Anthropology, Psychology, Sociology Notes

Anthropology- the scientific study of humans, including their origins, behaviour as well as their
physical and cultural characteristics. (Two branches- Physical and cultural)

Physical → study of human evolution, human biology & other primates

Paleoanthropology (Study of fossils)
Forensic anthropology
Primatology (Monkeys, chimps)
Human Variation

Cultural → compares cultures of living people around the world.

Ethnology (Social anthropology)
Archaeology
Linguistic anthropology (Historical, Structural, Sociolinguistics)

Research Methods:
- Participant observation (Ethnography)
- Semi-structured interview
- Archaeological excavation

Psychology- The scientific study of the human mind, including mental states and human
behaviour. Conduct experiments to determine whether one variable causes another.
→ Personality of the individual (Thoughts and feelings)

Research Methods:
- Experiments
- Surveys
- Observations

Sociology- The scientific study of human social behaviour,

→The behaviour of people in groups and how groups work
→ Focuses on relationships between people & the societies & how society shapes who you are

Research methods:
- Surveys
- Case studies
- Observations
How it all begins:
Social science starts with asking questions (Open or closed questions)

Open questions:
- do not have yes or no (How does conflict affect student relationships)
Closed questions:
- have yes or no questions ( where do you live?)

Social Science inquiry Model:

1. Questions- questions that interest you
2. Focus- take notes about what you already know
3. Formulate a hypothesis- turn your question into a hypothesis
4. Collect data- select a method that will provide the best information
5. Assemble and analyze data- organize data into charts and graphs
6. Stop and check- check if you have collected enough data
7. Present results- draw conclusions and identify limitations
8. Reflection - reflect and evaluate your research process and what you would do differently
next time

Cultural Anthropology:

What is culture?: The total system of ideas, values, behaviours, and attitudes of a society
commonly shared by most members

Principles of culture:
1) Culture is learned
2) Culture is shared
3) Culture defines nature
4) Culture has patterns (is adaptive)

Material Culture- Physical objects that people create and give meaning to (cars, clothing,
schools, computers, phones)

*An object only becomes part of culture after meaning has been given to it*
Non-Material Culture- Thoughts and behaviours that people learn as part of the culture they live
in (Politics, language, family, religion/beliefs, values)

→Cultural anthropologists focus on the importance of the environment and how people learn to
function as members of the culture
Components of Culture: Family, Communication, Beliefs(Non-material culture), Relations with
others, Material Culture, Politics, Economics, Recreation

How do we acquire culture:

Enculturalration➢ The formal and informal rules of behaviour “learned” over a lifetime

Acculturalation➢ When one moves from one culture to another

The main goal of cultural anthropology:

Cultural Relativisim➢ Each culture is Important and unique in and of itself and is of deserving
respect

Ethnocentrisim➢ The belief that one culture is better than another, leading to prejudicial
thoughts and behaviours
- Franz Boaz: the first to recognize that ethnocentrism prevented anthropologists from truly
understanding another culture

Fields within cultural anthropology:

Ethnology (Social Anthropology):

- The study culture through participant observation- the careful watching of a group in
some cases living with its members and participating in their culture. They take notes
while living with the group.

Linguistic Anthropology: studies human languages and how language affects and expresses
culture. They also study body language in different cultures.
 - Historical linguistics: compares the similarities and differences of language structures so
they can understand how languages are related. Edward Sapir studied aboriginal
- Structural Linguistics: the study of how sounds are put together to make meaning
- Sociolinguistics: how people use language within their culture to express status and
context.

Archaeology:
- The study of people in the past
- Archaeologists excavate physical remains of past cultures to understand and reconstruct
them.

Schools of thought:
Cultural Relavtisim: the theory states that all cultures evolve from “savage” to “barbarian” to
“civilized.”
● Ethnocentric view: Believing that one's own culture is superior to all others.

Functional Theory: The idea that every belief, action, or relationship in a culture functions to
meet the needs of individuals.

Cultural Materialism: Materials or conditions within the environment, for example, climate, food
supply, geography influence how culture develops, creating the ideas and ideology of a culture

Feminist Anthropology: compared cultures to see how many were dominated by men, how many
were dominated by women, and how many were egalitarian.
● ideas about gender are culturally constructed: created or shaped by culture

Post-Modernism: Postmodernism is a theory that influences a number of disciplines, including

anthropology. It is the belief that it is impossible to have any “true” knowledge about the world.
Postmodernism rejects the idea of objective truth.
● Subculture: a small group within a larger group that shares a common system of values,
beliefs, attitudes, behaviours, and lifestyles distinct from those of the larger group
Physcial Anthropology:

Theory of Evolution: Charles Darwin (1809-2882) and his work on the galapagos Islands off
coast of Ecador) where he studied Iguanas, turtles, and finches
● Adaptive radiation occured due to adaptation to various enviroments (Survival of
the fittest, who could reproduce and provide for their kids)
● Species that had an advantage over other species where living longer

Theory of Creation: Religious explanations of origin of species. Virtually all religious

communities and cultures have their own story on the origins of humans.
● All matter and all living things were created, in much the same forms as they now exist,
by an all powerful Creator.
● Fundamentalist Christians believe that all was created by God in 6 days and that this
event took place fewer than 10, 000 years ago.
● When the process was completed God created human beings in His own image.

Theory of Intervention/Theistic Evolution: lies inbetween evolution and creation

● Albert Einstien (1879-1955) was a key person involved
● Believe that humans evolved to the Homo erectus stage.
● At that stage a superior power changed human beings with both a physical, spiritual and
creative nature.
● Interventionists accept the idea that human beings evolved through a series of changes.
● This was as indicated by fossil discoveries of ancient human creatures.

What do Physical Anthropolgists want to know:

● As a species where do humans come from
● How has the human body evolved over time
● What makes humans unique

Major fields of study:

● Paleanthropolgy- (Bone and stone remains form mya, hominin is a human or human
ancestor) (Fossils are preserved remains of biological matter)
● Primatology- Study primates (Humans, apes, monkeys)
● Human Variation- (Physical differences and similarities of human populations)
● Forensic Anthropolgy- figure out how people died (crimes, natrual causes)
Primatology:
- We, humans, belong to the group of Primates
- We share grasping hands, forward-facing eyes and relatively larger brains
- Primatologists study the anatomy and behaviours of living primates
- We can stand straight and walk on two legs- bipedalism
- Millions of years ago all living primates developed an opposable digit on their hands and
feet which allowed it to climb branches in trees where they lived
- The trait became favoured
- The opposable digit has evolved differently for different species
- Humans only have an opposable thumb on our hands

How do primatolgists study primates:

● Observe primates in botht heir natural habitats in the laboratory
● Pioneering work in observing primates in the field was done by Jane Goodall, Dian
Fossey
● Jane Goodall: First anthropolgists to study the behaviour of chimpanzees in tanzania
(1960s) Chimps make their own tools, chimps eat other small mammals instead of just
pants and fruit, chimp life wasnt always peaceful, went to rwanda to observe gorillas, was
murdered on her job

Evolution:

Human Variation:
- Anthropolgists study human variation to understand the differences between people from
an evolutionary perspective
- Evolutionary advantages (blood type, skin coulur, etc.)
- The american anthropolgical ascocition has concluded that race does not exist as a
scientific category and is a cultural myth not a biolgical reallity
- Genetic variation exists within races than between them
- In natural selection, traits develop to help individuals survive and reproduce in a
particular enviroment

Human evolution:
- Charles Darwin: presented evidence that all species evolved over time from common
ancestors through natural selection
 - Voyage of the Beagles (1830’s): Travelled to the galapgos islands, observed species of
animals and plants that could not be found anywhere else, within each group of plants
and animals they varied from island to island
- Darwins finches: He collected finches from the different islands and was intrigued by the
differences between their beaks as well as their behavior. The finches had adapted to the
different opportunities found on each island.

Darwins theory of Natural Selection:

- In “On the Origin of Species”, Darwin outlined how every living thing evolves through
natural selection.
Natural selection involves three principles:
- Species were forced to evolve or face extinction
- Species that were able to evolve & adapt survived
- Over centuries of adaptations, species passed on survival traits

Walking with Cavemen vid:

● Australopithecus Afarensis: 3.9-3mya

- Walking upright helps them stand taller and see further. However everyone else
can see them (predators)
- Key to survival was reproduction and sex
- Lucy: was discovered in 1974
● Homo habilis: 2 mya
- The dry season caused them to adapt to new feeding strategies because they didnt
have sharp teeth (canines)
- They were known as the “handy man”
- First to make stone tools which were ideal for hunting, cutting and scraping off
meat from bones
- They also had bigger and smarter brains
- Because of there stone tools they were able to eat leafy and woody plants
● Homo Ergaster: 1.5mya
- They have way more developed noses and are hairless. They can also understand
the differences of weather
- They couldnt reall understand what was going on with others
- They created Stone Axes
- Were the first to have a human like voice
● Netherendals:
- Didnt have ceremonies for their loved ones just left them for nature
- Could cope with vast and extreme cold weather conditions
 - Neanderthals were living all over Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia from
150,000 to 30,000 years ago

Paleoanthropology:
- They learned that lucy died when she was an adult (We know she was an adult because
her wisdom teeth were already erupted and showed sign of wear)
- Humans first evolved from Africa(Charles Darwin) (Different fossils as well as skulls
were found)
- Around 3.6 mill years ago humans began walking on two legs - called bipedalism the trait
of habitually walking on two legs, beginning of bipedalism in humans was around 6.5
million years ago (When anthropologists find a fossil, they look for traits that mark
bipedalism, such as an S-shaped spine; a wide, flat pelvis; a slanting thigh bone; a
double- arched foot; and a big toe in line with the heel.)

Forensic Anthropology:

● Jane:
- The age through examining her molars, joint above the knee (tibia)
- Based on the remains of the skull they were able to determine that because the skull was
split in part and a part of her cheek was missing that she was eaten by cannibalisits
- They were able to determine her diet and where she came from
- Determinded gender by the shape of her skull

Psychology:

Difference between Brain and Mind:

- Brain: Whats physicalljy inside the skull, includes understanding the functions of its
various structures
- Mind: mental process, and the understanding differnce between consious and unconcious
- Psyhcologists look to understand the brain and the mind and how they impact human
behaviour. They attempt to explain how people feel, think and act.

Freud Physcological theory to understanding human behaviour:

- Developed in early 20th centuries, began to develop psycodhynamic theories by resolving
a patients conflicted consious and unconcious feelings
 - The theories are based on freuds pyscoanylatic theory: All human behaviour is influenced
by early childhood experiences that influence the unconscious mind throughout the life
- Conscious: Information that we are always aware of
- Unconscious: Information processing in our mind that we are not aware of

Conciouousness consitits of three distinct parts:

- The ID: Only part we are born with, is the instinctual, impulsive part of the mind, which
is run by the “pleasure principle”
- The EGO: represents the rational part of our mind and operates on the “reality principle”
often struggles to satisfy the impulsive id and superego
- The SUPEREGO: The moral part of the personality, dectiates our beliefs of right and
wrong, last part of our personality to develop

Acts of the unconscious mind:

- Freud described the mind as an iceberg
- Our conscious mind is above the water
- The unconscious mind is bellow the surface
- The id is unconscious
- The ego and supergo straddle both sides of the iceberg

Psychology Schools of thought:

1. Physcoanylatic: the role of unconscious motivation (usually aggressive and sexual in
nature) and early childhood experinces determine behaviour and thought (Sigmeud
Freud)
2. Behaviourisim: environment is responsible in shaping and controlling behaviour. We
learn through observation and consequences. (John Watson, B.F. Skinner and Ivan
Pavlov) Use evidence, obtained through experimentation, to understand and change
human behaviour.
→Bf Skinner: Skinner used rats and pigeons in operant conditioning - a method of
learning that uses rewards and punishments to influence behavior. Behaviours that is
reinforced (rewarded) is likely to be repeated. Behaviour that is not reinforced ( or
punished) tends to die out. He designed a chamber with a pedal on one wall that, when
pressed, caused the release of a food pellet into the cage. Positive reinforcement.
→Ivan Pavolov: Ivan Pavlov started his career studying the digestive system. His
research with dogs showed that they would drool as soon as he put food in their mouths.
They would start to drool at other times, for example when they saw a white lab coat,
which he and his colleagues wore whenever they fed the dogs. could other things could
make a dog drool. he used a bell and started to ring it at the same time the dog received
food. After a while the dog began to associate the sound of the bell with receiving food, a
 conditioned stimulus, since it produced the conditioned response. This type of learned
response is known as classical conditioning.
3. Humanistic: The importance of the individual's subjective experience as a key to
understanding behaviour. Humanist psychologists believe that the client should take an
active role in his or her own recovery rather than depend on the therapist’s interpretation
of the issues. It prefers qualitative methods (eg. diary accounts, open-ended
questionnaires).
→Abraham Maslow: Maslow argued that we are motivated by a hierarchy of needs.We
move up the needs until we reach self-actualization – reaching one’s full potential.
→The Hierarchy of Needs: explains that basic needs must be filled before higher order
needs become important. If someone’s physiological needs are not met (ex: they are very
hungry) then all other needs become non-existent or are pushed into the background.
Each need must be met before moving on to the next one.
→Viktor Frankl: Frankl observed the behaviours of his fellow prisoners at concentration
camps and saw that those who survived often did so because they had something to hold
on to. Some had loved ones that they hoped to reunite with. While for others faith
increased their chances of survival. The survivors had meaning in their lives.
→Logotherapy: a form of psychotherapy that tries to help the patient find meaning in
his/her life.
→Carl Rogers: Developed client-centred therapy – humanistic therapy that focuses on
the potential of each person to realize their own growth in self-awareness and
self-fulfillment. It focuses on the present and the future, rather than the past, and gives
more value to conscious, rather than unconscious unlike psychoanalytic therapists.
→Client-Centred Model: In this therapy clients can express any feelings or thoughts
without fear of judgment. As clients explore their attitudes and emotions on an issue, they
will discover the underlying motivations for those attitudes. The client gains greater
insight and self-acceptance.
4. Cognitive Psycology: the study and application of how the brain learns. Cognitive
psychologists focus on attention, memory, language, thinking and problem solving
→Albert Bandura: He believed people learn behaviour by watching and then imitating
others. To explore his theory, he created the Bobo Doll experiment.
→The Bob Doll Experimen: First, children watched a video in which an adult acted
aggressively toward a rubber Bobo doll by hitting, punching, kicking, and even striking it with a
mallet.
→Elizabeth Loftus: Loftus has been studying false memories and the reliability of
repressed memories. She believes that repressed memories rarely exist and can be created
through the power of suggestion. This theory has been controversial, especially with
victims of sexual assault who recall their repressed memories after many years.
- Lost in the Mall Study: The lost-in-the-mall study looks at how to implant false
memories. It proves that people can be led to remember their past in various ways, and
 even “remember” a past that didn’t happen to them. Loftus’ work has therefore had an
impact in the fields of cognitive psychology as well as law in terms of the reliability of
eyewitness accounts.

Freuds Psychosexual stages:

● oral (birth–18 months) - Focuses on oral pleasures for ex. sucking, biting, chewing -If left
unresolved until adulthood:nail biting, smoking, and overeating
● anal (18 months - 3 years) - derives pleasure from toilet training, If left unresolved until
adulthood: can lead to obsession with obsessive and perfection cleanliness (anal
retentive) or extreme messiness (anal expulsive)
● Phallic (3-6 years old) - Focuses on genitals as a source of pleasure, If left unresolved
until adulthood: overindulgence or avoidance in sexual behavior, and weak sexual
identity
● latency (6 years–puberty) - plays mainly with same-gender friends; sexual feelings are
dormant; not applicable, as sexual urges are repressed in this stage
● genital (puberty onward) - directs sexual urges toward members of the opposite sex; not
applicable, as this is the final stage

Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages:

1. Trust vs. Mistrust (Birth to One)

Warmth, affection, and consistency of care lead to a positive, secure attachment with the primary
caregiver (usually the mother). Inadequate care results in fear and mistrust. Since this first relationship
is the prototype for all others, those with a primarily negative resolution to this stage may struggle with
forming close relationships for the rest of their lives. Extremely inadequate care may result in significant
developmental problems.

2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (one to two or three)

If a child is permitted and encouraged to do things for himself/herself (with some adult guidance), a
sense of independence or autonomy develops. Self-doubt and dependence characterize the negative
outcome for this stage.

3. Initiative vs. Guilt (three to five or six)

Curiosity, physical exploration, and high energy (not to mention the endless stream of questions typical
of this age!) are typical of preschoolers. Parental responses to these behaviors lead to a sense of initiative
and inquisitiveness or a sense of guilt and lack of initiative.

4. Industry vs. Inferiority (five or six to eleven or twelve)

Corresponding to the elementary school years, this stage is crucial in the development of competence
or self-confidence. Success in meeting the demands of school and society lead to a sense of “industry”
or self-confidence. Repeated failures lead to feelings of inferiority and an unwillingness to try new
tasks.

5. Identity vs. Role Confusion (adolescence)

The critical issue for the adolescent is the development of a consistent identity or sense of self. The
positive outcome involves the ability to answer the questions: “Who am I? What will I become? In
contemporary society, this stage often extends well into young adulthood as a person typically
experiments with many behaviors, roles, and identities before achieving a lasting and satisfying
one.

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (early adulthood)

The successful young adult, for the first time, can experience true intimacy, the sort of intimacy that
makes possible a good marriage or a genuine and enduring friendship. The unsuccessful outcome is
isolation and despair. Prior achievement of a consistent sense of self (identity) is crucial to a
successful resolution of this stage.

7. Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood)

Generativity, the ability to give of oneself, in the sense of marriage and parenthood as well as work, is
the positive outcome of this stage. Self-absorption, the inability to give of oneself, is the negative
outcome.

8. Integrity vs. Despair (later adulthood)

If the previous seven psychosocial crises have been successfully resolved, mature adults develop a sense
of integrity. They see their lives as successful and worthwhile. They are proud of their work, their
families, and they reap the benefits of a fulfilling life. The unsuccessful resolution is despair: a negative
appraisal of one’s life and the realization that it is too late to start over.

Mary Ainsworth: Infant Mother Attachment:

● A securely attached infant happily explored the new environment while the caregiver was in the
room. When the caregiver left, the infant was visibly upset but responded with happiness when
the caregiver returned. Ainsworth believed that this type of attachment forms when the caregiver
is emotionally available and consistently responds to the child’s needs.
● Avoidant Attachment-Infants exhibiting avoidant attachment were extremely upset when their
caregiver left but were ambivalent when she returned and refused to play with her. These infants
were anxious about exploring their environment. Having a caregiver who is rejecting may lead
the child to have this type of attachment.
● Resistant Attachment- Infants with resistant attachment did not explore very much, regardless of
whether or not their caregiver was in the room. These infants showed little emotion upon the
caregiver’s departure and return. Resistant attachment forms when a caregiver is at times very
responsive while at other times rejecting.

4 ways Physcologists define humans:

1. Our Cognitive process: ability to reason and to solve problems at high levels.
2. Our motivation of/for behaviour
3. Our ability to communicate in a highly effective manner
4. Our Personality
Cognitive Process: Interpreting and manipulating mental ideas and images to obtain information, to
reason, and to solve problems
The cognitive process is what makes us unique from other animals.

Bystander apathy effect:

- Failing to help strangers in distress
- The larger the group the person is in, the longer they will take to help
- 3 elements of bystander apathy:
● Ambiguity: witnesses were not sure what was transpiring, intervention might have been
embarassing
● Pluraistic ignorance: witness rwlaized that others were seeing the event as welll and
looked to others to decide wthere it was really an emergency
● Diffusion of responsibility witness did not think it was their responsivility to act

Humans Ability to reason:

1. Deductive reasoning- applying general assumptions to specific (alll humans have brains general
to specific there fore sonia has a brain.
2. Inductive reasoning- collects specific information to form general assumptions (i have a dog that
barks i apply that to all dogs must bark)

The brain:
- your ability to solve problems is based on the functions of your brain.
- Phineas Gage: Had a major brain injury that proved that our personaility is connected to our brain
- The cerebrum: mainly controls the brain’s problem-solving ability.
- Left side of brain: Logic and reasoning skills, Communication and Language (speech, reading,
writing), Mathematical Ability, Analytical Skills
- Right side of the brain: Known as the visual side, Controls non–verbal skills like musical ability,
spatial problems (geometry or map reading), Creativity, Athleticism, Imagination, Facial
recognition

Memory: The capacity to acquire, retain and recall knowledge and skills.
Types of Memory:
1. Sensory Memory: Sensory memories are stored for a few secondst. They come from the five
senses: hearing, vision, smell, touch and taste. They are stored only for as long as the sense is
being stimulated Ex: looking at something and remembering what it looked like.
2. Short Term Memory: Holds info up to 15 to 20 seconds. Can store up to 7 separate unorganized
items i.e. telephone number This information will disappear forever unless you make a conscious
effort to retain it. Mental repet]ition of information. Giving it meaning and associating it with
previously acquired knowledge. Chunking (organization of material into shorter meaningful
groups to make them more manageable) can lead to increase in the short-term memory capacity.
 3. Long Term Memory: Stores information for minutes or for a lifetime. There is no limit to the
capacity of long term memory. However, you cannot always recall it at will. The Hippocampus is
the part of the brain responsible for both short and long term memory

Intrinsic motivation: motivation that is driven by an interest or enjoyment in the task itself ad exists
within the individual rather than relying on any external pressure
Exterensic motivation: comes from outside the individual . rewards like money and grades, threat of
punishment

Communication:
- What seperates us from animals is our ability to communicate using symbolic language
- Language: Speech and writing
- Nonverbal communication: body language (50% of what we are communicating), tone/character
of voice, interaction distances, clothing/makeup

Personality:
- the characteristics and behvaiours that make a person unique
- Personality traits: predespositions to behave in a certain way in various situations

The Big Five Theory:

1. Unstable and stable (worrying, vulnerable, self-pitying, impatien, calm, hardy, self-satisfied,
patient)
2. Intrevert and extrovert (sociable,-fun loving, talkative, spontaneous reserved, sober, quiet,
self-controlled)
3. Open to experience and Not open to experience (imaginative, independent, curious, broad
interests unimaginative, conforming, incurious, narrow .interests)
4. Agreeable and Antagonistic' (courteous, selfless, trusting, co-operative rude, selfish, suspicious,
unco-operative)
5. Conscientious and Undirected (careful, reliable, persevering, ambitious ,careless, undependable,
lax, aimless)