This Week’s Textbook Material Summary:
Psychology: The mind’s mental way of processing information, in both the cognitive and emotional way (pg. 219)
Cognition: The conscious thinking process – in-taking outside information, reflecting on it, making a plan of action, and undergoing the action is cognition in a Social Work perspective (pg. 219)
Emotion: State of emotion due to outside stimulus, change of how the body feels, and actions that dictate how one feels (pg. 219)
The main take-aways from this week’s chapter, is the difference between Cognition & Emotion, the numerous theories that coincide within Cognition and Emotion respectively, the relation of Moral Development to this very topic, how a person’s psychological issues stem from either/both Cognition & Emotion, and what The Self is. These various topics will be further discussed by our classmates who are making a blog from these very topics, and I suggest to read their blogs to learn more in depth about what these topics present! This blog however, will follow these topics along with their brief description, but will be relevant to how Indigenous cultures may view these discussions.
Hutchison, E. D., & Charlesworth, L. W. (2018). Dimensions of Human Behavior: Person and environment. SAGE.
Native Cognition Beliefs:
In the textbook, Theories of Cognition describes how consciousness/awareness is the root of almost all emotions and behavior of people (pg. 230).
The most common belief within nearly all Indigenous cultures, is that people, food, plants, “inanimate” objects, and all things were made from a spiritual entity, such as: The Creator, Ellam Yua (The World’s Spirit in Central Yup’ik), or God, and more.
Another most common belief, is the way of respecting all things and beings, due to the belief that all things have a spirit, otherwise known as Animism.
The Way of Life, such as Yuuyaraq (Sets of rules on how to behave in Central Yup’ik) and Inuusiq (“Our Way of Life” – Reclamation of culture and language in Inupiaq), among other cultures, have a set of rules to follow that was passed down from generation to generation. These rules depict on how to behave in order to thrive, persist, and continue to survive as a culture as well as a human being.
In my Central Yup’ik culture, it is believed that if a child seems to be aware of their surroundings, they will grow up to be good people. It’s being conscious and aware of your surroundings that make up for how to be a good person. To be aware is to know how to behave, and to know how to behave, one will find themselves to have a prosperous way of life, because they would be aware enough to be respectful of their surroundings and to themselves.
Indigenous Emotion Beliefs:
The Theories of Emotion according to the textbook, discusses where and why emotion plays a key role in human life, from either physiology (body’s way of keeping balance of how one feels), psychology, and how to react in society (pg. 235).
In most Indigenous cultures, it is a belief of how one behaves in front of a child on how to handle stressful situations, will influence the child to behave the same way when they come across similar stressful situations. In other words, emotions are things that people are born with, but how to harness these emotions and how to properly use them will dictate how far in life one will go.
To learn more about Emotions in Indigenous cultures, I called my grandmother who is 66, an about-to-be retired Elementary school teacher this year, who has lived in Napaskiak all of her life. She had witnessed the change of behavior among Yup’ik children in the 38 years she was teaching, due to the effects of Colonialism and Historical Trauma. Children 30 years ago, according to her, knew how to behave correctly when they face frustrations, but today, she had told me that one of her students didn’t know how to control his anger, so he repeatedly punched the glass window.
The key to survival as a human being, is to be aware and to know how to make decisions in life that are meant to nurture oneself and one’s surroundings. The lack of teaching from parents and family members, lack of consciousness/awareness, and lack of sympathy will cause a person to drive to depression, anxiety, and misbehavior. The only way these painful emotions and feelings can be subdued, is to connect oneself to one’s surroundings and culture, grounding the entity of the body to the Universe, since all things are connected in the Indigenous perspective.
The Self:
The concept of Self, is defined in many different varieties by different societal groups, though the Self is seen to be the soul, a person of many opportunities, an organizing activity, an aware being, a shared spiritual being, and just a being experiencing being (pg. 249).
In most Indigenous cultures, Native people believe to be part of the Universe, as all things are connected, and so are we. One common saying that is known by many, is how a person is made up of the same thing as the clouds, berries, plants, animals, the stars, and all things on Earth and the Earth itself, because all things were made by the same being or by The Creator. The most common saying among all people in general, is that we are just the Universe experiencing itself.
Indigenous activist, Nixiwaka Yawanawa, hosted a TedTalk that explained the relationship between people and their environment best. He explained that the Indigenous people are the forest, the forest is their body, the forest means life, the forest is everything (00:15:05). To lose access and free will to live and subsist from the forest, is to lose their culture and their way of life.
In conclusion, all of who we are as people, is connected to The Universe in all ways, especially the surroundings we grew up in. What we have seen, lived through, and learned from parents and teachers of life, will influence a person on how to behave in society. Being aware and learning how to be a person, will push a person’s life into something positive and become good to the world and to oneself.