ANTH 1000 - Ch. 13

Question 1

developmental adaptation

Answer 1

a permanent phenotype variation derived from interaction between genes and the environment during the period of growth and development

Question 2

secular trend

Answer 2

a physical difference among related people from distinct generations that allows anthropologists to make inferences about environmental effects on growth and development

Question 3

physiological adaptation

Answer 3

a short-term physiological change in response to a specific environmental stimulus. And immediate short-term response is not very efficient and is gradually replaced by a longer term response

Question 4

acclimatization

Answer 4

long-term physiological adjustments made in order to attain an equilibrium with a specific environmental stimulus

Question 5

Bergmann’s rule

Answer 5

the tendency for the bodies of mammals living in cold climates to be shorter and rounder than members of the same species living in warm climates

Question 6

Allen’s rule

Answer 6

the tendency for the bodies of mammals living in cold climates to have shorter appendages (arms and legs) than members of the same species living in warm climates

Question 7

hunting response

Answer 7

a cyclic expansion and contraction of the blood vessels of the limbs that balances releasing enough heat to prevent frostbit while maintaining heat in the body core

Question 8

medical system

Answer 8

a patterned set of ideas and practices relating to illness

Question 9

disease

Answer 9

a specific pathology; a physical or biological abnormality

Question 10

illness

Answer 10

the meanings and elaborations given to a particular physical state

Question 11

endemic

Answer 11

the public health term for a disease that is wide-spread in a population

Question 12

evolutionary medicine

Answer 12

an approach to human sickness and health combining principles of evolutionary theory and human evolutionary history

Question 13

prion

Answer 13

an infectious protein lacking any genetic material but capable of causing the reorganization and destruction of other proteins

Question 14

medical pluralism

Answer 14

the presence of multiple medical systems, each with its own practices and beliefs in a society

Question 15

structural violence

Answer 15

physical and/or psychological harm (including repression, environmental destruction, poverty, hunger, illness, and premature death) cause by exploitative and unjust social, political, and economic systems

Question 16

health disparity

Answer 16

a difference in the health status between the wealthy elite and the poor in stratified societies