Cannibalism?

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UhOh

UhOh

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Anybody know anything about cannibalism? If it seems like a strange question to you, know that it's strange to me too. I'd be interested to know if this is even a topic of investigation/consideration among scholars. Any information would be cool.
 
UhOh said:
Anybody know anything about cannibalism? If it seems like a strange question to you, know that it's strange to me too. I'd be interested to know if this is even a topic of investigation/consideration among scholars. Any information would be cool.
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Are you looking at cannibalism from a psychological point-of-view, such a psychodynamic? In theory or behavior? Or are you looking at it from an anthropological viewpoint? There are several documentaries about cannibalism that include cases such as the Chilean (?) soccer team (from which the movie "Alive"was based) or the ordeal in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains (from which the movie "Ravenous"was based). Also, there are certain tribes that believe if you consume the flesh of loved ones you will honor them and bring peace to their souls (my source is one of those abovementioned documentaries). And there are the tribes that believe the parts from individuals with albinism have certain medicinal powers.

I believe cannibalism is traditionally approached from cultural and anthropological traditions, not so much psychological. I could not imagine an IRB approving such investigation unless you were already involved in those fields of research. In order to even approach it from a psychological viewpoint, you would have to be fairly knowledgeable and creative in terms of Freud's psychosexual developmental stages and could discuss oral issues, but those are figurative, not literal.

I suppose it is such a compelling act that it elicits gross fascination from most, but I suppose actual incidents of cannibalism in ‘industrialized"nations are few and far between and subsequently highly sensationalized.

I share a certain bit of morbidity which is why I'm responding. But, by the looks of it, it seems to be an unpopular topic on the psych forum. If cannibalism is your passion for investigation, find another way to approach it that is a little more palatable (pun intended) to the scientific community. 😎
 
Hi there,

I highly recommend you look into the works of Ernest Becker. He was trained as an anthropologist, but was actually very multidisciplinary, he's amazing. Check out his three seminal works:

The birth and death of meaning, the Denial of death, and Escape from evil

He draws heavily on freudian and neo-freudian theory, in particular Otto Rank, and offers some tremendous insights into the deepest recesses of why we ultimately do what we do. The denial of death won the Pulitzer Prize.
 
Am I the only one who is deeply concerned with UhOh's question about cannibalism? A few longtime members have recently mysteriously disappeared, that's all I'm saying.
 
Haha y'all are awesome! Thanks so much for the info. I thought it was certainly a unique, but interesting question - a student asked me if I knew anything about cannibalism. I've never before considered it but thought it was neat so wanted to check it out. Also, for the knowledge base, I did some research myself & apparently cannibalism is associated with schizophrenia! Craazy (Although I couldn't get access to the articles & conclusiveness of the data is potentially questionable).
 
UhOh said:
Anybody know anything about cannibalism? If it seems like a strange question to you, know that it's strange to me too. I'd be interested to know if this is even a topic of investigation/consideration among scholars. Any information would be cool.
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I love humans.

They taste great! 😀
 
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