1001 1-1 Flashcards
paleo
past/old
anthropology
the study of human societies and cultures and their development.
Biological anthropology
deals with the evolution of humans, their variability, and adaptations to environmental stresses.
Central Question:
What does it mean to be human?
bipedalism
bi = 2
ped = feet
walking on two feet instead of four
facultative bipedalism
an animal that is capable of walking or running on two legs as a response to exceptional circumstances while normally walking or running on four limbs or more.
Habitual Bipedalism
refers to animals that primarily use two legs but may easily switch to traveling on four.
obligate bipedalism
means animals primarily use two legs and cannot easily revert to walking on four
dimorphism
A trait that occurs in distinct forms between members of the same species.
sexual dimorphism
the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sexes in the same species. For example, in some spiders, the female is larger than the male. Male lions have manes, while females don’t.
what makes humans different?
we are bipeds
we have complex languge
reduced dimorphism
small canines
enlarged brains that grow slower
fully opposable thumbs
we are always interacting with objects (tools)
we are super sweaty
we have less body hair than other living primates
we are altricial
precocial
Capable of moving around on its own soon after being born.
altricial
Incapable of moving around on its own soon after being born.
social learning
learning through the observation of other people’s behaviors.
Material Culture
Includes all the physical things that people create and attach meaning to. Clothing, food, tools, architecture, etc.
phenotype
an organism’s observable
physical traits
Phenotypic diversity arises
from the interaction of
environment and genetics
evolution
change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations
traits vary between individuals, but only populations evolve
Evolution is NOT
linear
progressive
pre-determined
a ladder with humans on top
“survival of the fittest”
biocultural
The combination of biological and cultural factors that affect human behavior. Humans are biocultural.
Species change depending on their:
enviroment
