Anthropology and Evolutionary Biology Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards generated from lecture notes on biological anthropology, genetics, evolutionary theory, and human social patterns.

Allele

One of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome.

Allen's rule

The rule stating that animals in cold climates have short appendages.

Archaeology

The study of human history and prehistory through excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains.

Artificial selection

The process where humans choose plants and animals they want to reproduce to get desired traits.

Balanced polymorphism

Selection against either homozygous genotype.

Bergmann’s rule

The rule stating that animals in colder climates are bigger.

Biological/Physical Anthropology

The subfield of anthropology that studies human evolution, human biological variation, and non-human primates from an evolutionary and biosocial perspective.

Bottleneck

The process of going from a large number of individuals to a small number, hypothesized to be caused by severe climate changes.

Capitalism

An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.

Catastrophism

The theory that changes in the earth's crust during geological history have resulted chiefly from sudden violent and unusual events.

Cline

A gradual, continuous change in a specific physical or genetic trait of a species across a geographic area.

Competition

A dynamic, culturally shaped social process where individuals or groups strive for goals under shared rules, generating unpredictable outcomes that reshape relationships and social order.

Cultural/Social Anthropology

The study of human societies, cultural behaviors, and how people make sense of the world around them.

Cuvier

Classifier who categorized humans into a rigid racial hierarchy based on anatomical and cranial measurements.

Darwin

Scientist who placed human physical origins within a natural, common-descent framework based on natural selection and survival of the fittest.

Dominant allele

An allele that determines phenotype if an individual possesses 1 or 2 copies.

Recessive allele

An allele that determines a different phenotype only if an individual receives two copies.

Eclectic

Borrowing and contributing to the theoretical development of biological or social sciences.

Endogamy

The practice of marrying within a group.

Exogamy

The practice of marrying outside a group.

Ethnography

Description of living groups based on field introduction.

Ethnology

A subfield of social and cultural anthropology focusing on the study of living groups through extensive fieldwork.

Fitness

The ability of an organism to leave offspring, judged relative to other individuals in the environment.

Differential reproductive success

The process driving natural selection when some individuals in a population leave more surviving offspring than others.

Fixity of species

The view holding that species were created at the same time and have never changed.

Mutability of species

The view challenging the fixity of species on the basis that many species look alike and change over time to adapt to environmental relations.

Founder effect

A loss of genetic variety that happens when a small group leaves a large population to start a new, isolated group.

Galapagos finches

Birds famous for adaptive radiation, where one ancestral species rapidly evolved into many distinct forms.

Genes

Sequences of DNA that code for traits.

Genetic drift

A completely random process involving changes in allele frequencies.

Genotype

Genetic make-up consisting of two sets of chromosomes, one from each parent.

Heredity

The passing on of physical or mental characteristics generally from one generation to another.

Heterozygous

Having 1 copy of each allele.

Homozygous

Having 2 copies of the same allele.

Holistic

An anthropological approach that studies the human relationship with their environment.

Human Evolutionary Ecology (HEE)

The study of ecological determinants of human behavior and evolution.

Incest taboo

A human universal prohibiting marriage and sexual relations between parents and offspring, or full brothers and sisters.

Kin selection

An evolutionary process where natural selection favors behaviors that help the survival and reproduction of genetic relatives, even at a personal cost to the individual.

Lactose tolerance

The ability to digest sugar in milk.

Law of superposition

The principle that the bottommost layer of strata is the earliest, and the latest is the top layer.

Linguistic Anthropology

The analysis of languages, many of which are rapidly disappearing.

Lyell

Geologist who argued that Earth's landscape was formed by slow, gradual, and continuous natural processes rather than sudden supernatural catastrophes.

Malthus

Observer who noted that human populations grow exponentially (geometrically), while food production only increases linearly (arithmetically).

Mate guarding

A behavior that is a major cause of spousal violence and homicide, occurring when men react to scenarios of sexual infidelity by their mate.

Monogamy

The practice or state of having a sexual relationship with only one partner at a time.

Natural selection

The process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.

Opportunity cost

The cost of not doing an alternative activity.

Optimal Foraging Theory (OFT)

The theory that humans may have a universal evolved tendency to choose economic alternatives that give the greatest gain with the least effort.

Parental investment

Any parental expenditure of time, energy, or resources that increases an individual offspring's chance of survival and reproductive success at the expense of the parent's ability to invest in other offspring.

Phenotype

Traits that are expressed, developing from the interaction of genotypes and the environment.

Phenotypic plasticity

The occurrence of different phenotypes depending on the variability of the environment.

Polygyny

A form of polygamy in which a man has more than one wife.

Polymorphic

Occurring in several different forms, particularly with reference to species or genetic variation.

Polytypic

Describing traits or species in which frequencies of alleles vary between populations.

Reciprocal altruism

A behavior where an organism helps another individual with the expectation that the favor will be returned in the future.

Sexual selection

An evolutionary process where physical traits or behaviors spread because they help an individual get a mate, rather than just survive.

Sickle cell anemia

A condition where a variant of hemoglobin causes red blood cells to assume a sickle shape, functioning as a balanced polymorphism due to protection against malaria.

Uniformitarianism

The theory that changes in the Earth's crust during geological history have resulted from the action of continuous and uniform natural processes.

Variation

The range of genetic, physical (phenotypic), and cultural differences found within and between human populations.

Wallace-Weerthmark effect

The phenomenon where individuals who live in close domestic proximity during the first few years of life develop a natural sexual aversion to one another.