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HSP 3UO
Fall 2014
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studied cultures of the Pacific islands
particularly in Samoa;
compared Samoan &North American adolescents;
Samoans considered adults once reached
puberty, acted co-operatively, did not experience
teen conflicts;
N. Americans were not considered adults until
their twenties, acted aggressively and
experienced teen conflicts since they competed
with each other
concluded that personality is largely influenced
by society/culture in which we live
 Agreed
with Mead that culture affects
personality development but she also
considered role of religion in shaping one’s
personality;
 She spent time studying the Aboriginal
peoples of the American Plains;
 During WWII studied Japanese culture to
understand national personality
 One
of first researchers to locate &
examine fossils & other remains to
learn about the evolutionary development of
humans;
 1924 = Dart made a famous discovery of a
skull in South Africa – believed to rep. the
transitional stage b/w apes & humans =
called Australopithecus africanus, meaning
“Southern Ape”;
 Became accepted as a valuable discovery
despite earlier criticism
 Produced
some of paleontology’s
most groundbreaking discoveries;
 Esp. the 3.2 million year old “Lucy” skeleton
discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia =
Australopithecus afarensis
 Provided crucial link b/w apes & humans;
 She had ape-like features such as a small
brain + projecting face but also human traits
such as upright walking (bipedalism)
providing an important step to dev. of Homo
Sapiens
 Developed
cultural relativism = there is NO
cultural progression from savagery to
culture;
 Also stated that there were no differences
b/w the races of man;
 He established the “4 field approach” due to
his concern with human evolution,
archaeology, language & culture;
 Emphasized the importance of language
study as cultural window
 Mary:
(1913 – 1996)
 Louis: (1903 – 1972)
 Richard: (b. 1944)
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Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania was the site of many
important discoveries by the Leakey family;
1976/77 Mary found the fossilized footprints near
Olduvai Gorge at a site called Laetoli;
these footprints belonged to a species known as
Australopithecus anamensis = confirmed that
upright walking came before brain size expansion or
modern tooth structure;
Louis made radical changes in the way we view early
humans – he confirmed human evolution began in
Africa;
Pushed back dates for the existence of various
species, suggested parallel lines of evolution in
human family & stimulated further research
(primatology)
 Discovered
that chimps use tools,
not strictly vegetarian since chimps
would murder & cannibalize;
 Alpha male system = use of aggression &
strength, he alone mates until defeated by a
younger male;
 Through her work it was discovered that our
ancestors had a highly dev. social structure
based on aggression & intimidation = we
became meat eaters & hunters
Lived with mountain gorillas in
Rwanda;
 First researcher to actually touch a
wild gorilla since she gained their trust by
imitating their behaviour;
 Discovered that gorillas shared a lot in common
with our earliest ancestors – had a highly
organized social system;
 Showed affection towards family members &
aggression towards outsiders;
 She protected the gorillas from poachers even
though they threatened Fossey so that she would
abandon her work;
 Murdered Dec. 26, 1985 by persons unknown
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 Orangutans
share 98% of its genetic
material with humans;
 Observations similar to Goodall = orangutans
live in a highly structured social community;
 Violence is ever present;
 Although largely vegetarian orangutans may
cannibalize
Most influential sociologist of all time; wrote
The Communist Manifesto in response to the
working conditions during the Industrial Revolution;
 Struggle b/w rich and poor for wealth & power
results in class struggle;
 He argued that capitalist society leaves most pple
with NO control over own destiny = armed revolution
will result in change
 Terms: factory owners (upper class) = Bourgeoisie
versus the working class = Proletariat
 Charles Darwin favoured Marxism as it agrees with
the natural struggle to survive and he coined the
term
 “survival of the fittest”
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1st sociologist to use statistics &
scientific method to study human groups;
 He believed that reform of criminals was
more effective than punishment;
 Developed theory of social facts = customs,
institutions & organizations exert control over
pple;
 His research concentrated on religion, education
and esp. suicide – 3 types – 1. egoistic suicide =
ind. isolated from societal values, 2. altruistic
suicide = sacrifice to protect others, 3. anomic
suicide = overwhelmed with social change;
 Founder of functionalism = society works to
protect the interests of most of its members
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Disagreed with Marx that social
class/economics was most important in
determining how society worked;
 Power can arise from religion, education, politics
and family structure as easily as money;
 Believes society can be reformed & improved;
 He favours creation of bureaucracies to provide
essential social services making revolution
unnecessary;
 Coined term verstehen = understand social
behaviour by putting ourselves mentally in
another person’s place
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Founder of psychology;
 Significant contribution to the development of
of psychiatry;
 The mind is divided into conscious and unconscious – the
unconscious mind which stores memories can be
“unlocked” by free association (patient responds to a list
of words while relaxed) and dream analysis;
 There are also three elements to the human mind: 1. ID
= the “pleasure principle”, primitive responses – aggression
& sex drive; 2. EGO = deals with reality; organizing/
synthesizing force of the personality; 3. SUPEREGO = “the
moral arm of the personality”, opposes forces of ID; your
conscience – sense of right & wrong;
 Freudian therapy (psychoanalysis) involves replacing ID by
EGO; psychological health largely a function of ego
strength
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Divided the psyche into three parts:
1. ego = conscious mind; 2. personal unconscious =
includes anything which is not presently conscious,
includes memories; 3. collective unconscious = could call
it your “psychic inheritance” – a reservoir of our
experiences as a species, knowledge we are all born with;
Jung originated four psychological functions – sensation,
intuition, thinking, feeling – personality types are
determined by which function is dominant – result =
introvert vs extrovert;
Developed archetypes – contents of the collective
unconscious – archetype is an unlearned tendency to
experience things in a certain way;
Reflect universal themes/patterns common to us all
Examples: hero, mother, wise old man, maiden, shadow,
etc.
Developed Classical Conditioning –
interested in stimulus and response & if this
pattern could be used to teach animals new
behaviours;
 Conducted experiments using dogs unconditioned
stimulus (US) = food) → unconditioned response
(UR) = drooling, natural reaction) then Pavlov rang a
bell before giving food & the dog would associate the
bell with food & drool, therefore, the conditioned
stimulus (CS) = bell ringing → conditioned response
(CR) drooling with only bell ringing & no food;
 Conclusion, responses can be conditioned, meaning
behaviour can be manipulated;
 Humans can also be conditioned & their behaviour
manipulated, therefore, behaviour can be consistent
across species
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Developed Operant (Instrumental) Conditioning =
learning through reward & punishment;
An association is made between a behaviour and a
consequence for that behaviour;
The learner “operates” on the environment & receives a
reward for certain behaviour (operations);
Positive reinforcement (Reward): a stimulus such as food
can be delivered when good behavior happens
Negative reinforcement (Escape): the removal of an
aversive stimulus, increases a behavior's frequency ex. a
loud noise is removed upon completion of a behavior…this
is what fire alarms are about – the correct behavior is to
leave the building!
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Positive punishment (Punishment) (also called
"Punishment by contingent stimulation") occurs when a
behavior (response) is followed by a stimulus, such as
introducing a shock or loud noise, resulting in a decrease
in that behavior.
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Negative punishment (Penalty) (also called "Punishment
by contingent withdrawal") occurs when a behavior
(response) is followed by the removal of a stimulus, such
as taking away a child's toy following an undesired
behavior, resulting in a decrease in that behavior
 cognitive
development (learning &
knowledge use) are influenced by
social & psychological factors;
 there are 4 stages of mental development
that change with age & which are influenced
by social experiences –
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1. age 0 – 2: sensorimotor stage = learn by
direct experience;
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2. ages 2 – 7: pre-operational stage = see world
from their own point of view;
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3. ages 7 – 11: concrete operational stage =
can do complex operations with the objects,
understand cause & effect, see things from
others’ point of view;
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4. Adolescence: formal operational stage = can
think abstractly, use of logic, imagine
alternatives to reality
human psychological & personality growth
lifelong process – “psychosocial stages”;
 success in meeting the challenge at each stage allows one
to move on to the next;
 (0 – 11) infancy & childhood = child matures
emotionally, socially, intellectually & physically;
 (11 – 18) adolescence = strives for personal identity;
 (18 – 25) early adulthood = learn to form close,
lasting relationships & career;
 (25 – 50) middle adulthood = productivity @ work &
with children, some tackle new endeavors;
 (50+) = late adulthood = feelings of power & prestige,
still active & productive
 Each stage MUST be completed before moving to the next.
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Developed a theory that human needs
could be arranged in a pyramid = Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs –
 We need to fulfill our basic physiological needs
first before fulfilling esteem, cognitive &
aesthetic needs; also identified personality traits
of a self-actualized individual –
 i.e. live according to definite moral or ethical
standards, have a task or mission in life rather
than focus primarily on themselves, see things as
they are, not as they wish them to be, etc.
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Believed that all kinds of power
motivates people not just sex (unlike Freud);
 Downplays the unconscious mind;
 People are aware of guiding goals & values;
 Introduced our struggle against feeling inferior
(inferiority complex);
 Becoming well-adjusted requires high selfesteem & pursuit of worthwhile goals help;
 Believed that dreams were important in
understanding human personality (similar to
Freud); developed a system of therapy know as
individual psychology
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