Students

ANTH207 – Psychological Anthropology

2018 – S2 Day

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor
Gabriele Marranci
Contact via gabriele.marranci@mq.edu.au
+61-2-9850-8040
TBA on iLearn
Payel Ray
Credit points Credit points
3
Prerequisites Prerequisites
ANTH150 or ANTH151 or (12cp at 100 level or above) or admission to GDipArts
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
This unit introduces psychological anthropology, including emotional, cognitive, developmental, and perceptual dynamics across cultures. Psychological anthropology studies the relation between individual psychology and sociocultural diversity, for example, between psychopathology and social structure, between personality differences and childrearing practices, or between perceptual experience and a society's ideologies about the senses. We will explore a wide range of perspectives, from evolutionary psychology to neuroanthropology, and address such topics as consciousness including spirit possession, and cultural variation in insanity and impairment.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • Discover and appreciate the variety of humanity, including the peculiarity of familiar Western personality traits, ways we understand ourselves, and common social roles.
  • Interrogate the concept of ‘human nature’ to better understand the relationship between our species’ universal traits and the degree of variability found in these traits, including the evolutionary implications.
  • Explore the role of social setting and norms in shaping human development through comparative research.
  • Actively participate in discussion and debate about a range of topics in psychological anthropology, some of which have everyday applications (such as gender roles, emotional variation, sex and gender across cultures, and childrearing).
  • Gain a greater understanding of diverse techniques for investigating individual experience, including especially anthropological techniques such as ethnography, field-based techniques, and comparative approaches.
  • Investigate in greater depth one area of special interest in the study of human diversity through class projects.
  • Improve presentation and oral expression skills through tutorial discussion of critical issues in psychological anthropology.
  • Improve writing and critical reading skills through online question and answer.

General Assessment Information

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will be applied - two (2) marks out of 100 will be deduced per day for assignments after the due date and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submission will be accepted for timed assessments-- eg. quizzes, online tests.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Tutorials 30% No Weekly starting 2nd week
iLearn Quiz 30 questions 30% No Week 7
Article Review 40% No Week 13

Tutorials

Due: Weekly starting 2nd week
Weighting: 30%

Students are requested to attend the tutorial. Students will be divided into permanent working groups within their own assigned tutorials. Each group will have to collaborate during the tutorial to answer two questions on the Tutorial iLearn Blog, which will be shared with all the class. Each student in the workgroup will receive a mark from 0 to 3 for each tutorial assignment.  There will be a total of 10 tutorial assignments, for an overall 30%  mark. 

 Students who do not attend the tutorial will not receive the mark. 

Students who have a Special Consideration application approved will receive different questions to submit and should contact the unit convenor for information about how to complete this work. 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Discover and appreciate the variety of humanity, including the peculiarity of familiar Western personality traits, ways we understand ourselves, and common social roles.
  • Interrogate the concept of ‘human nature’ to better understand the relationship between our species’ universal traits and the degree of variability found in these traits, including the evolutionary implications.
  • Explore the role of social setting and norms in shaping human development through comparative research.
  • Actively participate in discussion and debate about a range of topics in psychological anthropology, some of which have everyday applications (such as gender roles, emotional variation, sex and gender across cultures, and childrearing).
  • Gain a greater understanding of diverse techniques for investigating individual experience, including especially anthropological techniques such as ethnography, field-based techniques, and comparative approaches.
  • Investigate in greater depth one area of special interest in the study of human diversity through class projects.
  • Improve presentation and oral expression skills through tutorial discussion of critical issues in psychological anthropology.
  • Improve writing and critical reading skills through online question and answer.

iLearn Quiz 30 questions

Due: Week 7
Weighting: 30%

The Quiz will consist of 30 multiple choice or true/false questions focusing on the readings and lectures.

The Quiz will remain open for 48-hour; yet after the students start the Quiz they will have 35 mins to complete the assessment.  

Detailed information and procedures will be available on the iLearn course page. 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Discover and appreciate the variety of humanity, including the peculiarity of familiar Western personality traits, ways we understand ourselves, and common social roles.
  • Explore the role of social setting and norms in shaping human development through comparative research.
  • Gain a greater understanding of diverse techniques for investigating individual experience, including especially anthropological techniques such as ethnography, field-based techniques, and comparative approaches.

Article Review

Due: Week 13
Weighting: 40%

Students are required to select one article from those provided for the lectures and tutorials.  Students are then required to write a review concerning the selected article. Students are expected to analytically and critically engage with the article they have selected by providing further academic literature related to the topic of the article they have chosen. 

A rubric and examples, as well as further instructions, will be provided on iLearn. 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Discover and appreciate the variety of humanity, including the peculiarity of familiar Western personality traits, ways we understand ourselves, and common social roles.
  • Interrogate the concept of ‘human nature’ to better understand the relationship between our species’ universal traits and the degree of variability found in these traits, including the evolutionary implications.
  • Explore the role of social setting and norms in shaping human development through comparative research.
  • Actively participate in discussion and debate about a range of topics in psychological anthropology, some of which have everyday applications (such as gender roles, emotional variation, sex and gender across cultures, and childrearing).
  • Investigate in greater depth one area of special interest in the study of human diversity through class projects.
  • Improve writing and critical reading skills through online question and answer.

Delivery and Resources

The technology used and required

Students will need to have access to iLearn to complete assignments and take part in the activities and discussion which are an integral part of 'Participation '. Especially in the case of the quizzes, we suggest to students that they find a high-speed, secure internet connection. At times, iLearn can be slow to reload, so students will find that, especially if their connection is weak, they may be under unnecessary stress. All lectures are recorded, and many of the materials made use of in class are available through iLearn.

Lecture and Tutorial times.

Please check the University Timetable for class and tutorial times.

Teaching and Learning Strategy

Around the world and across time, human cultural variation has extended into the depths of the human psyche, shaping profoundly different ways of being human.  Are we all the same ‘deep down’ or do the ways we treat emotion, conflict, social interaction, cognition, and other dimensions of life leave irreducible differences among people? 

Anthropologists have to confront firsthand the possibility that we are all not the same: some people die from syndromes that we do not recognize, or routinely recover from psychiatric conditions that we find virtually irreversible.  We find societies with emotions that are unfamiliar, who describe ‘selves’ that seem alien to us, who seem to defy what we think of as ‘human nature.’ 

And yet, we are all one species, shaped by evolution and our biology to possess distinctive human brains as well as forms of consciousness, cognitive ability, empathy, memory and imagination.  How do we reconcile the variation with our shared humanity? In this unit, we seek to understand human psychological variability by exploring the extremes: religious conversion in prison, the sensory abilities of athletes, the ‘selves’ of people who routinely become possessed, the respect hunting peoples have for the animals they kill, the cognitive abilities of those people without language, or the way that culture affects even the trajectory into madness.

Anth 207 introduces students to the wide variety of emotional, cognitive, developmental, and perceptual dynamics across cultures.  Psychological anthropology studies the relation between individual psychology and sociocultural diversity, for example, between pathology and status hierarchy, between personality and childrearing practices, or between perceptual ability and a society’s ideologies about the senses or forms of training. 

We will explore a wide range of perspectives, from evolutionary psychology to neuroanthropology, and address such topics as human cognitive variation, the effect of language on thought, emotional variation in experiences like grief, love and anger, altered states of consciousness including spirit possession, and cultural variation in insanity and impairment.

Anth 207 is designed for students who want to explore the variety of human experience, including profoundly alien ways of experiencing the self or being human.  The co-convenor is a leader in the emerging field of neuroanthropology bringing new research about the brain with field-based studies of human life in a wide variety of cultures.  The point is not simply to catalogue the odd and curious, but to use the variation we find to understand better how our human nervous system and social worlds combine to produce a wide variety of ‘normal.’

Information 

The co-convenor of the unit makes extensive use of iLearn to post relevant stories, links to resources, and answer questions.

Outline of the Course 

Readings and weekly topics (all readings will be available on iLearn) 

Introduction: 

In this lecture, the course and assessment  will be presented   (notice no tutorials for Week 1 and no readings) 

Evolutionary legacy of the human brain

The human brain is the result of our species’ evolution. Even though the gap between human and animals can appear enormous, in fact, we have evolved from other animals without our spectacular cognitive abilities, so the organ itself is built on a model that we share with other species. How do we differ from other species regarding our neurological endowment, but also, how did we get the peculiar brains that we have? This lecture will specifically discuss some of the problems with ‘evolutionary psychology’ from the perspective of evolutionary theory and anthropology.

Sexual variety and reproduction

This lecture is an introduction to the wide debate, today more active than ever, about sexuality, reproduction and evolution. We will observe the latest developments in evolutionary theories and how they have impacted anthropological studies aiming to explain human sexual behaviours.

Emotions and feeling

In this lecture, we will discuss the relevance of ‘emotions’ in anthropological studies and the differences between some of the more frequently discussed theoretical models. We, in particular, will focus on the potentiality that theories in neuroscience, such those advanced by Damasio, may offer to anthropologists interested in such a fascinating topic.

 

What makes memories 

As for the discussions about emotions, the study of memory and its role is not new within the discipline of anthropology. This lecture will observe some traditional approaches to memory in anthropology and will compare and contrast them with recent studies. Again, as in the case of emotions, we will discuss how the discoveries and theories of memory and its role in self-formation can be very useful to anthropologists, both methodologically and theoretically.  

From ‘Self’ to Identity?

A sense of self can appear to be the most basic fact, so much so that Rene Descartes argued that it was the one thing that we can know for certain. Early anthropologists, however, were surprised to find that not every society seemed to have the same notion of ‘self’ that Westerners did. Identity is also a central concept in anthropology, and many theories have been developed. We will observe how recent research in neurology can help us to improve our anthropological understanding of both Self and Identity. 

Please note that the reading for this week is challenging. Have a cup of coffee; don't give up too easily. Worth it.

Revision First Part 

This lecture and tutorial will be an occasion to revise the first part of the course. 

Do mirror neurons explain culture?  

Culture is a central topic of anthropology. We will follow the historical discussion about culture within the discipline of anthropology focusing on the long and heated debate between nature and nurture. Then we will observe how contemporary cognitive neuroscientific research and results may contribute to a stronger theoretical framework about culture in anthropology.

Cognitive Dissonance: explaining contradictory behaviours

How do people change their opinions and why? In this lecture, we will follow the development of an intriguing, and long-standing, cognitive theory developed by Leon Festinger. We will also observe how an anthropologist may engage with such theory and for instance use it to explain the surprising sudden re-discovery of religion among Muslim inmates.

Cognitive Anthropology of Religion: Modes of religiosity and piousness

Anthropologists have studied and attempted to explain religion as a phenomenon since the beginning of the discipline. In this lecture, we will see how the topics discussed in the previous weeks (such as emotions, memories) could provide Whitehouse with interesting tools to develop a cognitive anthropological theory of religion, which attempts to provide a universal explanation of it. 

From Lombroso to Neurocriminology   

The relation between brain and crime has fascinated philosophers and scientists since ancient times. Lombroso has been the first criminologist to try to apply what he learnt of the brain to the understanding of criminals and their activities. Of course, Lombroso was a man of his times, and some of his theories have not only been rejected today, but they are considered discriminatory and sexist. His intuition has been of great value to the progress and development of what we can call today neurocriminology.  We will observe such recent developments and how anthropologists working in the field of crime research can benefit from it. 

The Animal-Human Connection: beyond an anthropocentric understanding of animal-human psychology 

This lecture looks at the deep relationship between humans and animals, in particular pets and the effects that this has on human cognition and behaviour 

Final Revision 

 

Unit Schedule

Please check the University Timetable for class and tutorial times .

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Undergraduate students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct​

Results

Results shown in iLearn, or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

Creative and Innovative

Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Discover and appreciate the variety of humanity, including the peculiarity of familiar Western personality traits, ways we understand ourselves, and common social roles.
  • Explore the role of social setting and norms in shaping human development through comparative research.
  • Actively participate in discussion and debate about a range of topics in psychological anthropology, some of which have everyday applications (such as gender roles, emotional variation, sex and gender across cultures, and childrearing).

Assessment tasks

  • Tutorials
  • Article Review

Capable of Professional and Personal Judgement and Initiative

We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Gain a greater understanding of diverse techniques for investigating individual experience, including especially anthropological techniques such as ethnography, field-based techniques, and comparative approaches.
  • Improve writing and critical reading skills through online question and answer.

Assessment tasks

  • iLearn Quiz 30 questions
  • Article Review

Commitment to Continuous Learning

Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Assessment tasks

  • Tutorials
  • Article Review

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Discover and appreciate the variety of humanity, including the peculiarity of familiar Western personality traits, ways we understand ourselves, and common social roles.
  • Interrogate the concept of ‘human nature’ to better understand the relationship between our species’ universal traits and the degree of variability found in these traits, including the evolutionary implications.
  • Explore the role of social setting and norms in shaping human development through comparative research.
  • Gain a greater understanding of diverse techniques for investigating individual experience, including especially anthropological techniques such as ethnography, field-based techniques, and comparative approaches.
  • Investigate in greater depth one area of special interest in the study of human diversity through class projects.

Assessment tasks

  • Tutorials
  • iLearn Quiz 30 questions
  • Article Review

Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Discover and appreciate the variety of humanity, including the peculiarity of familiar Western personality traits, ways we understand ourselves, and common social roles.
  • Interrogate the concept of ‘human nature’ to better understand the relationship between our species’ universal traits and the degree of variability found in these traits, including the evolutionary implications.
  • Explore the role of social setting and norms in shaping human development through comparative research.
  • Actively participate in discussion and debate about a range of topics in psychological anthropology, some of which have everyday applications (such as gender roles, emotional variation, sex and gender across cultures, and childrearing).
  • Gain a greater understanding of diverse techniques for investigating individual experience, including especially anthropological techniques such as ethnography, field-based techniques, and comparative approaches.
  • Improve writing and critical reading skills through online question and answer.

Assessment tasks

  • Tutorials
  • Article Review

Problem Solving and Research Capability

Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Explore the role of social setting and norms in shaping human development through comparative research.
  • Actively participate in discussion and debate about a range of topics in psychological anthropology, some of which have everyday applications (such as gender roles, emotional variation, sex and gender across cultures, and childrearing).
  • Gain a greater understanding of diverse techniques for investigating individual experience, including especially anthropological techniques such as ethnography, field-based techniques, and comparative approaches.
  • Investigate in greater depth one area of special interest in the study of human diversity through class projects.
  • Improve writing and critical reading skills through online question and answer.

Assessment tasks

  • Tutorials
  • Article Review

Effective Communication

We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Actively participate in discussion and debate about a range of topics in psychological anthropology, some of which have everyday applications (such as gender roles, emotional variation, sex and gender across cultures, and childrearing).
  • Investigate in greater depth one area of special interest in the study of human diversity through class projects.
  • Improve presentation and oral expression skills through tutorial discussion of critical issues in psychological anthropology.

Assessment tasks

  • Tutorials
  • Article Review

Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens

As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Discover and appreciate the variety of humanity, including the peculiarity of familiar Western personality traits, ways we understand ourselves, and common social roles.
  • Interrogate the concept of ‘human nature’ to better understand the relationship between our species’ universal traits and the degree of variability found in these traits, including the evolutionary implications.
  • Explore the role of social setting and norms in shaping human development through comparative research.
  • Actively participate in discussion and debate about a range of topics in psychological anthropology, some of which have everyday applications (such as gender roles, emotional variation, sex and gender across cultures, and childrearing).
  • Improve presentation and oral expression skills through tutorial discussion of critical issues in psychological anthropology.

Assessment tasks

  • Tutorials
  • Article Review

Socially and Environmentally Active and Responsible

We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Discover and appreciate the variety of humanity, including the peculiarity of familiar Western personality traits, ways we understand ourselves, and common social roles.
  • Interrogate the concept of ‘human nature’ to better understand the relationship between our species’ universal traits and the degree of variability found in these traits, including the evolutionary implications.
  • Explore the role of social setting and norms in shaping human development through comparative research.

Changes from Previous Offering

The assessment has been changed to adapt to the new assessment university policy which tends to reduce the number of assessments student should take per-course. The course has now 3 assessments and a continue assessment based on tutorial activities. 

Changes since First Published

Date Description
17/07/2018 quiz time added, and few typos corrected.