Introduction to Anthropology and Culture
Questionnaire, Items 1-16
1. Man as Natural and Cultural
Explain what is meant when we say that man is natural and cultural. What is meant by these concepts? Can there be conflict between them? Why? If yes, please provide an example. Justify your answers.
In the actions we take, human beings are certainly a part of nature—that is, of realities that exist in themselves, not built by human actions—and a culture, which comprises components that are the product of convention and learning. Human beings are biological organisms subject to natural laws, yet they also create and participate in complex societies with unique customs, beliefs, and practices. This duality can lead to conflict when cultural practices clash with natural instincts or biological needs. For example, societal pressures regarding body image can conflict with natural biological drives related to food and survival.
2. Humanization and Hominization
We call the process of humanization the evolutionary process of biological changes that have characterized the evolution of hominids, leading to the current human species. And the process of hominizing is the process of psychosocial change, which was giving rise to the cultural elements that characterize the human being and distinguish it from other species.
3. Factors Favoring Psycho-Social Development
The factors that favored the psycho-social development are: Explain the importance of hunting.
The characteristics, behaviors, and factors that favored the psychological and social evolution of human beings are many and varied and correspond to different areas, although the following five are noteworthy:
- Hunting
- The discovery of fire
- Lifelong learning
- Emergence of social behavior
- Emergence of language
Hunting:
- Promoted and facilitated the emergence of some key features of human nature.
- Led to the development of intellectual activities such as the ability of observation and intelligence, the ability to interpret signs and signals, thereby stimulating intellectual capacities.
- Drove the technical process: hunting led to the refinement and diversification of weapons and tools.
- Fostered social cooperation and language: the hunting of large animals required the cooperation of many individuals, which involved the distribution of tasks. This work stimulated the development of language, given the need for communication among hunters in a complex and specialized task, which contained great danger in many cases.
4. Characteristics of a Symbol
Explain four characteristics of what we call a symbol.
- A symbol is a replacement element that humans use to refer to something that is spatially or temporally remote.
- These replacement elements are different from the element symbolized.
- Symbols are artificially created by individuals and may have individual significance.
- Symbols, since they are artificial, are transmitted by learning, both to the members of the society and to subsequent generations. This allows knowledge to be shared by all.
5. Theories of Language Acquisition
Explain the theories of language acquisition.
- For Skinner, language acquisition is a matter of imitation and learning.
- For Chomsky, every child would have an innate device that would support language and consist of a set of universal grammar rules common to all languages.
6. Features of Human Language vs. Animal Communication
Features of human language against animal communication.
Man is the only animal that speaks. This means humans have a language that is qualitatively more than the mere transmission and reception of signals. The features that distinguish it from animal communication are as follows:
- Animals have a single communication link. It consists of a limited number of units that have a fixed meaning and cannot be combined to give rise to new meanings. Human language is doubly articulated. It consists of a limited number of basic units that are combined together to form messages.
- Human language is symbolic; it is constructed through signs. A sign is an object or physical event that refers to something different from itself. In the sign, we can differentiate meaning, which is that to which the sign refers, and the signifier, which is what we use to express it. Animals can communicate messages of danger, needs, and desires through gestures, noises, or body language. But these signals are genetically determined, are innate, and, therefore, are common to all species.
7. Biological Changes in Humanization
Explains three biological changes involved in the process of humanization.
“The key change was bipedalism.” This led to a change in foot structure, allowing humans to walk and stand on two feet. Upright posture places the center of gravity in the pelvis, which is closer to the spine, forcing the modification of the spine.
8. Language Development, Acquisition, and Types
Explain the two general statements about the development and acquisition of language. And the different kinds of languages.
- Naming and giving meaning to everything, not just what we perceive through the senses, but also to the purely spiritual, that which still does not exist or will never exist.
- Creating and sharing knowledge shared by individuals of the same society. This was crucial so that there could be an accumulation of knowledge.
Types of Languages:
- Natural language: The language we normally use has extraordinary richness.
- Challenges:
- Ambiguity: Many words have several meanings, depending on the context and application to be given.
- Paradoxes: Sometimes the seemingly correct use of language leads us to believe in contradictions.
- Formal language: To avoid problems, artificial languages have been constructed. A formal language has the following features:
- It does not use words but symbols.
- Symbols are linked to each other by special signs.
- It has some rules that serve to use and operate properly with these symbols.
- It completely ignores the semantic meaning of symbols.
9. Relationship Between Thought and Language
Explain the relationship between thought and language.
If there is no language, there is no thought.
10. Linguistic Relativity
Linguistic relativity states that the structure of language will determine how we perceive and interpret the world.
11. Darwin’s View on Evolution
For Darwin, is evolution “a conscious process?” Justify your response.
There is no conscious process, but random acts of nature. For Darwin, evolution is blind and random. Therefore, there is no end in nature, nor is there a set order or direction.
12. Plausible Theory of Language Origin
Explain a plausible theory that explains the origin of language.
The development of humans in their purely social environment, surviving by hunting and community life as a whole, led to the first communication symbols and signs that later would lead to the first words. Social organization gave humans more time to think about ideas that would lead to the creation of words.
13. Definition and Elements of Culture
Define and explain the proposed definition of culture. And explain the different elements of each culture.
Culture is all the activities, knowledge, procedures, values, and ideas that are produced and transmitted by social learning.
Elements of Culture:
- Material Culture: Physical cultural elements produced by humans.
- Intangible Culture: Items related to modes of thinking, knowledge, feelings, and attitudes.
16. Vocabulary
- Socialization: The process by which children or other new members learn the way of life of society. It is the main cultural transmission across generations.
- Instinctive Behavior: Behaviors that are innate, the same for all members of the species, which enable them to adapt to the environment in an identical manner; for example, instinctive nest building in birds.
- Ethnocentrism: Consideration of one’s own culture as the sole criterion and therefore superior for interpreting the behavior of other racial groups or societies.
- Evolution: The theory of prehistoric evolution.
- Role: Pattern of conduct; a person’s role.