Exam 4: Psychological and Cognitive Anthropology

Compare and contrast Derek Freeman's and Margaret Mead's research in Samoa. Discuss the controversy that arose over Mead's work. What were the principal issues in Freeman's critique of Mead's research? How does this controversy reflect general criticisms of the culture-and-personality school?

Fixed, complex, genetically based, unlearned behaviors are referred to as __________.

Derek Freeman argued that Margaret Mead's research concerning adolescents in Samoa was flawed and led her to make erroneous conclusions.

In her classic work Patterns of Culture (1934), Ruth Benedict used the terms "Apollonian" and "Dionysian" to describe __________.

The human capacity for culture is __________.

When anthropologists discuss "agency," they are referring to which of the following?

According to Jean Piaget, people in different cultures progress through different cognitive and developmental stages.

What are some of the ways in which decisions influenced by one's culture can regularly override basic human drives to: 1) eat, 2) sleep, 3) have sex?

Enculturation completely determines a person's personality and behavior.

The childhood familiarity hypothesis proposes that children raised together are more likely to become sexually involved as adults.

Incest avoidance is a universal practice among all known human societies.

What are some of the most important methods of enculturation used in your own society? Give an example of how your own personality has been affected by enculturation. Conclude with a discussion of agency and the limits of enculturation in general as well as in your own experience.

What is the interactionist perspective? Do you think biology or culture has a greater influence on human behavior? Discuss the difference between drives and instincts in your answer. Be specific.

The process by which an individual learns how to behave within a particular society is known as __________.

Anthropologists have discovered that children raised together in Israeli kibbutzim __________.

What reasons have anthropologists proposed for why people avoid participating in incestuous relationships? How have cross-cultural studies supported or contradicted the notion that incest taboos are universal? Support your answer with specific examples.

A parrot's ability to speak like a human is an example of a closed instinct.

An example of one way in which humans can make decisions to ignore or override basic needs would be __________.

Studies have shown that Japanese children are raised in such a way as to lose their sense of individuality in favor of group identity.

The use of government legislation to prohibit or limit homosexual behavior is a practice that __________.