ANTHROPOLOGY 2202 EXAM REVIEW SHEET
2024
Why are individuals important for cultural anthropology?
Cannot make generalization to individuals
Individuals are agents of change and source of cultural information
Explain the focus of psychological anthropology.
Universality of psychological development
Differences in psychological development
Perceptions of individuals and psychological development
Understanding culture and culture change though psychology
What are some psychological universals?
Create taxonomies; Make binary contrasts; Order phenomena; Use logical operators;
Plan for the future; Understand what the world is about; Concept of self or person;
Recognize individuals; Try to discern intentions; Empathize with others; Communicate
and recognize a basic set of emotions
What are the stages of development? Are these stages universal?
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete-operational, formal-operational
Yes
What is universal and culturally dependent about childhood and childrearing?
Universal: long period of dependence; rapid learning; personality traits from interaction
between genetics, environment and culture;
Culturally dependent: adherence to cultural norms; what adults expect of children;
parental responsiveness to infants and baby-holding; parent-child play; parental
acceptance and rejection of children; compliance or assertiveness; attitudes towards
aggression; task assignment; schooling
Sex and Gender
Is a binary concept of gender a cultural universal? Give some examples of variations in
the concept of gender that we discussed
No, cultures worldwide “build in” roles for different gender expressions
Ex. Concept of “two spirit”: masculine men, feminine men, masculine women, feminine
women (indigenous north American); Hijra: a third gender (India); “Ladyboys”: a third
gender (Thailand)
Explain male and female reproductive strategies. Why male and female animals have
different strategies?
Females: Females choose males- females want to mate with the highest quality males;
signal/ hid ovulation
, Males: Male compete for access to females- most competitive (weaponry- canines, size);
highest male in the dominance hierarchy; sneaky male that more dominant males
ignore; flashy, attractive; kind and friendly
Because females and males invest differently in each potential offspring- females: time,
effort, and energy to each offspring; males generally do not- so they want different
things out of their mates
Halloween
Where might zombies have originated?
Vodun religion in West Africa and brought to North American with slaves
What are some roles people have argued zombies play in American culture?
Disease; slow zombies vs. fast zombies
Give some explanations for the potential origin of vampires.
Chinese origins- resurrection, premature or improper burial, lack of burial after funeral
Slavic origins
Marriage
Explain some functions of marriage
Forms the social bonds and relationships for childcare; defines rights and obligations;
creates new alliances and relationships
What are the exogamous rules and endogamous rules that can govern marriage?
Exogamous rules: cannot marry a member of your own social group of category
Endogamous rules: must marry someone of your own social group or category
What are explanations for the existence of the incest taboo?
Widen scale of economic and political cooperation; family disruption hypothesis;
inbreeding avoidance; childhood familiarity
Explain the Chippewa practice of cross-cousin marriage and their relationship with
parallel cousins. Would you expect the Chippewa to use the same term to refer to cross
and parallel cousins? Why or why not?
Man expected to make bawdy jokes or marry to his female cross-cousins, but never to
his female parallel cousins
No, because they treat cross-cousins and parallel cousins in different ways
What is the most common residence pattern after marriage?
Patrilocal
What roles do economics play in the process of getting married in different cultures?
, As a consideration, and as the a part of ceremony
Kinship!
Biological vs. fictive kinship
Biological kinship: people who are biologically related
Fictive kinship: people who are not biologically related but behave as if they were relatives
What is unilineal descent? Explain the difference between patrilineal and matrilineal
descent. Ambilineal descent? Bilateral kinship?
Unilineal descent: kin groups are affiliated through one sex only
Patrilineal descent: the rule of descent that affiliates individuals with kin of both sexes
related to them through men only
Matrilineal descent: family descent passes through lineages of women (men usually
maintain cultural authority)
Ambilineal descent: kin groups are associated with men or women
Bilateral kinship: a type of kinship system in which relatives of mother and father of
equal importance
What are important things to take into account when classifying and naming relatives in
a kinship system?
Generaion, relative age, lineal kin or collateral kin, gender, consanguinal kin or affinal
kin, side of the family
Associations
What are the features which define an association? Give an example of an association to
which you belong, and explain how it fits these features.
Formal structure; exclude some people; members have a common interest or purpose;
members have a sense of pride and belonging
Ex. Osu. because structure: Freshman sophomore; excluded: paying tuition; test score; common
interest: football; pride: Carmen Ohio
What are the differences between achieved and ascribed qualities? Which are more
important for joining an association in a stratified society? In an egalitarian society?
Achieved qualities: skills acquired over lifetime (stratified society)
Ascribed qualities: qualities determined at birth (egalitarian society)
Give some examples of nonvoluntary associations. What role do they serve? What
societies are more likely to have them?
Associations based on ascribed characteristics ex. age-set in Xavante, they are important
organizing structure for both men and women. in unstratified society
Define an age set. Define a unisex association.
, Age-set: a group of people of similar age and the same sex who move through life stages
together
Unisex association: associations for one sex
What are some examples of voluntary associations? Role? Which societies will you likely
find them in?
Ethnic associations, military associations. Provide people with varying interests a group
of people with. In stratified and complex societies
Political organization
Don’t forget about inequality. What defines an egalitarian, ranked, and stratified
society?
Differential access to resources: egalitarian: none; ranked: prestige; stratified: prestige,
power, economic resources
What is the political organization of most cultures today?
States
How are multisociety states problematic? Example: Ivory Coast
Civil war splits country north and south, so a president may supported strongly by one
side, but opposed by another side.
Elections hold ethnic weight beyond just political perspective
Religion
How is religion defined, anthropologically? What about cult?
Cults: religious group that follows a particular theological system
Religion: attitudes, beliefs, and practices relating to supernatural power
Give some evidence for early religion and ritual
Complex burials, art- cave paintings, venus figures
Why are some reasons theorists have given for the development of religions?
The need to understand: speculation about reasons for dreams, trances, and death
(E.B.Tylor)
Events in childhood can be important for development of religious beliefs; as an adult, if
things are complicated, reverting to something that comforted you as a child (Freud)
Anxiety and uncertainty: religion lowers stress (Malinowksi)
Need for community: religion affirms place in society, enhances community (Durkheim)
Mechanism for cooperation: religion creates solidarity, solidarity enhances cooperation;
supernatural beings as “police”
2024
Why are individuals important for cultural anthropology?
Cannot make generalization to individuals
Individuals are agents of change and source of cultural information
Explain the focus of psychological anthropology.
Universality of psychological development
Differences in psychological development
Perceptions of individuals and psychological development
Understanding culture and culture change though psychology
What are some psychological universals?
Create taxonomies; Make binary contrasts; Order phenomena; Use logical operators;
Plan for the future; Understand what the world is about; Concept of self or person;
Recognize individuals; Try to discern intentions; Empathize with others; Communicate
and recognize a basic set of emotions
What are the stages of development? Are these stages universal?
Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete-operational, formal-operational
Yes
What is universal and culturally dependent about childhood and childrearing?
Universal: long period of dependence; rapid learning; personality traits from interaction
between genetics, environment and culture;
Culturally dependent: adherence to cultural norms; what adults expect of children;
parental responsiveness to infants and baby-holding; parent-child play; parental
acceptance and rejection of children; compliance or assertiveness; attitudes towards
aggression; task assignment; schooling
Sex and Gender
Is a binary concept of gender a cultural universal? Give some examples of variations in
the concept of gender that we discussed
No, cultures worldwide “build in” roles for different gender expressions
Ex. Concept of “two spirit”: masculine men, feminine men, masculine women, feminine
women (indigenous north American); Hijra: a third gender (India); “Ladyboys”: a third
gender (Thailand)
Explain male and female reproductive strategies. Why male and female animals have
different strategies?
Females: Females choose males- females want to mate with the highest quality males;
signal/ hid ovulation
, Males: Male compete for access to females- most competitive (weaponry- canines, size);
highest male in the dominance hierarchy; sneaky male that more dominant males
ignore; flashy, attractive; kind and friendly
Because females and males invest differently in each potential offspring- females: time,
effort, and energy to each offspring; males generally do not- so they want different
things out of their mates
Halloween
Where might zombies have originated?
Vodun religion in West Africa and brought to North American with slaves
What are some roles people have argued zombies play in American culture?
Disease; slow zombies vs. fast zombies
Give some explanations for the potential origin of vampires.
Chinese origins- resurrection, premature or improper burial, lack of burial after funeral
Slavic origins
Marriage
Explain some functions of marriage
Forms the social bonds and relationships for childcare; defines rights and obligations;
creates new alliances and relationships
What are the exogamous rules and endogamous rules that can govern marriage?
Exogamous rules: cannot marry a member of your own social group of category
Endogamous rules: must marry someone of your own social group or category
What are explanations for the existence of the incest taboo?
Widen scale of economic and political cooperation; family disruption hypothesis;
inbreeding avoidance; childhood familiarity
Explain the Chippewa practice of cross-cousin marriage and their relationship with
parallel cousins. Would you expect the Chippewa to use the same term to refer to cross
and parallel cousins? Why or why not?
Man expected to make bawdy jokes or marry to his female cross-cousins, but never to
his female parallel cousins
No, because they treat cross-cousins and parallel cousins in different ways
What is the most common residence pattern after marriage?
Patrilocal
What roles do economics play in the process of getting married in different cultures?
, As a consideration, and as the a part of ceremony
Kinship!
Biological vs. fictive kinship
Biological kinship: people who are biologically related
Fictive kinship: people who are not biologically related but behave as if they were relatives
What is unilineal descent? Explain the difference between patrilineal and matrilineal
descent. Ambilineal descent? Bilateral kinship?
Unilineal descent: kin groups are affiliated through one sex only
Patrilineal descent: the rule of descent that affiliates individuals with kin of both sexes
related to them through men only
Matrilineal descent: family descent passes through lineages of women (men usually
maintain cultural authority)
Ambilineal descent: kin groups are associated with men or women
Bilateral kinship: a type of kinship system in which relatives of mother and father of
equal importance
What are important things to take into account when classifying and naming relatives in
a kinship system?
Generaion, relative age, lineal kin or collateral kin, gender, consanguinal kin or affinal
kin, side of the family
Associations
What are the features which define an association? Give an example of an association to
which you belong, and explain how it fits these features.
Formal structure; exclude some people; members have a common interest or purpose;
members have a sense of pride and belonging
Ex. Osu. because structure: Freshman sophomore; excluded: paying tuition; test score; common
interest: football; pride: Carmen Ohio
What are the differences between achieved and ascribed qualities? Which are more
important for joining an association in a stratified society? In an egalitarian society?
Achieved qualities: skills acquired over lifetime (stratified society)
Ascribed qualities: qualities determined at birth (egalitarian society)
Give some examples of nonvoluntary associations. What role do they serve? What
societies are more likely to have them?
Associations based on ascribed characteristics ex. age-set in Xavante, they are important
organizing structure for both men and women. in unstratified society
Define an age set. Define a unisex association.
, Age-set: a group of people of similar age and the same sex who move through life stages
together
Unisex association: associations for one sex
What are some examples of voluntary associations? Role? Which societies will you likely
find them in?
Ethnic associations, military associations. Provide people with varying interests a group
of people with. In stratified and complex societies
Political organization
Don’t forget about inequality. What defines an egalitarian, ranked, and stratified
society?
Differential access to resources: egalitarian: none; ranked: prestige; stratified: prestige,
power, economic resources
What is the political organization of most cultures today?
States
How are multisociety states problematic? Example: Ivory Coast
Civil war splits country north and south, so a president may supported strongly by one
side, but opposed by another side.
Elections hold ethnic weight beyond just political perspective
Religion
How is religion defined, anthropologically? What about cult?
Cults: religious group that follows a particular theological system
Religion: attitudes, beliefs, and practices relating to supernatural power
Give some evidence for early religion and ritual
Complex burials, art- cave paintings, venus figures
Why are some reasons theorists have given for the development of religions?
The need to understand: speculation about reasons for dreams, trances, and death
(E.B.Tylor)
Events in childhood can be important for development of religious beliefs; as an adult, if
things are complicated, reverting to something that comforted you as a child (Freud)
Anxiety and uncertainty: religion lowers stress (Malinowksi)
Need for community: religion affirms place in society, enhances community (Durkheim)
Mechanism for cooperation: religion creates solidarity, solidarity enhances cooperation;
supernatural beings as “police”
