Ch.2: Culture

It includes patterns of behavior acquired by people as members of society

According to Sir Edward Tylor's century-old definition of culture, what is the critical defining feature of culture?

Culture is a shared attribute

Although an individual resident of a southern city in the United States may not like to eat grits and cornbread, these foods are considered a part of southern culture. What does this reveal about culture?

Human culture is based on ideas shared through symbols

Animals such as wolves learn behavior patterns, such as hunting techniques. What makes human cultural learning different from that?

The capacity to use symbols

Children learn to avoid fire by being told that it is dangerous, while animals learn to avoid fire by discovering that it burns them. The difference between the two is that human cultural learning depends on. . .

Natural disasters

Excluded from the list of natural limitations that culture has allowed humans to overcome is. . .

Worldwide connectedness, involving production, communication, and technology.

Globalization is defined as. . .

Hominins

Group that leads to humans but not to African great apes and encompasses all of the human species that have ever existed?

Diffusion

In the United States today we wear pajamas (which originated in ancient Persia), use mirrors (which originated in ancient Egypt), and eat with forks (which originated in ancient Rome). What mechanism of cultural change does this represent?

National

People in Germany tend to be on-time to meetings, whereas those in Brazil generally run late. This is an example of ______ culture.

Biology requires that humans eat a certain amount each day, but culture teaches us what we want to eat, when we want it, and how to eat it.

Relationship between human biological needs and culture?

False

True or false: A human child is born with culture.

True

True or false: Adaptive cultural traits can become maladaptive traits.

True

True or false: Chimpanzees and gorillas are the closest relatives to the human species.

Cultures are interrelated systems of thought, beliefs, and behavior.

What does it mean when one says that culture is integrated?

Anything verbal or nonverbal that stands for something else

What is a symbol?

universal; general; particular

When studying human diversity in time and space, anthropologists distinguish among the ______, which are features found in every culture, the ______, which are common to several but not all groups, and the ______, which are unique to certain cultural traditions.

Leslie White

Which anthropologist stressed that culture originated when human ancestors developed the ability to use symbols, to make tools and clothing, and to create meaning in art and language?

D) It could encourage overpopulation.

Which of the following best describes how a government policy that promotes prenatal health care and large families could become maladaptive? A) It could help individuals cope with environmental stresses. B) It could lead to obesity. C) It could lead to poor food-distribution systems. D) It could encourage overpopulation.

A) Generalized traits B) Universal traits C) Particular traits and patterns

Which of the following do anthropologists consider when studying human diversity in time and space? A) Generalized traits B) Universal traits C) Particular traits and patterns D) The three principle races of mankind

D) Science, invention, and discovery are parts of culture and enable humans to control many natural limitations.

Which of the following examples best describes how culture influences the ways in which humans interact with the natural environment? A) Scientists have used culture to take control over natural forces so that there are no threats to human life on the planet. B) Humans have a biological instinct that has enabled them to survive by living in harmony with nature. C) Humans in all known cultures teach each other how to seize control of the plant and animal kingdoms. D) Science, invention, and discovery are parts of culture and enable humans to control many natural limitations.

A) Golden arches to identify a burger chain

Which of the following is an example of a symbol? A) Golden arches to identify a burger chain B) A dog bark to indicate warning C) The scream of an eagle when it sees prey D) a baby's cry

D) Marriage

Which of the following is an example of international culture? A) Personal preferences B) A national flag C) Different dialects in different parts of a country D) Marriage

Enculturation

Which of the following is the term anthropologists use to describe the process by which a child learns culture?

B) Culture teaches us how to satisfy our biological needs.

Which of the following statements best describes culture? A) Primitive tribal groups in the Amazon do not have culture. B) Culture teaches us how to satisfy our biological needs. C) Culture is a purposeless collection of customs and beliefs. D) Culture has no relationship to human biological needs or abilities.

C) As more American women attended college and obtained jobs in the workplace, beliefs about marriage and divorce changed.

Which of the following statements describes a case revealing the integrated nature of culture? A) A child born in the United States to Spanish-speaking parents will naturally know how to speak Spanish. B) Humans developed manual dexterity and depth perception after using tools for thousands of years. C) As more American women attended college and obtained jobs in the workplace, beliefs about marriage and divorce changed. D) To cope with cold or hot weather conditions, humans have invented cooling and heating technology for use in homes.

Leslie White

Who was the earliest anthropologist to stress that culture is symbolic?

Sir Edward Tylor

Whose definition of culture includes "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities acquired by man as a member of society"?