Main Themes Of Anthropology

Emphasizes the use of the Scientific Method in the investigation of social and natural phenomena. Also, the respect of the concept of culture.

-A systematic method of investigation, aimed at ensuring maximum objectivity and consistency, that was first propounded and used by Francis Bacon , and that relies on empirical evidence (evidence based on observation, experimentation, and experience.) rather than on speculation, intuition, and common sense.

1) Definition of the problem

2) Review of literature

3) Formulation of hypothesis

4) Selection of the research design

5) Collection and analysis of data

6) Development of conclusions

A testable proposition on the relationship pf a set of variables

A broad based generalized conclusion that has universal validity and applicability.

a) Systematic collection, classification, and analyzes of data.

b) Formulation and testing of hypothesis and theories.

c) Use the deductive method and inductive method

Research approach in which scientists establish or build hypotheses or speculative assumptions from general investigation.

Research approach in which scientists test the validity of hypotheses by collecting data and analyzing it.

Insists that anthropologists must do field work. Requires scientists to be participant observers of the culture of their problem for an extended amount of time.

-Ethnography permits the anthropologist to have Comparative or Cross-cultural perspective, and see from both the emic and etic perspective

Views a problem from the point of view of insiders.

Views a problem or culture from the point of view of outsiders.

Believed the scientific method implies maintaining "value neutrality" or "verstehen", that is, seeing reality from the emic approach and not imposing one's personal biases on research outcomes.

-That organisms, human behavior, culture, and society ore not static, but change with time, from simple states to more complex states, and

-That most changes in human behavior come about more because of environmental factors than of genetic factors.

implies that culture is so important to its owners that it appears as if it were God-given and not man-made. Culture determines the reality of those who own it.

-Presupposes that cultural elements are diverse, interconnected, and interelated, and make sense only to those who belong to the culture.

-Implies that what is accepted as right in one society may be very wrong in another society and that behavior of people must be understood or evaluated in terms of their own culture.

A practice among some Australian aboriginal tribes in which mother-in-laws are required by custom to have sex with their son-in-laws as a way of fostering family solidarity

A practice found among the Truskese of Micronesia in which the first partner to have orgasm is considered the failure of the contest. In such contest, it is self control that matters.

Views all people and societies of the world as interconnected and interrelated, and must be treated with dignity, equity, and respects.

Emphasizes that all human beings, regardless of color, sex and class, are fully and equally human and that all human species belong to the same biological family type call Homo Sapiens. No human race or species is nearer the ape or farther away from the ape than another human species., to be different does not mean to be less, neither does it mean to be more, it only means to be different. All human beings deserve to be studied, and treated with honor, dignity, equity and respect.

Primates characterized by: bipedal, locomotion, upright posture, a high-vaulted skull, vertical forehead, pronounced chin, grasping fingers, and an average brain size of 1450 cubic centimeters.

Emphasizes that anthropologists should study all aspects of the human condition, This means that anthropology insists that human beings must be studied from a multifaceted/ multidimensional and cross-disciplinary/ interdisciplinary perspective

-Use scientific method, Employ data from many other disciplines, Avoid armchair research, Avoid making speculative assumptions not based on research, Avoid scientific reductionsim. Employ the emic and etic approaches, Employ the formalist and substantivist approaches, View culture as systematic or an organismic whole.

The belief that one's cultural values. items, and behavioral traits are better than those of others.

All human beings are ethnocentric, or impose their own cultural biases on the cultures they study.