Microhistory Culture and behavior

The following example essay on “Microhistory Culture and behavior” tells about a trend in historical science that deals with the consideration of small areas and populations of the past in order to study the daily life and mentality of a person traditionally lost in history.

Microhistory is a study of a smaller historical event, community, or an individual CITATION Gin93 l 1033 (Ginzburg, Tedeschi, & Tedeschi, 1993). Ginzburg et al. CITATION Gin93 n t l 1033 (1993) also emphasized that the study of microhistory may help organize the narration of the larger history.

Also, it is determined to unravel new connections and meaning in the already wider totality of history through studying the lives of the people within its sum CITATION Ren14 l 1033 (Renders, De Haan, & Hamilton, 2014). Microhistory patches holes in social history. Thus, not only enables understanding of how individuals interact with one another, but also affect the broader economic, demographic, and social structures (and vice versa) CITATION App19 l 1033 (Appuhn, 2019) .

According to CITATION Duf19 l 1033 (Dufour, 2019) culture is defined as shared ideas, norms, and values across the same society.

Ideas encompasses the beliefs, customs, and art; while norms, on the other hand, are the behaviors society expect from us individuals  some examples are: eating with your mouth closed or pagmamano(a show of respect to the elderly); And finally, the countrys history, cuisine, literature, language, religion, and educational system are grouped as the values of a specific culture.

Moreover, our culture constitutes how we behave. And according to Donald CITATION Don02 n t l 1033 (2002), It shows that cultures own a direct path into our brains, affecting how we behave and interact with other people.

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For the same reason, we can enforce that our past behavior or experiences establish how we act (may it be expression or inhibition of specific actions) in the future. These behaviors, according to Ouellette CITATION Oue98 n t l 1033 (1998), are classified as unconscious and conscious behaviors. Unconscious behavior or she calls habitual behavior, creates actions that become automatic, which can be performed with other activities allocating minimal focal attention.

Ouellette also cited examples such as: Unconsciously choose which hand to receive the telephone, or which greeting to use for the person on the other side of the receiver. Although, unconscious behavior might be less important in the creation of experiences that a person would recall in the sum of his lifes history since most learned behavior requires little to no thought.

In contrast, conscious behavior is acted and requires controlled processing or a long time to think CITATION Oue98 l 1033 (Ouellette, 1998) when interacting with other people. It implies that our conscious behavior is adjusted upon other peoples behavior and thought, and our own actions are affected by other peoples experience (and vice versa).

Thus, our past experiences are formed through past behavior or experiences that are acted consciously. In turn, it can either be shared for the benefit of other people or inhibited from them, which specifically affects the researchers gathered data.

Memory and recollection of past experiences

Memory, in psychological definition is described as the encoding, storage, and retrieval in the human mind of past experiences CITATION Aug19 l 1033 (Encyclopedia Brittanica, 2019) or as defined by Atkinson CITATION Atk11 n t l 1033 (1911), it is [t]he mental process which involves the remembrance, recollection, or representation of a sensation, perception, mental image, thought, or idea previously experienced.

There are three processes of memory according to Brian Becker: sensory register, short-term memory, and long-term memory CITATION Les19 l 1033 (Lesley University, 2019). First, is sensory register the brain gathers information passively through visual and auditory cues in the environment; second, is the short-term memory that enables individuals to retain information temporarily for repetition; third, is the long-term memory, where memory is indefinitely stored for future use and recollection CITATION Les19 l 1033 (Lesley University, 2019). That being said, when we talk about memory, long-term memory is the one solely emphasized.

However, not all the time the long-term memory is reliable. Some memories are forgotten, distorted, or recollections are difficult to forget CITATION Sha99 l 1033 (Shachter, 1999). He also emphasized that some memories are forgotten over time, or absentminded in a specific task entails inattentive or shallow processing that contributes to weak memories, or stressful situations come by and memories are blocked.

On the other hand, the memories that are not forgotten might become distorted through misattribution, or suggestions from new events or questions might tamper with the old memory, or memories are modified to satisfy our current knowledge and beliefs. The farther end, however, we might want to forget memories but we can not. Consequently, these are the cases that the researcher must acknowledge in gathering his data and writing from it.

Education and access to information

Our experiences in life are determined by our knowledge of the environment and society. It is emphasized, that early onset in education and learning has a long-term influence on a childs cognitive abilities, personality, emotions, and social relationships CITATION Pei01 l 1033 (Peisner?Feinberg, et al., 2001).

According to Economic and Social Research Council CITATION Eco14 n t l 1033 (2014), higher educational attainment provides range of positive outcome including better health and wellbeing, higher social trust, greater political interest, lower political cynicism, and less hostile to [people with different cultures] Furthermore, people with higher education are healthier providing benefits for the health of the children CITATION Cle14 l 1033 (Cleveland, 2014). Education also shapes our social identity, associating and creating relationships with other people CITATION Eco14 l 1033 (Economic and Social Research Council, 2014). And education promotes cultural awareness to reflect not only on our culture but also to others as well.

Stages of Development

The stages of psychosocial development according to Erickson CITATION Eri97 n t l 1033 (1997) are:

• Infancy (under 2 years),
• Toddlerhood (2-4 years),
• Early Childhood (5–8 years),
• Middle Childhood (9-12 years),
• Adolescence (13-19 years),
• Early Adulthood (20-39 years),
• Adulthood (40-59 years),
• Late Adulthood (60 years and above).

1. Infancy (under 2 years) calls for hope as a virtue and having a significant relationship with the mother. There is also a conflict of trust and mistrust from the parents. Nurturing the basic needs of an infant creates trust and learns who they can depend on. While neglecting the childs need creates mistrust in the people and the environment.
2. Toddlerhood (2-4 years) has the virtue of will. It creates a significant relationship with the parents and can do simple tasks such as clothing and going to the bathroom with little to no help with other people.
3. Early Childhood (58 years) has the virtue of purpose. It creates a significant relationship with the family. At this stage, children want to begin and finish their purpose. They create their own sense of desire and judgment. If these judgments are encouraged, children create an initiative. If not, they create guilt from what they have done.
4. Middle Childhood (9-12 years) has the virtue of competence. Children become more competitive. They become aware of themselves as an individual. Thus, they are able to master reading, writing, telling time.
5. Adolescence (13-19 years) has the virtue of fidelity. The child develops a sense of sexual identity. Teenagers battle identity and role confusion, thinking they must achieve identity in occupation, gender roles, politics, and, in some cultures, religion.
6. Early Adulthood (20-39 years) is the search for an intimate relationship or isolation from it. We begin to have a long-term commitment to others or isolate ourselves.
7. Adulthood (40-59 years) is the time where individuals give back contributions to society. Raising a family and a sense of productivity and results.
8. Late Adulthood (60 years and above) is where we form assessments of our past work. Thinking whether we have accomplished what we wanted or not.

These stages will be essential for the researcher in the analysis and the discussion of his data.