anthro quiz 1

anthropology

study of humanity (social science)

society

group of people that share an identity or trait

culture

sum of ideas, norms, behaviors, and technologies that define and guide existence

anthropology has 4 traits

holistic, comparative, dynamic, fieldwork

holistic

examine what is known about humans and their activities and try to integrate them into a unified perspective

comparative

look at similarities and differences between groups and consider how culture changes over time

dynamic

constantly changing and adapting biologically and culturally

fieldwork

collect data from direct contact with people, places, activities, etc

scientific method

observation, hypothesis, test, results, conclusions

interdisciplinary

various subfields

academia

manifestation of our culture

biological

focuses on variation and diversity among humans, primates, and extinct ancestors

primatologists

study closest living relatives

paleontologists

study fossils evolution

molecular anthropologists

study DNA to investigate human variation and origins of species

forensic anthropologists

study victims of crimes and provide evidence in court

archaeology

study of human cultures through remains

cultural anthropology

explores cultural diversity among living societies, study how humans organize themselves to carry out a task, show how variation arises out of learned customs and behaviors

enculturated

adapt different norms and ways of thinking based on where we were born and raised

ethnology

describes and analyzes characteristics of a culture and see why behaviors and adaptations come about

ethnography

comprises fieldwork

informants

members of the community who share info

linguistic anthropology

studies language in cultural context to examine diversity

language

system of symbols that enables communication and transmission of cultural knowledge

applied anthropology

use 1 or more of the subunits

medical

examines factors of disease/illness and explores how human populations respond to them

CRM

focus on following laws/regulations around historical preservation and heritage

aristotle

created “great chain of being” to rank species according to relatedness and assigned value, animals are higher than plants. value is based on reproduction, blood temp, skeletal system

middle ages

beliefs of animals being fixed and immutable (no change)

creationism

universe and all creatures within it were created by a diety for a divine plan, no speciation or extinction

james ussher

used the bible to calculate time of creation

carl linnaeus

taxonomy/nomenclature for genus/species, included humans

catastrophism

theory that earth and its species are shaped by natural disasters (cuvier)

thomas malthus

human population increased exponentially and food is increasing linearly

malthusian catastrophe

predicted catastrophic famine, population growth is related to resource and carrying capacity

uniformitarianism

natural and physical laws are constant and natural processes occured in the past too

transformational evolution

developed through use and lost through misuse (giraffe necks)

darwin

galapagos islands, finches - different populations specialized in environments, beak size and shape for food (adaptive radiation)

natural selection

variation, heredity, fitness, those with certain traits are more suited for certain environments

pangenesis

each parent made multiple genetic “particles” that reflected their unique traits, blend to make offspring

mandelian inheritance

offspring get a copy from both parents, allele - all possible forms a gene can take, segregation - one from each parent, assortment - each gene pair separated independently during meiosis

genetics

study of biological heredity

nuclear DNA

2 genome copies, helix, inherited from both parents, 3 billion bps, recombines

mitochondrial DNA

get form mother, circular, 16.5 bps, not recombinant

genome

all genetic info, 3.3 billion bps, codes for 20,000 genes

mutation

source of new variation, beneficial, deleterious, or neutral

gene flow

genetic admixture, more gene flow = increased population and decreased variation, cline of variation - gradual changes mapped across space (blood types)

genetic drift

randomness in allele frequencies that aren’t adaptive and either increase or decrease variation (most severe in a smaller population)

founder effect

alleles lost or fixed in relation to parent population

bottleneck

breeding population decreases

stabilizing

average trait is favored

directional

favors one extreme

disruptive

favors both extremes, selects against the average