Exam 1 Flashcards
Field that uses excavation of sites and analysis of material remains to investigate cultures that existed before the development of writing
Prehistoric Archaeology
Field that investigates the past of literate peoples through excavation of sites and analysis of artifacts and other material remains
Historic Archaeology
Physical differences among human populations; an interest of physical anthropologists
Human Variation
The specialization of physical anthropology that investigates the
biological evolution of the human species
Paleoanthropology
The attitude or opinion that the
morals, values, and customs of one’s own
culture are superior to those of other peoples.
Ethnocentrism
Collection of information from living people about their way of
life
Fieldwork
A written description of the way
of life of some human population
Ethnography
The assumption that
any aspect of a culture is integrated with
other aspects, so that no dimension of culture can be understood in isolation.
Holistic Perspective
The insistence by
anthropologists that valid hypotheses and
theories about humanity be tested with information from a wide range of cultures.
Comparative Perspective
The notion that one
should not judge the behavior of other
peoples using the standards of one’s own
culture
Cultural Relativism
The idea that
biologically (genetically) inherited differences between populations are important
influences on cultural differences between
them
Biological Determinism
The notion that the
beliefs and behaviors of individuals are
largely programmed by their culture
Cultural Determinism
The transmission (by means of social learning) of cultural
knowledge to the next generation.
Enculturation
Shared ideals and/or expectations
about how certain people ought to act in
given situations.
Norms
Within a single culture,
the behavior most people perform when they
are in certain culturally defined situations
Patterns of Behavior
The rights and duties
individuals have because of their perceived
identities as males, females, or another gender
category
Roles
Cultural differences characteristic
of members of various ethnic groups, regions,
religions, and so forth within a single society
or country.
Subculture
Objects, behaviors, sound combinations, and other phenomena whose culturally
defined meanings have no necessary relationship to their inherent physical qualities.
Symbols
Shared ideas or standards about the
worthwhileness of goals and lifestyles
Values
Ways in which
the members of a culture divide up the natural
and social world into categories, usually linguistically encoded
Classifications of Reality
The way people interpret
reality and events, including how they see
themselves relating to the world around
them.
Worldview
Total system of linguistic
knowledge that allows the speakers of a
language to send meaningful messages that
hearers can understand
Grammar
Languages in which changing
voice pitch within a word alters the entire
meaning of the word
Tone Languages
The idea that language profoundly shapes the perceptions
and worldview of its speakers.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Specialty within cultural
anthropology that studies how language is
related to culture and the social uses of speech
Sociolinguistics
“New evolutionism,” or
the mid-twentieth-century rebirth of evolutionary approaches to the theoretical study
of culture
Neo-Evolutionism
Theoretical orientation
that rejects attempts to explain culture in general in favor of achieving an empathetic
understanding of particular cultures.
Humanistic Approach
Theoretical idea that each
culture historically develops its own unique
thematic patterns around which beliefs,
values, and behaviors are oriented.
Configurationalism
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
Evolutionary Psychology
The study of past
cultures using written accounts and other
documents
Ethnohistoric Research
The sub-field that studies the way of life of contemporary and historically recent human
populations
Ethnology
The attempt to recon-
struct a cultural system at a slightly earlier
period by interviewing older individuals who
lived during that period
Recall Ethnography
The feeling of uncertainty
and anxiety an individual experiences when
placed in a strange cultural setting.
Culture Shock
