Anthropological Foundation of Educ.

“Culture encompasses the behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a particular group of people that are passed on from generation to generation” (Santrock).

What is anthropology? This is a question that can be answered in numerous ways, but we are going to define it as simple as possible. If we break the word down into its two components it means the study of human beings. “Anthropo” means human beings or human kind and “logy” or “logia” is Greek for the study or knowledge of something. When we put it all together, it is the study of human beings which can be very broad. Anthropology can be broken down into four subfields: physical anthropology, archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and cultural anthropology.

Anthropology is holistic. Humans are social beings more than anything, but with underlying psychological, biological and cultural connotations. The field of anthropology encompasses everything and anything having to do with humankind throughout history. Anthropology attempts to answer the tough questions about the human condition. What influences our actions? How has our species changed? Why do we look down on other cultures or societies? The questions are endless. It is the anthropologists’ job to try and answer them with unbiased subjectivity in order to come analytical conclusions about us as humans. (Kottak 14). To understand humans and the complexity of our cultures anthropology uses knowledge not only from the social and biological sciences, but also the physical sciences and humanities. In order to cover such a wide base of human history and interaction, anthropology itself has been split up into four different subsets that allow us to delve deeper into the understanding of the human condition. What is common throughout all the subsets is the application of knowledge in an effort to solve human problems. Throughout history though, the problems we have faced as humans have not always been the same. In fact they often change from generation to generation. For anthropology to keep up with these changes it’s had to

The science of paleoanthropology, which also tries to create a narrative about how humans came to be, is deeply technical. Paleoantropology is the science of the evolution of humans, and it is the base of all research in that field. Humans have undergone many different changes during the last hundred

Through Biological Anthropology has shown how this process is done and the research from different geographical changes helps in the developmental change. By studying human beings within their living habit shows how the all of the different elements comes into account in the development of humans. By breaking down the different environmental differences along with the personal’s economic background with the combination with their genetic profile determines the development of the individuals. Biology Anthropology shows what all forces both internally and externally have a part in each and everyone’s development.

A central principle of morality or values; “Shared ideas about what is good and desirable.” An example of value is the way by which people adjudicate facets of shared existence. The Normative characteristics encompass religion, a connotation of “a set of beliefs and practices pertaining to supernatural powers and the origins and meaning of life.” (gb) The most obvious example of religion being the self-identification with organized religion. Moving on, one must become accustomed with norms, or more simply “Shared rules and expectations about behavior.” (gb) Norms being seen in the forms of Folkways and mores, folkways being customary mannerisms and norms. Whereas, mores are norms that are elevated in importance in keeping with values of law and order. Supplementing norms are sanctioned, which society uses to achieve “A reward or punishment for conforming to or violating cultural norms.” (gb) Both “reward” and “punishment is easily palpable in the forms of upward social mobility and criminal proceedings made to include criminal punishments. Finally comes artifact, which manifests as “A physical product of a culture.” (GB) An archetype of artifact is a relic of any given culture. In summary, major characteristics of a culture create a commonality among regions, while allowing

Biology anthropology, which is also known as physical anthropology, is meant to examine the process of human evolution and human biosocial variation. Once these topics are better understood, an anthropologist is able to help with issues such as, nutrition, health in societies, genetics within the human population, and adaptations. Anthropology also crosses into the topic of history, because today’s anthropologists are trying to disprove the thought process of people. In the past, many strongly believed that people were set apart by the physical, such as their appearance or the way they spoke. But today, anthropologists want individuals to better understand that race is not a reason to divide people like we use to in the past.

collective reality that can be studied in it's own right. Various cultures develop their own cultural

Several factors affect the formation of one’s culture, Palispis, E. (2007) quoted Sir Edward Tylor, “Culture… refers to that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as member of society.” (Palispis, E., 2007) In this context culture is something we acquire from the people we have lived with since we were born, it is not something a person can learn overnight nor can be disposed effortlessly.

The study of human development is a science. It is based on theories, data, analysis, critical thinking, and sound methodology (Berger). Five characteristics of Development that will be discussed in this paper are multidirectional, multi-contextual, multicultural, multidisciplinary and plasticity. There are also five theories of development which are psychoanalytical, behaviorism, cognitive, socio-cultural, and epigenetic theory. Together these characteristics and theories can be used together to get a better understanding of the human development and how much genetics play a role in development and how much the

They took up the scientific ideas of natural selection and the survival of the fittest and applied the concepts to the human social world.

The next concept that will be applying to my observation is cultural objects. The term cultural object is an object or symbol that has multiple meanings; in society we negotiated around these objects for power purposes.

1. Culture is perceived as a way of thinking that influences the behaviors of a group of people.

There are three foundations of human development. The foundations are the biological development, psychological development, and social development. The concept of human diversity and cultural competences demonstrates how different people can be. General systems theory and social order are connected in some way.

'Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another.' (Hofstede, 1991)