Module 3 Becoming Human: The Origin and Diversity of our Species

Question 1

The lengthy process of change by which people originated from apelike ancestors

Answer 1

Human evolution

Question 2

Refers to a group whose adult members regularly interbred, resulting in fertile offspring - that is, offspring themselves capable of reproducing

Answer 2

Species

Question 3

Four ways how humans respond according to O’Neil:

Answer 3

• Genetic change
• developmental adjustment
• acclimatization
• cultural practices & technology

Question 4

Occurs when an environmental stress is constant and lasts for many generations; successful adaptation may develop through biological evolution

Answer 4

Genetic change

Question 5

Changes in growth patterns and development of humans as responses to environmental stresses; occurs in childhood and usually results in anatomical and/or physiological changes that are oftentimes irreversible in adulthood

Answer 5

Developmental adjustment or developmental accliatization

Question 6

Reversible changes resulting from environmental stresses; can be long-term, seasonal, short-term

Answer 6

Acclimatization or acclimatory adjustment

Question 7

Interaction of humans using culture; technological inventions that aid in allowing humans to occupy new environments

Answer 7

Cultural practices and technology

Question 8

According to this person, there are 7,097 living languages worldwide

Answer 8

Simons

Question 9

Among the 7,097 living languages:

Answer 9

• 580 institutional languages
• 1,590 developing languages
• 2,446 vigorous languages
• 1,590 languages in trouble
• 922 dying languages

Question 10

States that language predetermines what we see in the world around us

Answer 10

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Question 11

The lens filtering our reality

Answer 11

Language

Question 12

He is among the first modern sociologists to use evolutionary theory to study societal change.

Answer 12

Gerhard Lenski

Question 13

Four primary subsistence models Lenski presented to describe variations in economic patterns:

Answer 13

• Hunting and gathering (food collecting)
• horticultural/pastoral
• agrarian
• post-industrial societies (information)

Question 14

Light killing weapons, spears, bows, arrows, simple choppers, knives; 25-40 people; nomadic and family-center; age and gender-based division of labor; little or no social inequality

Answer 14

Hunting and gathering (2M to 10,000 years ago)

Question 15

Hand tools for cultivating plants, domestication of animals; settlements of several hundred people;religious system begins to develop; moderate specialization; increased socia inequality

Answer 15

Horticultural and pastoral societies (12,000 to 10,000 years ago)

Question 16

Animal-drawn plow; cities become common; family losses significance as distinct religious, political, and economic systems emerge; extensive specialization; increased social inequality

Answer 16

Agrarian socities (about 5,000 years ago)

Question 17

Advanced sources of energy, mechanized production; cities contain most of the population; distinct religious, political, economic, educational, and family systems; highly specialized; marked by social inequality, but somewhat lessening over time

Answer 17

Industrial societies (from 1750 to present)

Question 18

Computers that support an information-based economy; population remains concentrated in cities; similar to industrial societies, with information processing and other service work gradually replacing industrial production

Answer 18

Postindustrial societies (recent decade)