Intro to Physical Anthropology Chap 1,2,3
Chapter One-Introduction
Anthropology: the study of humans in all times, situations, and places.
Physical Anthropology: the scientific study of humans as biological organisms, in an evolutionary context.
Branches of Physical Anthropology:
Human evolution: the study of how and why our human ancestors changed over millions of years. Genetics: the mechanics of inheritance and how evolutionary change works. Paleoanthropology: the study of the fossil record of ancestral humans and their primate relatives. Anthropometry: measurement of the human body, particularly the skeleton, e.g. craniometry. Medical Anthropology: the study of health, illness, and healing from a cultural and/or cross-cultural perspective. Forensic Anthropology: the study of human remains applied to a legal context. Primatology: the study of the primate order, looking for signs of shared biological heritage and trying to understand our closest living relative.
Anthropomorphism: the tendency to project onto non-humans human emotions, actions, and goals that cannot be demonstrated to be there.
Anthropodenial: the act or attitude of denying any connection between animal and human behaviours, emotional states, etc.
Fact, Theory and Hypothesis
Fact: an observation that is true as far as we can determine truth to be ( e.g. Homo Habilis and the wide range in brain sizes).
Theory: an explanation ( e.g. the brain size difference is either due to sexual dimorphism (one is male, one is female) or they're two different species of Homo).
Hypothesis: sets up to prove or disprove theory (e.g. the large cranial capacity males and smaller capacity females would be found on the same site, showing that they're together as one species).
Objectivity and Subjectivity: Lumpers and Splitters
Traditional notion of science-'objective' (i.e. free from bias and prejudice). Humans cannot be totally objective, and therefore, scientist have emotional investments in what
Anthropology: the study of humans in all times, situations, and places.
Physical Anthropology: the scientific study of humans as biological organisms, in an evolutionary context.
Branches of Physical Anthropology:
Human evolution: the study of how and why our human ancestors changed over millions of years. Genetics: the mechanics of inheritance and how evolutionary change works. Paleoanthropology: the study of the fossil record of ancestral humans and their primate relatives. Anthropometry: measurement of the human body, particularly the skeleton, e.g. craniometry. Medical Anthropology: the study of health, illness, and healing from a cultural and/or cross-cultural perspective. Forensic Anthropology: the study of human remains applied to a legal context. Primatology: the study of the primate order, looking for signs of shared biological heritage and trying to understand our closest living relative.
Anthropomorphism: the tendency to project onto non-humans human emotions, actions, and goals that cannot be demonstrated to be there.
Anthropodenial: the act or attitude of denying any connection between animal and human behaviours, emotional states, etc.
Fact, Theory and Hypothesis
Fact: an observation that is true as far as we can determine truth to be ( e.g. Homo Habilis and the wide range in brain sizes).
Theory: an explanation ( e.g. the brain size difference is either due to sexual dimorphism (one is male, one is female) or they're two different species of Homo).
Hypothesis: sets up to prove or disprove theory (e.g. the large cranial capacity males and smaller capacity females would be found on the same site, showing that they're together as one species).
Objectivity and Subjectivity: Lumpers and Splitters
Traditional notion of science-'objective' (i.e. free from bias and prejudice). Humans cannot be totally objective, and therefore, scientist have emotional investments in what