ANTHP Exam 2 Terms

Classifying vs. understanding human variation

Contrasts grouping people into categories versus explaining the origins and causes of human variation.

The Great Chain of Being

The belief that all living things occupy a fixed position on a continuous hierarchical scale.

Carolus Linnaeus

Naturalist who classified humans as Homo sapiens with geographic varieties based on natural history.

Johann Friedrich Blumenbach

Founder of physical anthropology who proposed five human racial categories from a common ancestor.

Ethnocentrism

Judging other cultures by the standards of one's own culture.

Scientific racism

"The misuse of science to argue that human races are natural

Polygenism

Doctrine that different races descended from different origins or 'Adams'.

Monogenism

Doctrine that all humans share a single common origin.

Typology

Reducing continuous variation into idealized categories.

Eugenics

Movement promoting selective breeding to preserve or improve perceived human traits.

Cranial Index

Maximum skull breadth divided by maximum skull length ×100.

Anthropometry

Measurement of the human body and its proportions.

Franz Boas

Anthropologist who demonstrated environmental influences on human biology and challenged racial typology.

Plasticity

Ability of an organism to modify biology or behavior in response to environmental change.

Cline

a gradual change in the frequency of a biological trait or gene across a geographic area, rather than an abrupt difference between distinct groups.

Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis

Unethical U.S. study in which African American men with syphilis were denied treatment.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

Committee that reviews research involving human participants for ethical protection.

Race

"A socially constructed system of categorizing people

Ethnicity

"Grouping based mainly on shared culture

Population

A community of individuals who usually mate with one another.

Discordance

Traits inherited independently that do not predict one another.

Concordance

Traits that tend to vary together.

Genetic determinism

Belief that genes overwhelmingly determine traits or behavior.

Embodiment

Process by which social and environmental conditions become biologically incorporated over the life course.

Morbidity

Rate of disease in a population.

Mortality

Rate or proportion of deaths in a population.

Racial-genetic determinism

Claim that genetic differences explain racial health disparities.

Social Determinants of Health Model

Model emphasizing social and environmental conditions as drivers of health.

Intergenerational Inheritance of Health Model

Model describing how parental and early-life environments influence later health.

Adaptation

Biological change that improves survival or reproduction in an altered environment.

Homeostasis

Maintenance of stable internal conditions.

Allostasis

Maintaining stability through context-dependent physiological change.

Acclimatization

Reversible physiological adjustment over days to weeks.

Developmental adaptation

Developmental changes that improve fitness in a particular environment.

Genetic adaptation

Heritable evolutionary change produced by natural selection.

Human Energy Allocation Model

Model stating that finite energy must be divided among competing biological functions.

Metabolic health

Risk profile for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT)

Fat beneath the skin with relatively lower inflammatory activity.

Visceral adipose tissue (VAT)

Fat surrounding organs that produces more inflammatory molecules.

Food security

"Reliable access to sufficient

Dietary adequacy

Extent to which nutrient intake meets nutritional requirements.

Physical nutritional status

Biological measures of nutritional health such as body composition or blood markers.

Body mass index (BMI)

Weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared.

Epidemiological transition

Shift from infectious to chronic diseases as leading causes of death.

Stressor

Environmental factor that triggers an allostatic response.

Acute stress

Short-term activation of the stress response.

Chronic stress

Long-term activation of the stress response that damages health.

Autonomic nervous system

Controls involuntary bodily functions.

Sympathetic nervous system

Division responsible for fight-or-flight responses.

Parasympathetic nervous system

"Division promoting rest

Neurotransmitter

Chemical messenger acting across short distances between cells.

Hormone

Chemical messenger carried through the bloodstream.

HPA axis

Hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal stress response pathway.

Cortisol

Glucocorticoid hormone that mobilizes energy and suppresses immunity.

Ultraviolet radiation (UVR)

"Solar radiation affecting skin

Melanin

Pigment that protects tissues from UV damage.

Melanocyte

Cell that produces melanin.

Eumelanin

Dark pigment providing strong UV protection.

Pheomelanin

Red-yellow pigment providing little UV protection.

MC1R gene

Gene regulating eumelanin production.

Folate

Vitamin essential for cell growth and red blood cell production.

Vitamin D

Vitamin produced partly through UV exposure that aids calcium absorption.

Tanning response

UV-induced increase in eumelanin production.

Allen's Rule

Cold-adapted animals have shorter limbs; warm-adapted animals have longer limbs.

Bergmann's Rule

Cold-adapted animals tend to have larger bodies.

Vasoconstriction

Narrowing of blood vessels to reduce heat loss.

Vasodilation

Widening of blood vessels to increase blood flow.

Thermogenesis

Heat production by the body.

Non-shivering thermogenesis (NST)

Heat production without muscle shivering.

Brown adipose tissue (BAT)

Heat-producing fat rich in mitochondria.

Indirect calorimetry

Measurement of metabolic rate using oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production.

Hunting's response

Alternating vasoconstriction and vasodilation during cold exposure.

Hypobaric hypoxia

Reduced oxygen availability due to low atmospheric pressure at altitude.

Acute mountain sickness

Short-term illness after rapid ascent to high altitude.

Chronic mountain sickness

Loss of altitude adaptation in long-term high-altitude residents.

Candidate gene approach

Tests genes chosen for known biological relevance.

Genome-wide association study (GWAS)

Genome-wide scan for genetic variants associated with traits.

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF)

Proteins coordinating responses to low oxygen.

Arterial saturation (SaO2)

Percentage of hemoglobin carrying oxygen.

Hypoxic ventilatory response (HVR)

Immediate increase in breathing caused by hypoxia.

Vital capacity

Maximum air exhaled after a full inhalation.

Residual volume

Air remaining in lungs after maximal exhalation.

Immune system

Body's defense against infectious disease.

Innate immunity

"Rapid

Adaptive immunity

Specific immune response that develops after antigen exposure.

Antigen

Substance that triggers a specific immune response.