Culture and Personality Final, Spring 2006, page 9
Anthropology 4616 Culture and Personality
Final Exam
19 September 2006
Answer SIX (only 6) of the following questions. Keep in mind that there is more than one approach you can take in answering these questions. Each question is worth up to100 points and counts about 5% of the final course grade.
Follow these guidelines:
G Organize your answer before you begin.
G Be sure to state:
1. What or who something is
2. Where it occurred or is located (if appropriate)
3. How something works or functions
4. Why it is important
5. When it occurred
G State YOUR position or approach clearly.
G Cite specific examples or references to support your statements.
G Mention problem areas or other relevant materials which you would like to consider further in a more thorough statement. That is, when you're finished with your answer, what major questions are still left unanswered?
G Summarize your argument or discussion.
G Wherever appropriate use materials from more than one region of the world.
G Remember that each of your responses should have a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Note: Do not discuss any topic at length in more than one question.
01. Current Affairs / Chapter 10: "Intercultural Relations in a Shrinking World"
Yesterday (Monday, 18 December 2006) BBCNews reported on Google’s most-searched for terms of 2006: “Social networks top Google search -- Social networks Bebo and MySpace were the two most searched for terms of 2006 using Google's search engine.” Other 2006 search trends were noted in the BBCNews article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6189809.stm
Social networks top Google search
Social networks Bebo and MySpace were the two most searched for terms of 2006 using Google's search engine.
The two rival sites allow users to create individual web pages, with photos, music and video.
The football World Cup was the third most searched for term while Paris Hilton topped the news searches.
The top 10 searches were dominated by web 2.0 developments, such as video site Metacafe, music streaming service Radioblog and encyclopaedia Wikipedia.
The word video was the seventh most searched for term of 2006, reflecting the growth in services such as YouTube and MetaCafe, and offerings from Google, Yahoo and MSN.
TOP 10 GOOGLE SEARCHES 2006
1. Bebo
2. MySpace
3. World Cup
4. Metacafe
5. Radioblog
6. Wikipedia
7. Video
8. Rebelde
9. Mininova
10. Wiki
Mexican soap opera Rebelde was the eighth most searched for term on Google over the last 12 months, a sign of the importance of the Spanish language on the net.
Rebelde ended its run on television in June but the actors in the soap opera have formed a popular band, called RBD, which keeps interest in the soap opera alive.
The top news searches of 2006 were dominated by celebrity, illness, tragedy and the bizarre.
Orlando Bloom was the second most searched for item on Google News, followed by cancer, podcasting, hurricane Katrina and bankruptcy.
Google was asked a lot of questions in 2006 and the most popular "Who is....?" question was about Borat, the TV and film character created by Sacha Baron Cohen.
Surfers also asked lots of questions about Hezbollah and different types of drugs, from Acyclovir to Xanax.
In the "How to" section, people most wanted to learn how they could refinance, set up a wiki page, drift, podcast, scream and levitate.
In the battle of the celebrity weddings, Nicole Kidman's marriage to singer Keith Urban was searched for more often than Tom Cruise's nuptials with Katie Holmes.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/6189809.stm
Published: 2006/12/18 12:10:38 GMT
© BBC MMVI
Questions:
From one point of view the emerging phenomena of global interaction and information flow on the web might be considered an extension of the materials presented in Ch. 10, "Intercultural Relations in a Shrinking World.”
A. What, if anything, does the information reported yesterday by BBCNews tell you about the emerging “national character” of the growing network of on-line denizens?
B. How would you design a research project to study the personality types of people using the internet?
02. Chapter 6: "Everyday Cognition"
Chapter 6 covers “Everyday Cognition.” What is “Everyday Cognition,” and why is that important to Culture and Personality studies?
03. Current Affairs / Chapter 7: "Motives, Beliefs, and Values"
Yesterday (Monday, 18 December 2006) BBCNews also reported “Schism looming for Anglican Communion: Two of the oldest and largest parishes in the US have chosen to break from their bishop and become a mission of the Nigerian Church.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6189089.stm
“The Truro Church and the Falls Church [in America] voted to place themselves . . . under the authority of the Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, [who] has called for the Episcopal Church to be expelled from the worldwide Anglican Communion . . . [of] an estimated 77 million Anglicans across the world. . . .”
Questions:
The world could be witnessing a religious schism of a world religion virtually unparalleled since the days of King Henry VIII and Martin Luther.
A. What, does that tell you about "Motives, Beliefs, and Values"?
B. How do you suppose the American, the British, and the Nigerian views (of the current events facing the Anglican and Episcopal Churches in their countries) differ?
The full text of Monday’s BBCNews article follows:
Schism looming for Anglican Communion
By Jane Little
BBC News, Washington
Two of the oldest and largest parishes in the US have chosen to break from their bishop and become a mission of the Nigerian Church.
Five others have also voted to split.
The congregations at Truro and Falls Church date from the 1700s and were once a part of the mother Church of England.
The former President George Washington worshipped at Falls Church.
But now they have voted to sever ties with their own church and, in a move destined to cause conflict, to fight the bishop of Virginia for their church property estimated to be worth $25m.
They will turn instead to the 17-million-member church in Nigeria for direction.
The bishop of Virginia, Peter Lee, called it a "sad day for the church".
He also stressed that the church properties are "held in trust" for the diocese and the Episcopal Church and he will insist on retaining them.
Step further
The dispute follows a decision three years ago to consecrate a gay man, Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire.
Conservatives were further alienated by the election this summer of the first female presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katherine Jefferts Schori, who voted for him.
Seven dioceses of the Episcopal Church have refused to accept her authority and formed their own network, but it remains within the church.
These Virginia parishes have gone a step further, one that could lead to deeper division within the global Anglican Communion.
Reverse mission
The defectors have opted to join an umbrella organisation called the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (Cana).
It is a Nigerian mission to America, and represents an intriguing reversal of missionary lines as a former colonial church in Africa takes a slice of the West.
The rector at Truro, the Reverend Martyn Minns, was consecrated a bishop earlier this year by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola.
He will have authority over the new organisation, which Mr Minns says he hopes will grow as he plants new churches that "work to proclaim the unchangeable truth of the scriptures".
Archbishop Akinola has in the past called homosexual activity a "satanic attack" on the church.
He recently backed Nigerian government plans to penalise gay and lesbian activity with jail terms.
The American conservatives have distanced themselves from his position, arguing that he is under pressure due to tensions within Nigeria between Christians and Muslims.
On the brink
The 77-million-member family of churches known as the Anglican Communion is now poised on the brink of schism.
Many leaders or primates of Anglican Provinces in the developing world have broken ties with the Episcopal Church in America.
A small but growing minority of US congregations have sought or are seeking leadership from them.
This poses a further challenge to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who as spiritual head of the global church has been fighting what many now see as a losing battle to save it.
Dr Williams appealed to church leaders not to move into each other's territory. But this is precisely what has now happened.
Old geographical boundaries are breaking down as theological and political allegiances take over.
A whole diocese in California is now on the verge of leaving the Episcopal Church.
Its woes and those of the wider Anglican family continue to grow.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6189089.stm
Published: 2006/12/18 11:33:09 GMT
© BBC MMVI
04. Chapter 8: "Males and Females and the Relations between Them"
How would your adult personality be different if you had been born a member of the opposite sex? Why?
Be sure to use relevant materials from Chapter 8, if and where appropriate, in your answer.
05. Chapter 9: "Culture and Aggression"
Argue for or against the proposition that there is such as thing as a “criminal personality.”
06. Cumulative synthesis:
1. Take any one topic in Culture and Personality studies and relate that topic to each of the twelve chapters of the text (this can be at any level of analysis). (Your answer should thus have at least twelve parts to it.) The chapters included:
1. The Socio-Cultural Nature of Human Beings
2. Cross-Cultural Research: Scope and Methods
3. Human Development and Informal Education
4. Perceptual and Cognitive Processes
5. Alternative Views on Human Competence: General Intelligence and Genetic Epistemology
6. Everyday Cognition and Cognitive Anthropology
7. Motives, Beliefs, and Values
8. Males and Females and the Relations between Them
9. Culture and Aggression
10. Intercultural Relations in a Shrinking World
11. Acculturation
12. Conclusions
07. Chapter 11: "Acculturation"
Chapter 11 discusses AAcculturation,@ and the authors propose an AAcculturation Framework@ (Fig. 11.1, p. 302), ATypes of Acculturating Groups@ (Fig. 11.2, p. 304), AAcculturation Strategies@ (Fig. 11.3, p. 306), AA Framework for Acculturation Research@ (Fig. 11.4, p. 310), and AFactors Affecting Acculturation@ (Table 11.1, p. 312).
A. Compare and contrast the Yanomamö and the Amish in terms of their use/non-use of boundary maintaining mechanisms in their acculturation situations. Use the materials from Chapter 11 where appropriate.
B. Over the time span of two generations, what do you expect the result of these divergent approaches will be on the respective modal personalities of the two groups? Use the materials from Chapter 11 where appropriate.
08. Chapter 12: "Conclusions"
Chapter 12 discusses “Conclusions” to Human Behavior in Global Perspective. What are the five major conclusions you personally draw from your studies of Culture and Personality so far. Be sure to explain why.
09. Hypothetical problem:
Discuss what problems you would have inventing a personality for a space creature in a novel you are writing if this creature had human (and only human) capabilities, but had no shared cultural experiences with any known earthbound culture.
10. Class Presentations / Analysis:
All societies have at least one form of altered state of consciousness. The altered state would thus seem to be a cultural universal. Discuss:
A. the probable cause(s) for this phenomenon
B. the importance of this phenomenon as a universal cultural trait; and,
C. the implications of this phenomenon for human behavior
11. Class Presentations / Analysis:
In class individual personality change was mentioned or discussed on several occasions.
Some social critics are beginning to suggest that Americans as a group are currently undergoing a shift in modal personality, or at least a change in significant dominant personality traits. Argue for or against this proposition. Be sure to include examples in support of your position.
12. Class Presentations:
Discuss Anishinabe curing in detail, including the role of psychology, cultural beliefs, and social factors in the overall curing process.
13 Optional Take-Home Question:
NOTE: Essentially you may make up ONE question total. You may either do that as a take-home and bring it to class with you, or you may do that in class the day of the exam. If you elect to do the optional take-home exam and bring it with you to class, then you must choose five (5) additional of the remaining questions presented on the actual exam, as they are presented on the exam.
If you do not like these questions, make up and answer a question of your own choice relating to a topic having to do with Culture and Personality which you have not considered in your other answers. Do not select a topic that was part of any of your or your groups' in-class presentations. (If you think these questions are fantastic but simply prefer to make up one of your own, go ahead.)
Answers should contain specific information supporting your position. Both your question and your answer will be evaluated.
If you elect to make up and answer a question, you may prepare your question and answer in advance and bring it with you to the exam. If you prepare your question in advance you only need to answer five (5) other questions in class.
Do not write on any country for which you were one of the presenters.
Good Luck!
Please return this exam with your bluebooks.