Anthropology and Psychology [ LFIAL1620 ]

Prerequisites : none.

Content : the course addresses central psychological and anthropological theories in order to understand the functions and processes that characterize the phenomenon of human life, taking into account biological as well as social and cultural determinants. We shall study: consciousness; affective, cognitive, and perceptual functions; the learning process and memory; learning abilities; personal and social identity; the interactive field; the cultural relativism/determinism; the cultural transmission processes; the symbolic systems (magic, religion); the relationship between tradition and modernity, psychism and culture. Reference theories and models will be situated in their historical context, and the paradigm governing different kinds of approaches will be explained and examined. Method : For the anthropological approach, after an introduction to the semantical, historical, methododological and epistemological facets of the discipline, the main anthropological theories (evolutionnism, diffusionism, culture and personality, functionnalism and structuralism) are successively presented, illustred and discussed. Each school of thought examined is also viewed like the occasion to examine the contributions to some great authors. For the psychological approach, we shall contrast the current findings concerning the mechanisms governing human behavior with the key theoretical strands that have marked psychology from its beginnings.

To become familiar with the methods of social and cultural anthropology and of psychology; to gain some insight into how the social sciences study human activity.

Evaluation : the evaluation will mainly bear on the evaluation of the personal work; one part of the exam could be a multiple choice questionnaire bearing on the content of the lectures.

For the anthropological approach, after an introduction to the semantical, historical, methododological and epistemological facets of the discipline, the main anthropological theories (evolutionnism, diffusionism, culture and personality, functionnalism and structuralism) are successively presented, illustred and discussed.

Each school of thought examined is also viewed like the occasion to examine the contributions to some great authors. For the psychological approach, we shall contrast the current findings concerning the mechanisms governing human behavior with the key theoretical strands that have marked psychology from its beginnings.

The first half of the course will successively examine: the field of anthropology, the epistemological and methodological foundations of anthropological practices, the main trends of anthropological thought, the relationships between anthropology and related disciplines, the main fields of anthropological knowledge (family/kinship, economics, politics, symbolic systems).

The second half of the course will address questions in contemporary psychology: schools and fields, biological foundations of behaviour, sensations and perceptions, vigilance and consciousness, learning and memory, cognitive and affective activities, psychology of health and questions related to mental health. Course materials will be available at the beginning of the class.

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Others : the lectures will be provided by two teachers; some sessions (mainly the first one) will be led by both teachers together.