L1 Nature, culture, subject Flashcards
who is this person and how did they become that way? model
development (past) -> context -> person -> experiences and acts (present) -> goals and motivation (future)
zie schrift
uitleg model: context en person
- everything always starts with experiences,
- always take place in a certain context (no context = symptoms are meaningless)
- other important component is the person: not everyone experiences events in the same way
in any clinical situation, the question “…” is crucial
who is this person and how did they become that way?
human groups get cultural histories due to the ….
continued transmission of conventions
➢ Cultures develop oral and then written traditions and stories about who ‘we’ are and how ‘we’ came to be
➢ By telling these stories and reflecting on them we change our understanding of who we are.
➢ The histories of individuals can be located within these larger histories of the multiple ‘we’s’ to which we belong
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3 types of origins
natural origins (evolution)
cultural origins
individual origins (birth)
three perspectives on personality
- universal (human nature)
- particular (human cultures)
- singular (human live)
some common confusions and mistakes
- naturalizing cultural categories (eg. treating race as a natural kind: it is in fact cultural)
- reducing every aspect to cultural narratives (the evolved physical body and brain are important limits for what is culturally possible)
- forgetting about the cultural and subjective position from where the author speaks
- treating all acounts as equally subjective opinions
two key steps in the evolution of human cooperation
- obligate collaborative foraging
- group-mindedness
obligate collaborative foraging =
- young children already have a tendency towards joint intentionality.
- humans have a great capacity for shared goals and shared mental states.
- within this context, shared meanings and shared stories can come to existence
-> humans are from birth particularly attuned to sharing mental states with other humans
joint intentionality =
A concept used (by Tomasello) to describe a uniquely human evolutionary adaptation. It implies that humans are extremely attuned to sharing their intentions and working towards joint intentions. This sets the stage for forms of intensive cooperation far surpassing that of other mammals
group mindedness=
- due to the strong possibility of shared intentionality, humans develop a capability for conventions
- children from then on are born in a world full of pre-existing conventional structures that they grow into and only later and partially become aware of
- in this they are introduced in a pre-existing symbolic order: the universe of signs and meanings typical for humans
cultural practices are different from behavioural traditions because their practicioners understand them as shared in the group: we have all agreed to do them in a particular way, even though we know there are other ways in which we could do them.
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wat is first nature en wat is second nature
first nature: universal human nature (collaboration and group-mindedness) -> individual life story
second nature: particular cultural histories -> individual life story
the psychological self =
the reflexive arrangement of the subjective “I” and the constructed “me”.
I= first person perspective
me= messages from the others
development of the self according to McAdams
vanaf 0: actor (traits and social roles, that result in and from repeated performances on the social stage of life)
vanaf 5: agent (goals and values)
vanaf 20: author (life narratives)
the self as actor=
first we discover what society says we are, then we build our identity on performance in that part. if we uphold this performance, we are rewarded with social affirmation of our identity (therefore we are created in the performance).if we bungle the performance, we show that we do not merit the part, we are destroyed (literally).
persona =
(self as actor)
masker & karakter: what your meaning is in the perspective of others
appearance (may be disconnected from the subjective experience)
the self as agent =
to make choices and, move forward in life in a self-determined and goal-directed manner. towards the future.
welke factoren horen bij human agency
intention, violition, will, purpose, some modicum of personal control
agency vs autonomy
agency= actions, control (be independent, be the driver of change)
autonomy= decisions, making choices independent from external pressure
the self as author =
narrative identity, to integrate the reconstructed past, experienced present and imagined future into the “me”
nature=
Does not directly refer here to distinguishing nature and nurture at an individual level. Nature here refers to ‘human biology’- that is approaching the human organism within its ecology and as part of an evolutionary history. The natural sciences (mainly biology) are most appropriate here.
nurture=
Refers to the development of a specifically human ecology which is characterized by ‘joint intentionality’ and ‘symbolic interaction’ and is part of a cultural history which is traditionally referred to as ‘civilization’. The humanities (anthropology, sociology, political economy) are most appropriate here.
