Anthropological Perspective of the Self PDF

THE SELF: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE SHAYNE JAYO, LPT, RPm Instructor ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ANTHROPOLOGY - “anthropos” human - “Logos” thought or reason - refers to the study of humans and their ancestors through time. - It covers the physical characters, environment, so...

THE SELF: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE SHAYNE JAYO, LPT, RPm Instructor ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ANTHROPOLOGY - “anthropos” human - “Logos” thought or reason - refers to the study of humans and their ancestors through time. - It covers the physical characters, environment, social relations, and culture of humans in their specific contexts. Anthropology has four subdisciplines, namely, archaeology, cultural, biological or physical, and linguistic anthropology. 1. Archaeology 2. Cultural 3. Biological or Physical 4. Linguistic 1.Archaeology This subdiscipline of anthropology refers to the interpretation of human behavior based on material remains through time. 2. Cultural This subdiscipline explores the diversity of past and present cultures and aspects of human society based on research conducted in the field. 3. Biological or Physical This subdiscipline studies the biological and behavioral aspects of humans and their ancestors, as well as non-human primates. 4. Linguistic This subdiscipline is concerned with human languages, their aspects, and social and cultural contexts across time. ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE SELF The self is a "physical organism possessing psychological functioning and social attributes" (Ewing, 1990). Furthermore, the self is not static. It is added and subtracted from genetic maturation, learning, forgetting, stress, aging, and disease (Ledoux, 2002). ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE SELF People are shaped by their environment, and, at the same time, they can represent that same environment they were exposed to. Culture refers to the "customary behavior and beliefs that are passed on through enculturation" (Kottak, 2008). Cultural psychologists state that humans have the capacity to interpret the meaning of things. Each culture can have independent and interdependent constructs. ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE SELF The independent construct refers to certain characteristics of an individualistic culture, whereas The interdependent construct refers to the collectivist culture specifically exemplified in East Asia. Markus Kitayama presented an illustration depicting the cultural conception of the self in his article "Culture and the self: Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation" (1991). ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE SELF SUMMARY Anthropology studies humans and their culture. In relation to understanding the self, anthropology focuses on the physical organism that has psychological and social attributes. The self is not static. Independent and interdependent constructs shape an individual. It is through anthropology that one can observe that the search of oneself is an extensive journey connected to one's culture and environment.