Human Ecology

Examples of Human Ecology in the following topics:

• Theoretical Perspectives on Childhood Socialization

  • Freud believed that sexual drive, or libido, was the driving force of all human behavior and, accordingly, developed a psychosexual theory of human development.
  • In 1979, psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner published The Ecology of Human Development, setting forth his theory known as ecological systems theory.
  • Also called development in context theory or human ecology theory, the ecology systems theory specifies five different types of nested environmental systems: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem.

• Sociological Perspectives on Urban Life

  • Urban sociology is the sociological study of life and human interaction in metropolitan areas.
  • The Chicago School sought to provide subjective meaning to how humans interact under structural, cultural and social conditions.

• Sociology and the Social Sciences

  • As a generalization, psychology is the study of the human mind and micro-level (or individual) behavior; sociology examines human society; psychology focuses on mental and thought processes (internal), whereas sociology focuses on human behavior (external).
  • The use of scientific methods differentiates the social sciences from the humanities.
  • In ancient philosophy, there was no difference between science and humanities.
  • In the attempt to study human behavior using scientific and empirical principles, sociologists always encounter dilemmas, as humans do not always operate predictably according to natural laws.
  • Isaac Newton was a key figure in the process which split the natural sciences from the humanities.

• Lenski's Sociological Evolution Approach

  • He distinguishes four stages of human development, based on advances in the history of communication.
  • In the third, humans begin to use signs and develop logic.
  • Human reproductive capacity exceeds the available resources in the environment.
  • Thus, Lenski concludes, human populations are limited by their capability of food production.
  • According to Lenski, human capacity for population growth has been a "profoundly destabilizing force throughout human history and may well be the ultimate source of most social and cultural change."

• Feral Children

  • A feral child is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age.
  • A feral child is a human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age, and has no (or little) experience of human care, loving or social behavior, and, crucially, of human language.
  • Their integration into human society is also made to seem relatively easy.
  • They often seem mentally impaired and have almost insurmountable trouble learning human language.
  • The fact that feral children lack these abilities pinpoints the role of socialization in human development.

• The Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

  • Humans, however, can.
  • Human society, therefore, is a social product.
  • Neurological evidence, based on EEGs, supports the idea that humans have a "social brain," meaning, there are components of the human brain that govern social interaction.
  • The term was first used in his work, Human Nature and the Social Order.
  • Because they see meaning as the fundamental component of the interaction of human and society, studying human and social interaction requires an understanding of that meaning.

• Animals and Culture

  • Animal culture refers to cultural learning in non-human animals through socially transmitted behaviors.
  • Animal culture refers to cultural learning in non-human animals through socially transmitted behaviors.
  • One of the first signs of culture in early humans was the use of tools.
  • Much cultural anthropological research has been done on non-human primates, due to their close evolutionary proximity to humans.
  • Formulate a thesis which defends the idea that non-human animals have culture

• The Origins of Culture

  • Culture is a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of human phenomena that cannot be attributed to genetic inheritance.
  • Culture allows humans to more quickly adapt.
  • For example, humans face dangers from food-born illnesses, such as trichinosis from pork.
  • In the mid-19th century, some scientists used the term "culture" to refer to a universal human capacity.
  • Humans use language as a way of signalling identity with one cultural group and difference from others.

• Language

  • Language may refer either to the human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such.
  • Yet another definition sees language as a system of communication that enables humans to cooperate.
  • Humans use language as a way of signalling identity with one cultural group and difference from others.
  • Human languages are usually referred to as natural languages, and the science of studying them falls under the purview of linguistics.
  • Human language is unique in comparison to other forms of communication, such as those used by animals, because it allows humans to produce an infinite set of utterances from a finite set of elements.

• Dimensions of Human Development

  • The dimensions of human development are divided into separate, consecutive stages of life from birth to old age.
  • The dimensions of human development are divided into separate but consecutive stages in human life.
  • Prenatal development is the process during which a human embryo gestates during pregnancy, from fertilization until birth.
  • The embryonic period in humans begins at fertilization and from birth until the first year, the child is referred to as an infant.
  • The first few weeks of embryogenesis in humans begin with the fertilizing of the egg and end with the closing of the neural tube.