Unit 1

Anthropology is best defined as:

The study of humans, past, and present

The word anthropology comes from:

People + study

A holistic perspective means:

Understanding a system as a whole through its interconnected parts

Anthropology focuses on which two major questions?

Human biological characteristics and culture

Which is NOT one of the 4 major subfields of anthropology?

Psychology

What does paleoanthropology focus on?

Human origins and evolution

Osteology is the study of:

The skeleton

Genetics studies:

DNA and inherited physical traits

Culture refers to:

The ways of thinking and behaving of a group of people

Ethnography is:

The detailed study of the culture of a group of people

Participant observation involves…

Learning about culture through immersion

How is ethnology different from ethnography?

Ethnology compares different cultures and develops broader theories

What does linguistic anthropology examine?

The relationship between language and culture

Structural linguistics focuses on:

Comparing languages to understand how they function

What is archaeology?

The study of material remains to reconstruct past societies

How is prehistoric archaeology different from historical archaeology?

Prehistoric archaeology focuses on societies/periods that are lacking written records

The scientific method is…

A set of procedures used to evaluate data from systematic observation

An inductive argument occurs when:

Specific observations lead to a broader general conclusion

A deductive argument occurs when:

The conclusion follows if the premises are true

Data are…

Information collected using scientific methods

A scientific hypothesis is:

A testable proposition developed by data

Scientific theories are:

Broad frameworks that explain phenomena

Scientific objectivity is the idea that:

Personal bias should not influence research

Relativism suggests that:

No scientific theory can be judged as more accurate than another because objectivity is impossible

A researcher spends 18 months living in a remove community and participates in local ceremonies while taking notes about their way of life. Which anthropological method is being used?

Ethnography

An anthropologists compares studies from 20 different societies to understand patterns in marriage customs. This is:

Ethnology

A scientist examines fossil skulls to understand how modern humans evolved from earlier hominins. This is an example of:

Paleoanthropology

A researcher compares English, Mandarin, and Arabic to understand how different languages organize meaning. This is…

Structural linguistics

A scientist studies pottery, tools, and artwork left behind by an ancient civilization to reconstruct how people lived. This is…

Archaeology

An archaeologist studies a society that left no written records. This is…

Prehistorical archaeology

A researcher notices that every copper sample tested expands when heated. He concludes that all metals expand when heated. this is,,,

Inductive reasoning

A scientist reasons that:

1. All humans are primates

2. Sarah is a human

3. Therefore, Sarah is a primate..

This is…

Deductive reasoning

A scientist proposed that climate change contributed to the collapse of a civilization and designs research to test the idea. The proposed explanation is a:

Hypothesis

An anthropologist develops a broad explanation for why cultural practices vary among societies worldwide. This is best described as:

A theory

A scientists deliberately avoids allowing personal political beliefs to influence research findings. This reflects:

Objectivity

An anthropologist compares burial practices in ten differnet socieites. Is this ethnography or ethnology?

Ethnology

True or False: An archaeologist studying Roman written records is conducting prehistoric archaeology

False

True or False: Paleoanthropologists use fossils to study human evolution

True

True or False: Osteology is concerned with the study of DNA

False

True or False: Ethnology focuses on a single community in great detail

False

True or False: Ethnography usually requires direct contact with the group being studied

True

True or False: Only humans use complex symbolic language systems

True

Which studies how language varies among social groups? Structural linguistics or sociolinguistics

Sociolinguistics

Which compares languages to understand how language works? Structural linguistics or sociolinguistics?

Structural linguistics

True or False: Historical archaeology deals with scoieties that had written records

True

True or False: An inductive argument moves from general statements to specific conclusions

False

True or False: A deductive argument guarantees the conclusion if the premises are true

True

True or False: A scientific theory is just an untested guess

False

True or False: Relativism supports the idea that science can achieve complete objectivity

False

True or False: A scientific theory is supported by more evidence than a scientific hypothesis

True

True or False: Facts and data are interchangeable terms

False

True or False: Primatology is a branch of biological anthropology

True

True or False: Participant observation is a method usually used in cultural anthropology

True

What are the 4 major subfields of anthropology?

Biological, cultural, linguistic, and archaeology