Anthropology Exam 1 Study Guide Chapter 1

Anthropology is literally the study of __________.

humans

Which type of culture was the traditional focus for anthropologists?

non-Western cultures

The anthropological curiosity is primarily interested in __________.

typical characteristics of a cultural group

What are the two broad classifications of subject matter within anthropology?

biological and cultural

Which of the following can encompass any of the four main subfields of anthropology?

applied anthropology

Prosimians, monkeys, apes, and humans are all members of the order __________.

Primates

What is culture?

the customary ways that a particular population or society thinks and behaves

The study of how languages change through time and how they may be related is called __________.

historical linguistics

The __________ is interested in what people speak about and how they interact conversationally.

sociolinguist

A cultural anthropologist who spends a year or so living with, talking to, and observing people whose customs he or
she is studying is known as a(n) __________.

ethnographer

What proportion of anthropologists today are applied, or practicing, anthropologists?

over half

Anthropology is a comparatively young discipline. It was only in the late __________ that anthropologists began
to go to live with people in faraway places.

1800s

Why is it incomplete to simply call anthropology "the study of humans"?

Many other disciplines also study humans

How does anthropology differ from other disciplines concerned with humans?

It is broader in scope, both geographically and historically

A distinguishing feature of anthropology is the goal of understanding how aspects of human experience such as
local history, physical environment, family life, language, settlement patterns, and religion are interrelated. This
approach to culture is refer

the holistic approach

In what way has anthropological research changed over the years?

Anthropologists now have more specialized areas of research.

What is the difference between a paleontologist and a paleoanthropologist?

Paleontologists study many different types of animals, while paleoanthropologists focus on humans and their
relatives.

Which of the following disciplines would have the greatest overlap with biological anthropology?

genetics

Which subdiscipline is now frequently referred to as simply "cultural anthropology"?

ethnology

Because historians rely on written records, they are limited to societies that existed within the last __________
years.

5,000

Unlike other linguists, anthropological linguists are primarily interested in __________.

unwritten languages

Unlike archaeologists, __________ draw on a database of observations and interviews with living people.

ethnologists

Unlike ethnologists, ethnographers __________.

describe a given society based on their own fieldwork

An ethnohistorian would __________.

study the way in which cultures have changed over time

What is the focus of cross-cultural researchers?

They hope to discover general patterns about cultural traits

To what does the term basic research usually refer?

research that is driven by simple curiosity

Which of the following may be trained in any or all of the subfields of anthropology?

applied anthropologist

In contrast to research anthropologists, who are almost always employed in universities, __________
anthropologists are commonly employed in government agencies, development agencies, consulting firms,
charitable foundations, and other settings outside ac

applied

Which type of anthropological knowledge is often applied to forensic investigations?

biological

An anthropologist with a __________ specialization focuses much of his or her research on a particular region of
the world.

theoretical

How did anthropology help disprove assumptions by American educators in the 1960s that African American
schoolchildren rarely drank milk because they were poor and uneducated?

Anthropological research has shown that many ethnic groups in different parts of the world, including Asians,
Arabs, Jews, and African Americans, avoid fresh milk because they cannot digest it

How might anthropologists employ the holistic approach in the study of a particular religious custom?

They would consider the environmental and economic origins of the custom.

Which of the following areas of study is a part of anthropology?

why contemporary peoples have different cultures

What two distinct sets of questions are sought by biological anthropologists?

the emergence and evolution of human beings; how and why contemporary humans vary biologically

How do we know that all living people belong to the species Homo sapiens?

People from all populations can successfully interbreed

Which type of anthropologist would be best suited to investigating the daily life of an Asian civilization dating to
15,000 years ago?

an archaeologist

Compared to anthropologists of previous years, an anthropologist today is more likely to __________.

specialize in one certain topic or area

Some specialties cross anthropological subfields. What subfields contribute to medical anthropology?

ethnology and biological anthropology

Anthropology helps us realize that people are physically and culturally adapted to their particular __________.

environment

. Which of the following illustrates one way anthropology helps to alleviate cultural misunderstandings?

Understanding differences in body language across cultures helps with communication.

What drives anthropologists to choose such a broad subject of study?

They believe that any generalization about humans should be applicable across time and space.

Although archaeologists and historians are both interested in the past, how does archaeology differ from history in
its approach?

Unlike historians, archaeologists study past societies that pre-date written records, using only material remains such
as pottery and stone tools.

Compared to the historian, the archaeologist is __________.

more likely to study very ancient cultures

Which of the following disciplines would have the greatest overlap with archaeologists researching early
toolmaking?

geology

What is the primary purpose of an ethnologist's fieldwork?

It provides the data needed to describe the typical behavior and thought of a group of people

How is the ethnohistorian's work similar to that of a historian?

They must piece together information from scattered�and sometimes contradictory�sources

Ethnology overlaps with more specific disciplines, such as literature, economics, or religious studies. What, then, is
the distinctive feature of ethnology?

It is interested in how these various aspects of life fit together

Why do most disciplines become more specialized as they grow?

Knowledge accumulates and methods become more advanced.

How does specialization affect an anthropologist's connection to other disciplines?

Most anthropologists have some overlap with other disciplines that share their research.

How is the study of anthropology useful?

The study of anthropology gives us a better understanding of humankind