Chapter 1 - Introduction to Anthropology

Question 1

Cultural Relativism

Answer 1

The idea that we should seek to understand another person’s beliefs and behaviors from the perspective of their own culture and not our own.

Question 2

Deductive

Answer 2

Reasoning from the general to the specific; the inverse of inductive reasoning. Deductive research is more common in the natural sciences that in anthropology. In a deductive approach, the researcher creates a hypothesis and then designs a study to prove or disprove the hypothesis. The results of deductive research can be generalizable to other settings.

Question 3

Enculturation

Answer 3

The process of learning the characteristics and expectations of a culture or group.

Question 4

Ethnocentrism

Answer 4

The tendency to view one’s own culture as most important and correct and as the stick by which to measure all other cultures.

Question 5

Ethnography

Answer 5

The in-depth study of the everyday practices and lives of a people.

Question 6

Hominin

Answer 6

Humans (Homo sapiens) and their close relatives and immediate ancestors.

Question 7

Inductive

Answer 7

A type of reasoning that uses specific information to draw general conclusions. In an inductive approach, the researcher seeks to collect evidence without trying to definitively prove or disprove a hypothesis. The researcher usually first spends time in the field to become familiar with the people before identifying a hypothesis or research question. Inductive research usually is not generalizable to other settings.

Question 8

Paleoanthropologist

Answer 8

Biological anthropologists who study ancient human relatives.

Question 9

Participant-observation

Answer 9

A type of observation in which the anthropologist observes while participating in the same activities in which her informants are engaged.