Professor Rita Astuti, OLD 6.11

Optional for BA Anthropology and Law and BA/BSc Social Anthropology. Also available to General Course students and as an outside option.

Undergraduates taking this course should have completed an introductory course in anthropology unless granted exemption by the course teacher.

The course will examine the contribution that the study of human psychology can make to anthropology.

After discussing why anthropologists should pay attention to psychology and why psychologists should pay attention to anthropology, we will examine a range of psychological findings and their relevance to anthropology (for example, on the nature of concepts, on the relationship between language and thought, on infant's knowledge of the physical and mental world)

Lectures AN216 weekly MT, Classes AN216.A weekly MT.

Students are expected to prepare discussion material for presentation in the classes.

Anthropology students taking this course will have an opportunity to submit a tutorial essay for this course to their personal tutors. For non-Anthropology students taking this course, a formative essay may be submitted to the course teacher.

C Strauss & N Quinn A Cognitive Theory of Cultural Meaning (1997); M Boch How We Think They Think (1998); D Sperber Explaining Culture (1996); M Cole Cultural Psychology (1996); M Tomasello The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition (1999); P Boyer Religion Explained (2001). Detailed reading lists are provided at the beginning of the course.

A two-hour examination in the ST worth 80%. One assessed essay of 2000-2500 words (20%).