ANTH205: How do we manage cultural fears and anxieties- Fictions, rituals, and medicalization

Nature
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Terms in this set (28)
Nature
the experiencing of anger, fear, love. The brain has evolved to produce emotions and instruct reflexive bodily responses through hormones and neurochemicals that trigger emotions
Nurture
the cultural beliefs, rituals, and practices developed to control and manage emotions. Brain has a role. Learning, teaching, creating, and innovating are human natural abilities. Brain is designed by nature to learn and create cultural rules
Nurture and Emotions
every culture because of environmental, historical, and collective experiences devises norms for addressing, displaying, and managing potential outcomes of acting on emotions
Unconscious
Freud. The latent realm which held emotional drives and impulses. Part of the mind that is hidden and manifests itself in subtle ways
Freud
the unconscious is revealed through dreams, art, and hypnosis. Claimed that the irrational and instinctual dimensions of the unconscious were more powerful than the behaviors and beliefs of our conscious mind
Category Jamming
concept developed by horror philosopher Noel Carrol. States that humans and animals internalize the creatures they regularly encounter, creating a cognitive classification system for what they recognize as normal and abnormal. Any strange or unclassifiable encounter produces fear
Psychological Fears
overwhelming because there are often no external, observable clues. Brain makes our humanity. Deviance can be subjective. Experience might matter but the conditions are usually too sudden and extreme for individuals to use their experience constructively
Situational Fears
can have action plans. Signs are clear that something is going wrong. Experience matters (ex- practice or drills)
Heroes
focused on things other than fear. Professional hero training- pilots. Fatherly love hero
Authors of Our Internal Fears
Mary Shelley. Noel Carrol. HP Lovecraft
Mary Shelleyfear was about the science, what Frankenstein was doing. Fears about where science could goPsychological Monsters can be in Us and Among Usinsanity. Criminality. VulnerabilityCosmic Fearcoined by Lovecraft. Idea that within horror there is a deep instinctual awe of the unknown. Ultimately brings out humanity's sense of fragility and vulnerabilityGet Out's Lesson on Common Vulnerabilitiesbeginning abduction scene with black man walking alone in familiar suburban neighborhood at night. Not aware of his surroundings and exhibiting behaviors of nervousness. Lesson is in what he did wrong so we know not to do the same things. Must also know the cultural rules for behaviors. Reinforces the cultural rule by highlighting negative consequencesVulnerabilitiesnot weaknesses. But when they limit us or cause us to make decisions based on them being equal to being weak, we make mistakesWhat do we learn from what the protagonist did wrongreading people and trusting your cultural perceptiveness. Knowing when to flee. Recognizing aberrant behaviorCriminal Monsterstap into humanity's sense of fear in ways other horrors can't. Their behavior counters the meaning of being human- a generally cooperative species that can use violence, but prefers to avoid itInhuman Violenceunmanaged emotions that influence indiscriminate violence against the species are scary and repugnant. The parameters of the monster epithet are not infinitely malleableParameters of Monster Epithet (Inhuman Violence)ordinary language users are enculturated in their application of labels. Label often applied to criminals who transcend usual motives of violent crimeMonster Label (humans)usually reserved for a person whose actions have placed him outside the range of humanityAsma (human monsters)states that the psychopath is simply acting out all the taboo fantasies that the rest of us have learned to control. If this is accurate, what does this suggest about the child murderer given brain complexity, cultural diversity, and life in state systemsDeviance Falls along a Spectrumlike most human behaviors, it is implausible to reduce killers, psychopaths, and those with antisocial behaviors into analytical binariesDexterfictional, but the character represents the complexity of human lives. Show reflects the societal perceptions of the danger. Serial killer who kills killersSerial Killer Mythsnot all dysfunctional loners. Not all white males. Racial diversity mirrors overall US population. Do not want to get caught, get more careless over timeSerial Killers Importanceserial killings are rare but receive a lot of attention in the media and much of the info is wrong. Public, media, and law professionals who have limited experience often believe what they read and hear, which can hinder investigationsSerial Killers (links)according to experts, there is no common thread tying serial killers together. But there are some common best practices that they recommend for investigationsCommon to the Criminal Monsterdepersonalization. But they can and often do connect with other peopleDepersonalizationtactic of treating the victim as less than human. Noticeable among murderers, serial killers, and Nazi regime