Biological Anthropology/Unit 1: Evolutionary Theory/What is Biological Anthropology?

= What is Biological Anthropology? =

In order to answer this question, we first have to look at anthropology as a whole. So, just for a moment, let's start with the more general question, "What is anthropology?"

What is Anthropology?
Anthropology is the scientific study of humankind.

The main purpose of anthropology is for us to understand human biological and cultural diversity, and the origins of humans. So, the humans that anthropologists study can be modern or ancient, and can span across the globe. Anthropologists are unique in that they study the entirety of human existence over time and space.

Basic tenets of anthropology:

1) Holism:

Holism means that a part of something can only truly be understood if examined within relation to the whole of it. For anthropologists, this means that they try to understand humankind through the interrelationships of all aspects of human existence -- for example, human biology has to be examined within the context of human cultures and vice versa. In addition, all of this must be examined within the context of the environment and historical processes. In an effort to be holistic, anthropology is often an interdisciplinary field that crosses over into other fields such as history, geology, and ecology.

2) Relativism:

Relativism means that judgments, truths, or moral values have no absolutes, and can only be understood relative to the situation or individuals involved. For anthropologists, this means that they accept that all cultures are of equal value and must be studied from a neutral point of view. A good anthropologist must disregard their own beliefs, morals, and judgments when examining another culture. They must, instead, examine each culture within the context of its own beliefs.

3) Universalism:

Universalism means that whatever the theoretical principle is, it's equally applicable to all. For anthropologists, universalism means that we believe all humans are equal -- in intelligence, complexity, etc.This is in contrast to ethnocentrism, which is the belief that some peoples are more important or culturally/biologically better than other peoples.

4) Culture: 

All humans have culture. Culture is the set of learned behaviors and knowledge that belong to a certain set of people. This is different from genetically hardwired behaviors (such as reflexes) in that they aren't biologically inherited. The most important thing to remember is that culture is learned.

There are four subfields in anthropology: cultural anthropology, biological (or physical) anthropology, archaeology, and linguistic anthropology. Many anthropologists integrate multiple subfields in their work.

OK, now that you know what anthropology is -- let's go back to our original question, "What is Biological Anthropology?"

What is Biological Anthropology?
Biological anthropology is the study of the biology of humans and their nearest biological relatives. "Biological relatives" include both humankind's ancestors and our nearest living relatives, the non-human primates.

Biological anthropologists fall under 3 major categories:

1) Human biology (human biological diversity, genetics, adaptations to environmental stressors, etc.)

2) Primatology (non-human primate biology, evolution, behavior, ecology, etc.)

3) Paleoanthropology (human origins and human evolution)

These are the topics we'll be studying in this course. Each unit follows each of the 3 major categories found in biological anthropology.

Unit 1: In this unit, you'll learn the basic toolkit you'll need (evolutionary theory) in order to understand the rest of the course. This unit also covers human biology.

Unit 2: This unit covers primatology.

Unit 3: This unit covers paleoanthropology.

The Scientific Method
Anthropology is a science. Science is performed using a set of rules called The Scientific Method.

The Scientific Method has the following steps:

1) Define the problem

This is based on observation -- either something you've observed from nature or from something that's already been written. How many times have you seen something or read about something and thought up a question about it? If you have, then you've done the first step of the Scientific Method!

2) Hypothesis

Propose an explanation for the observed phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a GOOD hypothesis, it must be testable. In other words, you must be ABLE to test it to see if it's supported or not supported. A hypothesis is still good, even if it's unsupported, as long as it's testable.

There are lots of questions out there that are untestable, such as, "Somewhere on the planet, a pink elephant is dancing the can-can in a tutu." Because it's impossible to explore every inch of the world looking for our dancing elephant, this would not be feasibly testable. Along the same lines, a testable hypothesis would be, "Student group A, who have read the material on The Scientific Method, will have a higher average score on their quiz than will Student group B, who have not read the material on The Scientific Method."

3) Experiment

The experiment should be specifically designed to test the hypothesis. The experiment will provide data as to whether the hypothesis is supported or not. Experiments must be replicable by other researchers.

For our example above with ever-so-fortunate quiz-takers, you'd have Group A read the material (Group B would not) and both groups would take the quiz. This experimental design is replicable by other researchers because they too could find two groups of students, and follow the same protocol (one group reads the material, one not, and both take the quiz).

4) Organize/analyze data:

Once the experiment is completed, you must organize the data and analyze the results.

For our example, you would grade the quizzes and calculate the average score per group.

5) Hypothesis supported?

So... was the hypothesis supported or not?

For our example, let's say that Group A got a higher average score on the quiz than did Group B.

6) Conclusion

You develop a statement that sums up what the data (collected during the experimental phase) says about the hypothesis.

For our example, our concluding statement would be something like, "Group A, who read material on The Scientific Method, performed better on a Scientific Method quiz than did Group B, who did not read the material."

7) Share the knowledge

This hasn't been a step in the "old school version" of The Scientific Method, but remember -- information is only good if it's communicated to others!

The Scientific Method in Action!!!

Watch the following clip and identify the steps of The Scientific Method. Was their hypothesis testable? Was their experiment replicable? What was the conclusion of their "scientific endeavor"?

The Scientific Method in Action

An important note: Keep in mind while we discuss various topics in biological anthropology that each piece of information was once a hypothesis that was tested and supported by the data. Contradictory supported-hypotheses are possible. This just means that the data collected supports two (or more) hypotheses -- in most cases, there is not sufficient data available to support one more than the other (especially when we get to the information within human evolution). Hopefully, in these cases, one day we'll have enough evidence to overwhelmingly support one particular hypothesis, but at the present that's not possible. So, for the moment we have to open our minds to accept two potential conclusions.