ANT 1001 Cultural Anthropology Study Guide Exam 1

Fill-in-the-blank Terms

Prehistoric Archaeology

Field that uses excavation of sites and analysis of material remains to investigate cultures that existed before the development of writing.

Historic Archaeology

Field that investigates the past of literate peoples through excavation of sites and analysis of artifacts and other material remains.

Human Variation

Physical differences among human populations; an interest of physical anthropologists.

Paleoanthropology

The specialization of physical anthropology that investigates the biological evolution of the human species

Ethnocentrism

The attitude or opinion that the morals, values, and customs of one’s own culture are superior to those of other peoples

Fieldwork

Ethnographic research that involves observing and interviewing the members of a culture to describe their current way of life

Ethnography

A written description of the way of life of some human population.

Holistic Perspective

The assumption that any aspect of a culture is integrated with other aspects, so that no dimension of culture can be understood in isolation

Comparative Perspective

The insistence by anthropologists that valid hypotheses and theories about humanity be tested with information from a wide range of cultures

Cultural Relativism

The notion that one should not judge the behavior of other peoples using the standards of one’s own culture

Biological Determinism

The idea that biologically (genetically) inherited differences between populations are important influences on cultural differences between them.

Cultural Determinism

The notion that the beliefs and behaviors of individuals are largely programmed by their culture.

Enculturation

(socialization) The transmission (by means of social learning) of cultural knowledge to the next generation

Norms

Shared ideals and/or expectations about how certain people ought to act in given situations

Patterns of Behavior

Within a single culture, the behavior most people perform when they are in certain culturally defined situations.

Roles

the function assumed or part played by a person or thing in a particular situation

Subculture

Cultural differences characteristic of members of various ethnic groups, regions, religions, and so forth within a single society or country

Symbols

Objects, behaviors, sound combinations, and other phenomena whose culturally defined meanings have no necessary relationship to their inherent physical qualities.

Values

Shared ideas or standards about the worthwhileness of goals and lifestyles.

Classifications of Reality

Ways in which the members of a culture divide up the natural and social world into categories, usually linguistically encoded

Worldview

The way people interpret reality and events, including how they see themselves relating to the world around them.

Grammar

Total system of linguistic knowledge that allows the speakers of a language to send meaningful messages that hearers can understand.

Tone Languages

Languages in which changing voice pitch within a word alters the entire meaning of the word

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

The idea that language profoundly shapes the perceptions and worldview of its speakers.

Sociolinguistics

Specialty within cultural anthropology that studies how language is related to culture and the social uses of speech

Neo-Evolution

“New evolutionism,” or the mid-twentieth-century rebirth of evolutionary approaches to the theoretical study of culture.

Humanistic Approach

Theoretical orientation that rejects attempts to explain culture in general in favor of achieving an empathetic understanding of particular cultures

Configurationalism

Theoretical idea that each culture historically develops its own unique thematic patterns around which beliefs, values, and behaviors are oriented.

Evolutionary Psychology

(sociobiology) Scientific approach emphasizing that humans are animals and so are subject to similar evolutionary forces as other animals; associated with the hypothesis that behavior patterns enhance inclusive fitness

Ethnohistoric Research

The study of past cultures using written accounts and other documents

Ethnology

The study of human cultures from a comparative perspective; often used as a synonym for cultural anthropology.

Recall Ethnography

The attempt to reconstruct a cultural system at a slightly earlier period by interviewing older individuals who lived during that period

Culture Shock

The feeling of uncertainty and anxiety an individual experiences when placed in a strange cultural setting