scientific, psychology should only study what can be observed • Since the mind itself can not be observed, behaviour was the only thing that could • Studied how individuals react to their environment | | humanism | • Developed in the 1950s • Believed that people can take control of their lives • They are not dominated by their drives and emotions or their environments • Humans can make their own choices • Maslow | | cognitive psychology | • Study of mental processes involved in memory learning and thinking • Roots from early 1900 • Researching the brain and its processes |

THEORY OF PERSONALITY

• Id (0-2 years old)

according to Freud, we are born with our id

an important part of our personality because as newborns it allows us to get our basic needs

the instinctual part of the mind - the pleasure principle - food, sleep, sex

• Ego (3-5 years old)

based on the reality principle, understand that other people have needs and desires

• Superego

moral part of us and develops due to the moral and ethical restraints placed by our caregivers

right vs. wrong

PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

• Oral (0-2 years old)

pleasure from oral activities like sucking and eating

can lead to behaviours such as smoking, overeating, nail-biting or even talking excessively in adulthood

trust vs. mistrust

• Anal (2-3 years old)

toilet training

either an anal-retentive personality (obsessive, organized, and in control) or an anal-expulsive personality (messy, disorganized and rebellious)

independence or dependence

• Phallic (3-6 years old)

child become aware of sexual difference

Oedipus complex (boys) is the unconscious desire for opposite-sex parents and jealousy towards the same-sex parent

Electra complex (girls)

• Latency (6-11 years old)

focused on developing social intellectual skills, channelled into hobbies, friendships and learning

sexual feelings are dormant

did not believe fixations developing in latency as sexual feelings are not dominate

• Genital (puberty to death)

develop a strong sense of self

development of sexual relationships and a focus on productive work and creativity

if all stages are successful it leads to well-adjusted mature-individual

fixations in early stages may impact a person’s ability to form healthy adult relationships

ALFRED ADLER

• Worked with Freud from 1902 -1911

• Rejected Freud’s theory that sexuality was the key to understanding personality

Adler believed it was power

• Created individual psychology and inferiority complex

• Examples of power

1. authority            2. control

2. demands            4. superiority

3. money               6. fear/intimidation

Inferiority complex:

• Low self-esteem, is a feeling of intense insecurity, inferiority or not measuring up

CARL JUNG

• 1875 - 1961

• Worked with Freud in 1907, then split from him because of his disagreement over the importance of sexuality as central to understanding a personality

• Believed the mind is broken into 2 parts

1. Personal

Unique to the individual

1. Collective

Memories to ancestors

• Personality is divided into 4 parts

1. Sensation

2. Intuition

3. Thinking

4. feeling

• Personality depended on which type dominated individual thoughts and actions

• Analytical psychology

• Free association

2 basic types of personality:

• Inverted

people use their psychological power to look inward

emotionally self-serving

do not need many close personal relationships to give confidence and reassurance

• Extroverted

people use their psychological power to look outward

outgoing more comfortable in groups

KAREN HORNEY

• Did not think with Freud's sexual push

• Psychoanalysis

• NO SEX

JEAN PIAGET

• French psychologist

• Highly influential figure in developmental psychology as well as in cognitive psychology

• Created learning stages (S.P.C.F)

ERIK ERIKSON

• German-born psychologist and child analyst

• Was a neo-Freudian

• Believed that humans continue to develop over their lifetime and that our growth depends on society not just personal experiences

• Believed that adolescents sometimes experience what he called an identity crisis

time in a teenager’s life filled with extreme self-consciousness as they attempt to test and integrate many roles

JOHN WATSON

• 1878 -1958

• We are born with a tabula rasa (black state)

• Conditioned an infant to fear white rats

• Baby died at 6 due to illness

• Father of behaviourism

• Baby Albert is classical conditioning

STANLEY MILGRAM

• 1933 -1984

• Known for experiments on obedience and authority and study of those who justify their actions in WW11

• Examined whether Germans were obedient to authority figures (due to Nazis)

• Contributed to psychology by finding out that people were willing to obey an authority figure even if the actions went against their morals

• He found male participants paired them with another person and drew straws, one would be the learner and the other would be the teacher

• The draw was fixed so the participant was always the teacher and the learner was on of Milgram’s confederates pretending to be a participant

• The learner was taken into a room and had electrodes attached to his arm and the teacher and researcher went into the room next door that contained an electric shock generator and a row of switches with volt markings

• The teacher would ask questions and if the learner got them wrong they would be shocked

• The results showed that ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure even to the extent of killing human beings

IVAN PAVLOV

• Known for his dog experiments

• The man behind classical conditioning

• Classical conditioning is learning where a once natural stimulus comes to produce a particular response after pairing with a conditioned stimulus

• Looking for digestive patterns in dogs

B.F. SKINNER

• 1904-1990

• American psychologist

• Father of operant conditioning

type of learning that uses rewards or punishments to achieve a desired behaviour

response that is negative or positive

MASLOW HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

• Developed a theory of personality

• Humanistic psychologists believe that humans humans strive for an upper level of capabilities

• Motivated by important values called b values, internal values

• Created the hierarchical theory of needs containing 5 levels

1. Physiological needs

Biological needs, foot, oxygen, water and constant body temperature

Strongest needs

1. Safety needs

When all physiological needs are satisfied and are no longer controlling thoughts and behaviours the need for security can become active

Security of body, employment, resources, morality, family, health, property

1. love/belonging needs

Giving and receiving love, affection and a sense of belonging

Friendships, family, sexual intimacy

1. Esteem needs

Involves self-esteem and the esteem a person gets from others

Confidence, achievements, respect for others, respect for others

1. Self-actualization

Morality, creativity, spontaneity

Problem-solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts

2% can only achieve

MEMORY

• Memory is the capacity to acquire, retain and recall knowledge and skills

3 levels

1. Sensory memory

• Receives information from the environment through senses

• Record information from sense for only a few seconds

• Allows you to hold information long enough to record what is necessary from the environment

1. Short term memory

• Information catches your attention and if you think it is important it may transferred to short-term memory

• Refers to what is going on in your conscious mind

• Hold information up to 15 to 20 seconds long, if you choose to work with it, it will stay current in long-term memory

1. Long term memory

• No limit to long-term memory never gets full

• Items that are important and have meaning to

• We cannot always recall everything at will

ESP:

• Particle or total loss of memory

1. Episodic

Ability to remember past events (severely impaired)

1. Semantic

Knowledge of how the world works (mildly impaired)

1. Procedural

How to do things (is intact)

PSYCHOPATH VS. SOCIOPATH

• The psychopath is one who is visibly affected by an extreme neurosis or psychosis and their judgement is clouded

• sociopath is one who behaves or acts on a psychosis, they affect the normal public behaviour of others

• Sociopaths have enough control to act normal in social situations and are very methodical which is why they keep killing

Characteristic of a sociopath:

• The feeling of superiority, grandiose sense of self, lack of remorse, shallow emotions, manipulation, superficial charm, juvenile delinquency, incapacity of love

PSYCHOSIS

• Generic psychiatric term for mental state involving the loss of contact with reality, causing the deterioration of normal social functioning

• Hallucinations

• Delusions

• Schizophrenia

• Bipolar disorder

NEUROSIS

• A general term referring to mental distress

• Can be learned or biological

• It serves to perpetuate self-doubt, anxiety and ultimately the neurosis

• Does not prevent the ability to understand reality

can discuss their situation rationally

• Defence mechanism

denial, regression, repression, rationalization, fantasy

• Phobias

• Panic attacks

• Eating disorders

• OCD

• PTSD

• Addiction

MENTAL HEALTH AND ILLNESS

Mental health:

• Describes either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being of an individual

• Absence of a mental disorder

• 1 in 5 Canadians experience it (20%)

Mental illness:

• Psychological or behavioural patterns generally associated with the distress or disability that occurs in an individual

• Not part of normal development or culture

Anthropology

DEFINITION OF ANTHROPOLOGY

• Study of the human species and the members of different cultures

2 branches; physical and cultural anthropology

1. Physical anthropology

• Examines the similarities and differences between humans and other species

• The way humans have developed biologically over time

1. Cultural anthropology

• How culture has shaped the way we lived

• Different cultural settings around the world

• Traditions, Language, beliefs, values, patterns, superstitions

BRANCHES OF ANTHROPOLOGY

| Paleoanthropology | • The study of our human ancestors based on evidence from the distant evolutionary past (bones, relics) • Don Johnson, Leaky, dart. | | --- | --- | | Human Variation | • The study of the physical differences and similarities of existing human populations • Darwin | | Primatology | - Study of primates (apes, chimps, gorillas, etc.) • Jane Goodall, Birute Galdikas, Dian Fossy | | Linguistics | • Study of the historical and structure of a language, and the ways humans use language • Chomsky and his language acquisition theory, universal grammar theory | | Ethology | • Study of the behaviour of animals • Kondard Lorenz (birdman) |

QUESTIONS AN ANTHROPOLOGIST WOULD ASK

1. what was the diet of humans 40 000 years ago.

2. how are Canadian gender roles different from 50 years ago?

3. what are the cultural expectations placed on North American mothers?

4. Statistically, does harsher sentencing deter crime?

5. How has the English language evolved over the past 100 years in Canada?

6. What rite of passage is practiced amongst the Maasai people to acknowledge when a boy enters adulthood?

7. How are primates similar to Homo sapiens?

8. What were the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians?

9. How has using chopsticks become a custom when eating sushi?

10. Why do humans hiccups?

MARGARET MEAD

• Focused on extensive field studies of the culture of people of the Pacific islands

• Was a famous ethnographer who concluded that an individual's personality was largely influenced by the society in which people lived

• Specifically lived with people in Samoa

• Lived with 3 tribes

               a. Arapesh - men and women gentle
  
               b. Mundugumor - men and women violent
  
               c. Tchambuli - women dominant, men dependent
  

• Focused on gender roles and concluded that gender roles were learned, therefore they are nurture (not something we are born with)

KONRAD LORENZ

• Founder of ethology (study of behaviour in animals)

• Worked with birds and got the name Birdman

• Discovered ducklings adapt the first moving thing they see when hatched

• He believed that human aggression is instinctive

RAYMOND DART

• 1924 the skull of a tiny child in Taung, South Africa

• About 3.3 million years old and has many human-like traits but the brain is the size of a primate

• Skull called Australopithecus (Southern Ape) Africanus (South Africa)

FRANZ BOAS

• German-American anthropologist who focused on the language and culture of American natural people

• Defined cultural relativism theory

States that different cultures each have their own ethical and social stands that reflect  their individual beliefs, and the only culture on individuals know themself (all cultures are equally valid)

• Contributed to human evolution by establishing the link between anthro and ethnology

study of organisms, similarities and differences between race and culture

NOAM CHOMSKY

• Studied how humans acquired language ability, how we interpret, make sense and produce languages

• He discovered that between the ages of 3-10, a child is most likely to learn a language, the child does not need a trigger for benign language acquisition

• Published a book called “Syntactic Structures,” in 1957 which was the foundation of his non-empiricist theory of language

• Discovered our brains are naturally wired for language which sets us apart from other species

• His theory is that we are all born with universal grammar an innate ability to understand the grammar of how first language

FRANZ BOAS

• German-American anthropologist who focused on the language and culture of American natural people

• Defined cultural relativism theory

States that different cultures each have their own ethical and social stands that reflect  their individual beliefs, and the only culture on individuals know themself (all cultures are equally valid)

• Contributed to human evolution by establishing the link between anthro and ethnology

study of organisms, similarities and differences between race and culture

RUTH BENEDICT

• Compares Zuni, Dobu and Kwakiutl cultures (human behavior is incorporated in any culture)

• Japanese culture and learned that personality is learned

• The theory that human culture is “personality writ large”; the personality of complex traits and attitudes defines individuals

• A book called “patterns in Culture” in 1934, someone’s personality can also be said about a culture

• Work of the culture and personality movement

THE LEAKEY’S

• believed that we could not understand our own origins or behaviours without understanding our closest living relative

• established Africa as the birthplace of our species

• work provided evidence of humanity’s origins and evolution

DIAN FOSSEY

• Alienated by her parents and turned to animals for love

• Began tending to livestock when she loved on a farm

• 1963 sent on a trip to Africa, met Leakey and to interested

• Often imitated gorillas to get close to them

• Identified gorillas by their nose prints when studying them

• Studied them in Rwanda

• Found that gorillas are social and have a hierarchy

JANE GOODALL

• Interested in animals at an early age

• Met the louis leakey at 23 and he took an interest in her

• Discovered that chimps eat meat, use and make tools, are capable of cooperation, altruism, sorrow, joy and cruelty

• Made most of her discovery by observing chimps in Gombe at the Gombe Stream Research Center (Tanzania)

CHARLES DARWIN

• Naturalist, not an Anthropology

• Born in the Mount, near Shrewsbury Shropshire, England on February 12, 1809

• He enrolled in Edinburgh University to study medicine in 1825-1827, later dropped out and transferred to Cambridge and did not finish his study in medicine

• Goes on a five-year expedition on the HMS Beagle and ends up at the Galapagos Islands

• Travelling from island to island he noticed that although the birds were the same bred on each island they were different (Finch Birds)

• He starts to sketch these birds and starts to question where the species came from

• London 1837, Darwin begins to question and speculate where species came from

• 1859 his first book was published, The Origin of Species, through Natural Selection, His books explored the relationship between different species in the same class or family

• the book was very controversial as it did not mention God or Humans

• 1871, Darwin published his second book, The Descent of Man, which discussed the origins and nature of humanity concluding that all humans must have come from a common ancestor

• many people did not like this as it explained how humans were all connected (racism)

• Darwin believed that members of a species that survive pass on their unique characteristics to their offspring, and over time successful variations will produce a new species, this is called Natural Selection

• best at adapting to the environment lives

4 CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMANS

1. Brain

• The largest and most complex in the animal world

• Not only does it control our physical functions, but it is used to store large amounts of data, and we use it to reason and calculate

1. Upright posture (bipedalism)

• The advantage is that we can have our hands free to manipulate objects

1. Opposable thumbs

• We can grasp and manipulate tools, keys to advancing

1. Vocal apparatus

• Humans have the most developed vocal equipment, without it, we could not have developed language

• Without language, we could not communicate with each other, record, history, maintain culture and retain knowledge

NATURE VS. NURTURE

• nature → born with, genetics, instinctive, curiosity

• Nurture → learned, socialization taught and behaviour

• Feral children

• Koko, the power of nurture, how she learned sign language

• Koko, the power of nature, wanting to be a mother (instinctive)

• Wild robot movie

• Oscar - being adopted by the male chimp