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