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Research Title:
A Study of Human Learned Behavior Based on Fieldwork Among Hunter-Gatherers
Research Organization:
Team Leader
- Hideaki Terashima,
Professor, Anthropology, Faculty of Sciences and Humanities, Kobe Gakuin University
Co-investigators
- Tadashi Koyama,
Professor, Developmental Psychology, Faculty of Sciences and Humanities, Kobe Gakuin University
- Sachiko Kubota,
Professor, Cultural Anthropology, Graduate School of Intercultural Studies, Kobe University
- Keiichi Ohmura,
Associate Professor, Cultural Anthropology, Graduate School of Language and Culture, Osaka University
- Nobutaka Kamei,
Associate Professor, Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Human Science, Osaka International University
- Eiko Yamagami,
Lecturer, Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Sciences and Humanities, Kobe Gakuin University
- Juko Ando,
Professor, Educational Psychology, Department of Humanities and Social Science, Faculty of Letters, Keio University
- Mitsuo Ichikawa,
Ecological Anthropology, Emeritus Professor of Kyoto University
- Akira Takada,
Associate Professor, Ecological Anthropology, Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University
- Hitoshige Hayaki,
Professor, Primatology, Faculty of Sciences and Humanities, Kobe Gakuin University
- Koji Hayashi,
Project research fellow, Faculty of Sciences and Humanities, Kobe Gakuin University
Overseas Collaborators
- Barry S. Hewlett, Professor, Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Vancouver, USA
- Bonnie Hewlett, Professor, Anthropology, Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Vancouver, USA
- Yasmine Musharbash, Lecturer, Anthropology, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney, Australia
Invited Researchers
- Taro Yamauchi, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University
Research Objectives
A02 will study the learning behavior of modern humans, drawing on research on hunter-gatherer children and their daily learning activities. Particularly we will focus on play groups of children so as to analyze and understand the characteristics of human learning practice. In collaboration with developmental psychology, ethnographic fieldwork and experimental research will be conducted among children of various present day hunter-gatherers or ex-hunter-gatherers.
Hunter-gatherer life and children are the two main foci of our research; the former has been the fundamental subsistence mode throughout human evolution, and an understanding of the basic learning characteristics of modern humans in that life mode is necessary. It is also necessary to concentrate on the learning behavior of children and children's play groups since childhood is the most active period for learning, and play groups were the most common basic learning environment until the introduction of modern school education.
Finally, within a theoretical framework, we will work to obtain an evolutional perspective on the development of cognitive abilities and on the characteristics of learning behavior among Homo sapiens, two factors of humans' rapid social and cultural evolution.
Research Methods
The research will consist of the following activities:
(1) Observation of children's activities in play groups among hunter-gatherer societies to study the following phenomena:
① activities of children in play groups
② process of learning technology, craftsmanship and knowledge
③ innovation of new traditions and their diffusion among contemporary generations
④ relationship between teaching and learning behavior
(2) A comparative study, in collaboration with developmental psychology, of children in hunter-gatherer societies and modernized societies, for an understanding of the following items:
① characteristics of learning behavior including creativity in hunter-gatherer societies.
② characteristics of development and learning in hunter-gatherer societies.
③ influences of the hunter-gatherer environment on learning behavior, and development of cognitive abilities.
(3) A broad comparative study of ethnographic literature on hunter-gatherers living in various natural and social environments, so as to elucidate the following items:
① range of variation in life mode and learning behavior.
② changes in play and play groups among children.
③ relationships between environmental changes and the appearance of creativity.
(4) A theoretical study bringing together relevant findings of related disciplines such as primatology and cognitive sciences, to achieve the following:
① a theoretical perspective on the evolution of learning abilities in the course of human evolution.
② a basis for discussion of the differences in learning abilities between Neanderthal and Homo sapiens.
Research proposal for 2010
[Research objectives]
(1) A preliminary study of the general conditions for fieldwork will be conducted in each related field in preparation for intensive fieldwork.
(2) Theoretical frameworks will be established by examining basic concepts, methodology, and shared research aims.
(3) A specific research plan for field surveys in cooperation with development psychology will be examined.
(4) "Project for a theoretical perspective concerning play and the evolution of human learning behavior" will begin in the form of interdisciplinary workshops.
[Research methods]
(1) Local academic institutes and governments will be visited to discuss the research plan and to establish cooperative relationships. Along with the gathering information on children's play, ethnobotanical and ethnozoological information will also be collected towards an understanding of the transmission of traditional knowledge and innovation for new knowledge.
(2) In workshops on the "Project for a theoretical perspective concerning play and the evolution of human learning behavior" the following topics and items will be examined:
- concepts of play,
- a classification of play,
- the significance of comparative studies of play,
- relationships between play and actual subsistence activities (e.g. play hunting, play gathering),
- the meaning of creativity and artistic motivation in forms such as song and dance,
- the evolution of play from that of non-human primates to that of modern humans.
(3) To study the appearance of creativity during the development of children, psychological experiments will be contrived modifying popular creativity tests such as those devised by Guilford. Tentative experiments on creativity in Japanese children will be conducted.
(4)Literature will be collected on learning behavior and play and children's activities in hunter-gatherer societies, and also on changes in the natural and social environments of hunter-gatherers.
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