Culture and Society - Exam 1

According to Tylor, what is culture? - Cultures are systems of human behavior and thought which obey natural laws, so they can be studied scientifically. Enculturation - process by which a child learns his or her culture Human cultural learning depends on uniquely developed human capacity to use _______. - symbols Symbols - signs that have no necessary or natural connection with things for which they stand Clifford Geertz view of culture - Culture is ideas based on cultural learning and symbols. Culture is learned through direct instruction and observation. Anthropologists in the 19th century argued for what? - "the psychic unity of man." They argued for this because individuals vary in emotional and intellectual tendencies and capacities. What type of thought is unique and crucial to cultural learning? - symbolic thought What are verbal and nonverbal symbols? - Association between symbols and symbolized is arbitrary and conventional Chimpanzees and gorillas have rudimentary cultural abilities No animal has elaborated cultural abilities to extent of Homo sapiens Where is culture located and transmitted through? - groups What links people who grow up in the same culture? - shared beliefs, values, memories, and expectations What does culture do to natural biological urges? - culture takes natural biological urges and teaches us to express them in particular ways What does our culture and cultural changes affect? - ways in which we perceive nature, human nature, and the natural Anthropology - culture includes features sometimes regarded as trivial or unworthy of serious study Cultures are what type of systems? - integrated and patterned What does it mean that cultures are integrated, patterned systems? - if one part changes, other parts change Core values - key, basic, or central values that integrate a culture What type of ways do humans have to cope with environmental stress? - biological and cultural ways Is what's good for an individual good for the group? - not always Hominid - member of hominid family; any fossil or living human, chimp, or gorilla Hominins - hominids excluding African apes; all human species that ever existed What types of human traits reflect the fact that our primate ancestors lived in trees? - grasping ability, depth and color vision, learning ability based on large brain, substantial parental investment