Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Angela Lockard Reed

Outline 3, September 10, 2003

Cognition, Enculturation, and Personality

I           Margaret Mead and Samoa

            A          What was the question that Margaret Mead was trying to answer through her research in Samoa? 

            B          How many people and who were Mead’s informants?  How long did she stay in Samoa?

            C         Why did Freeman disagree with Mead’s conclusions?

            D         Who were Freeman’s informants?  How long did he work in Samoa?

            E          Compare and contrast Mead’s and Freeman’s work?  Is either one more “right” than the other?  Or did both of them have inherent problems in their research?   

II           Cognition

            A          Self-awareness

            B          Perception

            C         Cognitive styles

                        1          Global style

                        2          Articulated style

            D         Structural Patterns of Cognition

                        1          Claude Levi-Strauss

                                    a          Dualism and the principle of binary opposition

                        2          Alan Dundes

                        a          Categories are culturally constructed

                        3          The Number 3 in American culture as an example

                                    a          General patterns of trichotomy

                                    b          Other examples from American life

                                                -           taxonomy

                                                -           acronyms

                                                -           folk speech and folk lore

                                                -           superstitions

                                                -           games

                                                -           Baseball

III          Enculturation

            A          Which came first, the individual or the society?

            B          Examples from Parallel Worlds

                        1          Superstition

                        2          Intimacy

                        3          View of physicality

                        4          Play

IV         Personality

            A          Modal personality

            B          Dependence training

            C         Independence training

            D         Normal vs. Abnormal Personality

                        1          The standards that define normal behavior for any culture are determined by that culture itself.

            2          Ethnic psychoses