ANTHROPOLOGY

“Indeed, much of the self is learned by making new memories out of old
ones.”
―Joseph E. Ledoux

Activity 3
“ME AND MY CULTURE”

Observe your own culture. What is the beauty of your culture?

Compare your culture with another culture. Does your family religiously
practice your cultural customs and traditions, like celebrating fiestas, Christmas,
and so on, or everything has changed because of consumerism (the actions of
people who spend a lot of money on goods and services)?

The Self and the Person in Contemporary Anthropology

What is anthropology? What is its view about the concept of “self”? Anthropology is
the study of people, past and present. It focuses on understanding the human condition
in its cultural aspect. In a general sense, anthropology is concerned with understanding
how humans evolved and how they differ from one another. Anthropology is a very
dynamic field, and anthropological literature offers several different definitions of
“self.” This discussion, however, will tackle the widely acceptable definitions of “self” in
modern anthropology.

A unit but unitary

One definition of “self” in modern anthropology characterizes the term in its
most general, ordinary, and everyday use. Anthropologist and professor, Katherine
Ewing (1990), described the self as encompassing the “physical organism, possessing
psychological functioning and social attributes.” This definition portrays the “self” as
implicitly and explicitly existing in the mind comprised of psychological, biological, and
cultural processes.
Neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux (2002) conceptualized the implicit and explicit
aspects of the self (Kemp, 2012). The aspect of the self that you are consciously aware of
is the explicit self while the one that is not immediately available to the consciousness
is the implicit aspect. This concept can be traced to the famous psychologist Sigmund
Freud’s “level of consciousness;” however, LaDoux’s view on how the “self” was developed
asserted that it is framed, maintained, and affected biologically, mentally, and socially.

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According to LeDoux (2002), “the self is not static; it is added to and subtracted from by
genetic maturation, learning, forgetting, stress, ageing, and disease.” This is true of both
the implicit and explicit aspects of the self.

Self as representation
Ewing (1989) asserted that a “self” is illusory. “People construct a series of self-
representations that are based on selected cultural concepts of person and selected
‘chains’ of personal memories. Each self-concept is experienced as whole and continuous,
with its own history and memories that emerge in a specific context to be replaced by
another self-representation when the context changes.” By self-representation, Ewing
meant culturally shaped “self” concepts that one applies to oneself (Quinn, 2014); “it is
the mental entities that are supposed to represent the self” (Schlichtet, 2009).
According to Ewing (1990), people from all cultures have been observed to be able to
rapidly project different self-representations, depending on the context of the situation.
The person is unaware of these shifts; however, he/she will still experience wholeness
and continuity despite these shifts.

The Self Embedded in Culture

How individuals see themselves, how they relate to other people, and how they relate
to the environment are deeply defined by culture. If one finds the view that the “self”
is a product of society, then it is plausible that the ways of how the self is developed are
bound to cultural differences as well.
Cultural anthropologists have argued that the self is culturally shaped and infinitely
variable. ‘‘Cultural traditions and social practices regulate, express, and transform the
human psyche, resulting less in psychic unity for humankind than in ethnic divergences
in mind, self, and emotion’’ (Shweder, 1991, p. 72). The basic idea is that the principles
of how the mind works cannot be conceived of as universal, but that it is as varied as the
culture and traditions that people practice all over the world.
Cultural psychologists distinguished two ways of how the self is constructed.
These are the independent and interdependent constructs. These self-construals are
also imbedded in culture. Construal is an interpretation of the meaning of something;
hence, in this sense, the meaning of “self.” The independent construct is characteristic
of individualistic culture, such as in North America and Europe. Individualistic culture
represents the self as separate, distinct, with emphasis on internal attributes or traits,
skills, and values. The interdependent construct is typical of the collectivist culture in
East Asia stressing the essential connection between the individual to other people.
Developmental psychologist Catherine Raeff (2010), believed that culture can
influence how you view: relationships, personality traits, achievement, and expressing
emotions.

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Relationships
Culture influences how you enter into and maintain relationships. For example,
relationships may be seen as voluntary or as duty-based. In Western societies, it
is essential for a person to choose whom to marry while some Eastern societies still
practice arranged marriage.

Personality traits
Culture influences whether (and how) you value traits, like humility, self-esteem,
politeness, assertiveness, and so on, as well as how you perceive hardship or how you feel
about relying on others.

Achievement
Culture influences how you define success and whether you value certain types of
individual and group achievements.

Expressing emotions
Culture influences what will affect you emotionally, as well as how you express
yourself, such as showing your feelings in public or keeping it private.

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