midterm Flashcards
(71 cards)
1
Q
holism
A
focus on the entirety of humanity in its biological and cultural dimensions
2
Q
comparativism
A
compare and contrast data to get an idea of what all of us share, and how we are different.
3
Q
dynamism
A
Looks at how humans change through time and across geographical space.
4
Q
empirical fieldwork
A
data collected first-hand
5
Q
Four central tenets of anthropological approaches
A
holism, comparativism, dynamism, and empirical fieldwork
6
Q
the age of discovery
A
- europeans traveling and colonizing in the 1400s and coming into contact with new peoples
- ethnocentrism = justification for claiming lands for God and their countries
7
Q
ethnocentrism
A
evaluation of other cultures as inferior in regards to your own
8
Q
Lewis Henry Morgan
A
- arranged societies based on technical sophistication
- stages: savagery –> barbarism –> civilization
9
Q
Bronisław Malinowski
A
- 20th century
- started participant-observation fieldwork
- viewed culture as functional as long as it met the biological and psychological needs of its practitioners.
10
Q
Franz Boas
A
- founder of American anthropology
- cultural relativism
- understood cultural differences as relating to history and not biology
11
Q
cultural relativism
A
cultures cannot be ranked against one another
12
Q
Zora Neale Hurston
A
- studied African-American culture in the South and Haitian culture in the Caribbean
- illustrated how power and history are intertwined in the lives of people who live in a given place
- how culture can be used to justify inequality and violence against marginalized people within a culture
13
Q
Margaret Mead
A
- studied angst in Haitian teens vs American teens
- found that only American teens have a ‘rebellious’ phase
14
Q
subdisciplines of anthropology
A
cultural anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and biological anthropology
15
Q
cultural anthropology
A
- qualitative
- extensive fieldwork
- participant observation and interviewing
16
Q
ethnography
A
Analysis of a single cultural group
17
Q
ethnology
A
Comparison between different groups
18
Q
archaeology
A
- Studies the past through the analysis of material culture
- Maps the origins, movements, and cultural diversity of modern humans through time.
19
Q
linguistic anthropology
A
- Identify and record world languages
- Studies how perceptions and thoughts are shaped by language
20
Q
biological anthropology
A
- Study of hominins (and non-human primates) within the framework of evolutionary theory.
- Seeks to understand evolutionary relationships between species
21
Q
Six Subfields in Biological Anthropology
A
- primatology
- paleo-anthropology
- molecular anthropology
- bio archaeology
- forensic anthropology
- human bio
22
Q
primatology
A
non-human primates and their connection to us
23
Q
paleoanthropology
A
hominin evolution through the study of fossilized remains
24
Q
molecular anthropology
A
genetics to compare ancient and living populations
25
bio archaeology
skeletal remains and cultural artifacts
26
forensic anthropology
identify remains for law enforcement
27
key characteristics of science in anthropology
1. studies the natural world to determine how it works
2. scientific explanations must be testable / refutable
3. relies on empirical evidence
4. involves the scientific community
28
empirical evidence
based on observations derived from experience
29
assumptions of European culture prior to 1700
1. fixity of species (species do not change)
2. designed world
3. young earth hypothesis (4000 BC)
4. the great chain of being (there is a hierarchy of beings w humans at the top)
30
John Ray
- created the term "species" to describe organisms that were distinguished from others by their ability to mate and reproduce
- came up w the category "genus" for similar species
31
Linnaeus
- added terms "class" and "order" to genus
-questioned the fixity of species
32
Buffon
- first to argue that species change depending on their niche in the environment
- BUT did NOT believe that this change could lead to a NEW species
33
Lamarck
- as environments change, organisms change physiologies to adapt
- new traits get passed onto offspring (inheritance of acquired characteristics)
34
Cuvier
- suggested that biological variations in the fossil record was the result of cataclysms that wiped out entire populations (catastrophism)
- extinction argues against world of design
35
Malthus
- human populations grow exponentially if not kept in check by scarcity of resources
- competition by classes for resources
36
Lyell
- deep time: the world is millions of years old
- uniformitarianism: geological processes are the same and have always operated the same
37
natural selection
- variation
- environmental context determines whether a trait is beneficial
- those with beneficial traits are more likely to survive and reproduce
- over time, the organisms that survive all have the beneficial trait
38
Medelian inheritance
- observable traits come from "discrete particles" from each parent and are expressed in an either/or fashion
39
synonymous mutations
neutral in terms of phenotype
40
non-synonymous mutations
cause change in phenotype
41
modern synthesis
uses 1. mutation to describe variation
2. mendels model of inheritance
3. Darwins natural selection as a driving force of evolution
42
population
a geographically separated group of organisms that can breed together
43
species
biologically and behaviorally compatible organisms that are capable of producing viable/fertile offspring
44
viable offspring
offspring that can survive to adulthood
45
fertile offspring
offspring that can reproduce
46
genome
all of the genetic material for an organism
47
point mutation
one nucleotide is changed, leading to a new codon
48
epigenetics
how genes can be regulated (turned on/off) without changing the sequence
49
speciation
occurs when reproductive isolation allows two or more populations to evolve into new species
50
allopatric speciation
species are separated physically
51
sympatric speciation
populations are not physically separated but changes occur in the populations that lead to reproductive evolution
52
adaptive radiation
when populations move into a new territory and rapidly begin filling separate niches
53
genetic drift
a random change in alleles in a population from one generation to the next
54
bottlenecks
occurs when a random event drastically reduces the number of individuals in a breeding population
55
gene flow
the movement of alleles between populations within a species
56
directional selection
environmental factors favor one trait over another
57
disruptive selection
works against the middle and favors extreme traits
58
primitive
traits inherited from an ancestor
59
derived
traits recently acquired that distinguish and organism from its ancestors
60
clade
a group of species that share an evolutionary background that results in similar shared derived traits
61
grade
group of species that have general similarities but do not have a close common ancestor
62
homology
shared trait that is inherited from a common ancestor
63
analogy
shared trait that does not come from a common ancestor
64
behavior plasticity
there is a possible range of behaviors
65
folivores
- food is abundant and everywhere
- little need for competition
66
frugivores
- food is scarce and found in clumps
67
insectivores
insects are scarce and randomly distributed
68
sympatric
two species occupy the same area
69
allopatric
two species occupy different areas
70
competitive exclusion principle
two species competing for the same resource cannot occupy the same niche
71
niche partitioning
sympatric species avoid competition through different uses of the environment
