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Suffering from "psychological problems" isn't a prerequisite for mounting human skulls on stakes. It would only be true in a society where it goes against the c

Suffering from "psychological problems" isn't a prerequisite for mounting human skulls on stakes. It would only be true in a society where it goes against the cultural norms - similar to how eating an animal would be a sign of mental distress in a hypothetical vegan culture of the year 3,000, but certainly not in most of today's world. It's possible that those people indeed had "deep psychological problems" (though you have presented no evidence) - but the connection you are making isn't there.

staunch 9y ago
Nothing new under the sun: post-traumatic stress disorders in the ancient world. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25577928/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25577928/ This paper provides evidence that ancient people also suffered from PTSD, disproving your argument that cultural norms are capable of overriding human biology and psychology.
- creep 9y ago
  This paper is about PTSD occurring from war. Unless you can provide sources indicating that PTSD and other psychological perturbations resulting from childhood trauma are widespread in ancient societies, your evidence is irrelevant to the discussion. Also your argument that human biology and psychology override social norms is unfounded. That is context-dependent, and cultural norms are the case specifically to influence biology and psychology! For example, what we eat and how we eat is directly related to cultural norms, and what we eat directly influences our biology. Over the course of time, our bodies compensate and adapt to our eating patterns as a society, influencing both prevalence and development of disease, as well as how we respond psychologically to cultural changes in diet. The dynamic between culture, psychology, and biology is extremely complex, and it cannot be definitively stated that the body wins over the mind, in any case. edit: a more specific example of the kind of dynamic I'm referring to would be restrictive eating disorders. Eating is both a psychological and biological response. We eat because we nourish our bodies, our bodies let us know when we need to eat by sending signals to our brain, which we interpret as a kind of discomfort or pain. The pain, psychologically, distresses us even apart from the physical sensation. However, due to cultural developments in the way we view bodies, many people completely override their biological pain response in order to achieve what they perceive to be a cultural norm. You may say this proves your deducted result, but I would argue that in many ways the cultural norm can be perceived to encourage eating disorders. Yet, somehow, those with restrictive eating disorders are still considered perturbed. The relationship is complex. Up until very recently it has been completely normal for models and entertainers to employ very restrictive and unhealthy regimens for their bodies. It is the culture in that aspect of society to do so. In this way, psychology and biology override social norms, but simultaneously social norms are overriding biology and psychology. How would you classify this case based upon your current argument?

staunch 9y ago

Nothing new under the sun: post-traumatic stress disorders in the ancient world. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25577928/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25577928/ This paper provides evidence that ancient people also suffered from PTSD, disproving your argument that cultural norms are capable of overriding human biology and psychology.

creep 9y ago
This paper is about PTSD occurring from war. Unless you can provide sources indicating that PTSD and other psychological perturbations resulting from childhood trauma are widespread in ancient societies, your evidence is irrelevant to the discussion. Also your argument that human biology and psychology override social norms is unfounded. That is context-dependent, and cultural norms are the case specifically to influence biology and psychology! For example, what we eat and how we eat is directly related to cultural norms, and what we eat directly influences our biology. Over the course of time, our bodies compensate and adapt to our eating patterns as a society, influencing both prevalence and development of disease, as well as how we respond psychologically to cultural changes in diet. The dynamic between culture, psychology, and biology is extremely complex, and it cannot be definitively stated that the body wins over the mind, in any case. edit: a more specific example of the kind of dynamic I'm referring to would be restrictive eating disorders. Eating is both a psychological and biological response. We eat because we nourish our bodies, our bodies let us know when we need to eat by sending signals to our brain, which we interpret as a kind of discomfort or pain. The pain, psychologically, distresses us even apart from the physical sensation. However, due to cultural developments in the way we view bodies, many people completely override their biological pain response in order to achieve what they perceive to be a cultural norm. You may say this proves your deducted result, but I would argue that in many ways the cultural norm can be perceived to encourage eating disorders. Yet, somehow, those with restrictive eating disorders are still considered perturbed. The relationship is complex. Up until very recently it has been completely normal for models and entertainers to employ very restrictive and unhealthy regimens for their bodies. It is the culture in that aspect of society to do so. In this way, psychology and biology override social norms, but simultaneously social norms are overriding biology and psychology. How would you classify this case based upon your current argument?