What is human nature? Should animals have human rights? These
are some of the first questions Sally Gouzoules asks the students
in her freshman seminar, “Primate Origins of Human Nature.”
Everyone has an opinion, and the fear of speaking up in class quickly
dissipates.
“This is a topic they can all get into pretty much immediately
because they are all people,” said Gouzoules, lecturer in
anthropology, neuroscience and behavioral biology. “We quickly
get over that hump of a seminar—where it’s difficult
to feel comfortable talking and engaging with one another—because
they all feel like they are on common ground. No one is more of
an expert than anyone else.”
The topic, as well as Gouzoules’ style of teaching, seems
a perfect match for the freshman seminar format. She primes the
conversational pump by requiring students to post comments about
the readings on LearnLink. “They have begun to engage each
other before we even get into the class,” Gouzoules said.
“But they often say, ‘I want to pursue this more in
class,’ so we get in there and they go at it.”
For many it is the first time they have been exposed to the study
of primate behavior (primatology) and the notion that it can hold
lessons about the evolution of human nature. The course readings
lay out a historical perspective of primatology, beginning with
The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris. The book describes a model
of human evolution that focuses primarily on male activities (such
as hunting) as the primary stimulus for the development of the human
brain.
“It’s a good example of a book that is very culturally
situated,” Gouzoules said, “because the culture in which
this was written was the early 1960s. So they can look back now
and see how that is reflected in the portrayal of early hominid
societies.”
A counter perspective is discussed in the next book: Lucy’s
Legacy: Sex and Intelligence in Evolution, by Alison Jolly.
Arguing from a more female perspective, Jolly discusses the influence
of female activities on hominid evolution. The approach takes into
account “not just hunting, but the need to have cooperative
behavior to share child-rearing duties while others are gathering,”
Gouzoules explained.
Thus, beyond the simple facts of primate behavior, students are
exposed to tough and possibly unresolvable questions of doing science
in this field: Do men and women scientists view things differently?
Will scientists always be influenced by their culture?
Human beings’ aggressive nature also is a hot class topic.
One text, Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence
by Richard Wrangham and Dale Peterson, cautions that the male tendency
toward aggression has its roots in early hominids and tracks the
trait to modern humans. Gouzoules tied this perspective to current
events by assigning a writing project in which students discussed
this view with respect to the current and volatile relations between
the United States and Iraq.
It’s not an easy course; there are about 150 pages of reading
a week plus five writing assignments and a final paper. “Although
the class is probably my most intense, I also have fun,” said
freshman Hanie Elfenbein. “This class has become my favorite.”
“Actually having the intellectual material to engage is the
critical feature with these seminars,” Gouzoules said, adding
that accessible topics for freshman seminars spark the interest
of the students and pull them deeper into discussions. “This
lets them reframe their individual experiences into a broader more
scientific, empirical framework.”
Of the students themselves, Gouzoules bragged, “They are just
fabulous. They come into it so eager for intellectual engagement.
“They sit down at that table the first day and are ready to
be in college,” she said. “The level of enthusiasm for
intellectual engagement is just marvelous.”
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