The Dialectic of Past-Present Relations

Abstract

This paper discusses two psychological processes which influence our understanding of the world, past and present: the perception of time and the social construction of knowledge. As the psychologist or archaeologist only understands behaviour through a theoretical framework, so do individuals interpret the world about them in the context of their own experiential theories about social relationships, places and people-environment relations. In other words, like the relationship between human behaviour and material culture, theory and evidence have to be seen within particular social and cultural contexts. Lowenthal argues there are three levels of historical analysis — memories, historical records and artefacts, which in turn correspond to the three academic disciplines of psychology, history and archaeology. It was suggested that the meanings of places change over time. Places, artefacts and events move from being a memory to being an historical record and archaeological site.