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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons

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Anthropology

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Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Dominance And Leadership: Useful Concepts In Human-Horse Interactions?, Elke Hartmann, Janne W. Christensen, Paul Mcgreevy Jul 2019

Dominance And Leadership: Useful Concepts In Human-Horse Interactions?, Elke Hartmann, Janne W. Christensen, Paul Mcgreevy

Paul McGreevy, PhD

Dominance hierarchies in horses primarily influence priority access to limited resources of any kind, resulting in predictable contest outcomes that potentially minimize aggressive encounters and associated risk of injury. Levels of aggression in group-kept horses under domestic conditions have been reported to be higher than in their feral counterparts but can often be attributed to suboptimal management. Horse owners often express concerns about the risk of injuries occurring in group-kept horses, but these concerns have not been substantiated by empirical investigations. What has not yet been sufficiently addressed are human safety aspects related to approaching and handling group-kept horses. Given …


Playing With Knives: The Socialization Of Self-Initiated Learners, David F. Lancy Jan 2016

Playing With Knives: The Socialization Of Self-Initiated Learners, David F. Lancy

David Lancy

Since Margaret Mead’s field studies in the South Pacific a century ago, there has been the tacit understanding that as culture varies, so too must the socialization of children to become competent culture users and bearers. More recently, the work of anthropologists has been mined to find broader patterns that may be common to childhood across a range of societies. One improbable commonality has been the tolerance, even encouragement, of toddler behavior that is patently risky, such as playing with or attempting to use a sharp-edged tool. This laissez faire approach to socialization follows from a reliance on children as …


Teaching: Natural Or Cultural?, David F. Lancy Jan 2016

Teaching: Natural Or Cultural?, David F. Lancy

David Lancy

This chapter will argue that teaching, as we now understand the term, is historically and cross-culturally very rare. It appears to be unnecessary to transmit culture or to socialize children. Children are, on the other hand, primed by evolution to be avid observers, imitators, players and helpers—roles that reveal the profoundly autonomous and self-directed nature of culture acquisition (Lancy in press a). And yet, teaching is ubiquitous throughout the modern world—at least among the middle to upper class segment of the population. This ubiquity has led numerous scholars to argue for the universality and uniqueness of teaching as a characteristically …


Is Your Learning Style Paranoid?, Kirby Farrell Sep 2015

Is Your Learning Style Paranoid?, Kirby Farrell

kirby farrell

We learn—and grow—by engaging with anomalies: new things that don't fit our familiar categories. It's a gut process, not just a philosophical choice. Anxiety can make us paranoid about what's new and strange. Knowing that can spur fascination and help us to adapt.


Learning Guided By Others, David F. Lancy, M. A. Grove Jan 2010

Learning Guided By Others, David F. Lancy, M. A. Grove

David Lancy

Anthropologists who study children in traditional societies almost universally note the absence or great rarity of adults teaching children in the village setting. Children are encouraged to learn on their own. This chapter teases out those instances where, in the view of adults, independent learning is not sufficient. In some situations,adult intervention—usually falling short of “teaching”—is deemed necessary. The chapter focuses on four very general issues. At what age is the child targeted for a course correction or intervention to facilitate his or her development and socialization? What is the substance or goal of this intervention? What should the child …


Learning “From Nobody:” The Limited Role Of Teaching In Folk Models Of Children’S Development, David F. Lancy Jan 2010

Learning “From Nobody:” The Limited Role Of Teaching In Folk Models Of Children’S Development, David F. Lancy

David Lancy

Among the Western intelligentsia, parenting is synonymous with teaching. We are cajoled into beginning our child’s education in the womb and feel guilty whenever a ‘teaching moment’ is squandered. This paper will argue that this reliance on teaching generally, and especially on parents as teachers, is quite recent historically and localised culturally. The majority follow a laissez faire attitude towards development that relies heavily on children’s natural curiosity and motivation to emulate those who are more expert.


Children Learning In New Settings., David F. Lancy Jan 2010

Children Learning In New Settings., David F. Lancy

David Lancy

This chapter uses a wide-angle lens to briefly examine the many new settings that village children find themselves adapting to. Those settings include schools that have barely taken root in the village, labor, urban streets, and the milieu of the insurgent band.