Anthro exam

Confirmation bias

Favouring of evidence confirming pre-existing ideas

Skepticism

Doubt as to the truth of something

Tolerance for uncertainty

Acknowledgement of lack of sufficient information to support a claim

Everything is getting worse

Things are leaning towards improvement

There is a stark divide between the rich and the poor

There is one big mix of those falling in between

Rich countries allow for social equity

Social equity encourages wealth in a country

Sharks are dangerous

Humans have a tendency to exaggerate fears and big, scary problems are likely less scary (or at least more nuanced) than they initially appear

Natural selection

Mechanism of evolution of species evolving as adaptations survive; traits better suited for survival are passed down through offspring

Collective learning

Ability of a species to retain more information by one generation than is lost by the next generation

Carl Linnaeus

Father of modern taxonomy, classification of species due to overwhelming amount of data

Charles Darwin

*Origin of the Species*, credited for theory of evolution and natural selection

Herbert Spencer

Coined “survival of the fittest

no. mass exctinction events in world

5

Humans’ relation to primates

Cousins of primates, not direct descendants

Australopethicus afarensis

* Lucy
* Strong arms, curved fingers (climbing trees)
* Male heigh: 4’11” female height: 3’5”
* Ape-like face
* Eastern Africa
* Gestures

Homo habilis

* Handy man
* Stone tools Ethiopia
* Eastern Africa

Homo erectus

* “Upright man”
* First to migrate out of Africa

Homo neanderthalensis

* Coexisted with humans, 2% humans have neanderthal DNA

Homo floriensis

* Hobbit
* Dwarfed human
* Stone tools, fires, hunted elephants

Denisovians

* Interbred with humans and neanderthals
* Proof through DNA evidence and partial fossil evidence

Name 4 failures of human evolution

* Eyesight has blindspots due to reitna configuration and commonly bad
* Eat and breathe through the same hole
* Two of the four sinuses are meant to drain upward against gravity
* Too many molars in mouth need dremoval through surgery (wisdom teeth)

B.O.S.S.++

Bipedalism

Opposable thumbs

Stereoscopic vision (3D, 180°)

Speech

Brain

Bossed around (depdendant on each other for first 18-20 years + need socialization)

Phrenology

Studying of shape + size + crevices of cranium to determine character + abilities

Hyperthymesia

Inability to forget

Inductive reasoning

Specific to general

Deductive reasoning

General to specific

Belief perseverance

Sticking with a belief, ignoring proof of the contrary

Framing

How issue is posed/presented can significantly affect other party’s decision/judgement

Hippocampus

Central to learning and memory, temporal lobe, experiment with H.M.,

Trail and error

Repeated, varied attempts which are continued until success

Algorithms

Logical, methodical, step by step

Heuristics

Mental shortcuts, more error-prone, based on experience

Targetted forgetting

Clear out random, useless, outdated, or contradictory information; update our mental models of the world

Passive oblivescence

Connections in our brains weaken over time

Motivated forgetting

Intentionally suppressing unpleasant memories

Recall

Recall what was learnt earlier

Relearning

Assessed amount of time saved when learning material again

Recognition

Identify items previously learned

Mnemonics

Memory aids (visualization/organizational guides)

Chunking

Organizing items into familiar, manageable units

Shallow reasoning

Remember information at superficial level

Deep processing

Remember information based on engaging with it at deeper level

Prjective psychological tests

Ink blot, presented with information and react to it is assessed

Personality trait inventories

Big 5 personality traits, innate traits

Big five personality traits

Openness

Conscientousness

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Neuroticism

Norm

Standrad/expectation determining + regulating appropriate behaviour within a culture

Folkway

Everyday behviours learned and shared by social groups, morally insignificant, minimal consequences to breaking them

More

Norms of morality, severe punishment or social sanctions if broken

Taboo

Forbidden, prohibited, considered unacceptable, grounded in morality, linked to religion or culture, if broken: extreme digust or even expulsion from group

Subculture

Group within larger cutlure sharing specific identity

Counterculture

Beliefs, values, norms run counter to mainstream culture

Anthropological linguist

Study of language from evolutionary perspective

Broca’s area

* Speech production
* Facial neuron control
* Language processing
* Frontal lobe

Babbling

Meaningless sounds later used in productive language

Telegraphic

Unimportant words left out

Overgeneralization

Rule of speech incorrectly applied to all circumstances

Aphasia

Brain injury affecitng ability to say words

Recursion

Structures nested inside each other, thought to be only shared principle until 2005

Androcentric language

Language using male as default

AAVE

Recognized as its own language

Great Apes language

Began as gestures, communication not language

Humans language

Open-ended, express complex and abstract ideas, discrete

Whorfian hypothesis

Language affects our thinking as its own way of sorting the world into categories

Active parts of language

Speaking + writing

Passive parts of language

Listeing + reading

Physical requirements for speech

* Brain growth
* Larynx
* Broca’s area

No. of distinct languages

7000

Roles of nonverbal communication

* Repetition
* Contradiction
* Complementing
* Substitution
* Accenting

Spitting

Masai of Kenya, sign of affection

Thumbs up

Rude in Iran

OK sign

Japan relates to money

Men hold hands and kiss each other

Arab world sign of greeting

Compound bilingual

Two linguist codes simultaneously as person begins to process the world around them

Coordinate bilingual

Working with two sets of concepts in tandem

Subordinate bilingual

Learn second language filtering through primary language

Benefits of bilingualism

* Higher density of grey matter
* Help delay onset of diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia
* Healthy, complex, and engaged brain

Critical period hypothesis

Children learn second language easier because developing brain has more plasticity

* Use both hemispheres
* Learn it more holistically, grasping social and emotional contexts

Nature

Heredity’s impact on behavioural patters

Nurture

Environment’s impact on behavioural patters

Tabula rasa

Mind begins as a blank slate

Cultural capital

Non-financial assets to succed in the world from primary socialization

Anticipatory socialization

Process where people learn to take on values and standards of the groups they plan to join

Acclimation adjustments

How the human body reacts to change in environment

Behavioural adjustments

People forced to adjust to environment

Epigenetics

External factors influence genes with turning gene markers on/off

Total institution

Closed social system controlling all aspects of a person’s life in order to resocialize them

Resocialization

Carefully controlled/regulated environment to encourage development of new set of norms, values, beliefs

Latent vulnerability

Early absuive or neglectful experiences with carers leave children at greater risk of experiencing mental health problems in future

Social thinning

Cycle of deteriorating relationships due to latent vulnerability

Intergenerational trauma

Repeating a cycle of generational trauma; burden of breaking the cycle; biological changes to DNA; addiction issues; mental health issues

Pigeon ping pong experiment

Demonstration of nurture

ID

“I want”

EGO

“I will”

SUPER-EGO

“I should”

Piaget

Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

Sensorimotor

Learn about world through sense

Preoperational

Use language, begin to ask questions about world, use roleplay and fantasy

Concrete operational

Take in other perspective, learn trial and error

Formal operational

Abstract, logic, and critical thinking

Kohlberg

Preconventional, conventional, postconventional