Week 8 Racism Variation Blog Post

1.  The environmental stress that I wish to focus on is the cold, which can be very detrimental to the survival of humans if the conditions are extreme.  For example, humans are at risk of developing a condition known as hypothermia in extremely frigid climates, which means that their body temperatures have fallen far below the typical 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.  In order to sustain life in the cold, one must have a high body mass that is capable of retaining heat so that it can survive.  However, regardless of a human's body mass, the cold can be devastating to the human body, as its effects can result in a person's body temperature altering, which is disturbing the process of homeostasis (homeostasis is responsible for maintaining body temperature at a steady level). 

2.  Humans have adapted to the cold in numerous ways.  The first of these is shivering, which is a short-term response that the body uses to temporarily heat itself up.   Another way the human body adapts to the cold is by increasing the amount of fat that insulates the important bodily organ, which reduces heat loss and maintains the body temperature; this is an example of a facultative adaptation.  In addition to these two methods, the human body heats itself genetically through the use of developmental adaptions, specifically ones that change the body shape so that it is compact and round enough to retain heat.  Finally, the body uses cultural adaptions, such as wearing clothing that is suitable for the frigid temperatures, as a means of staying warm.

3.  The benefits of studying human variation across various environmental stresses is important because it allows us to see how humans adapt to survive numerous stresses that they encounter.  This information can be useful because it gives us an idea of the traits that thrive in varying environmental stresses.  For example, the more stout and compact a person's body is, the more likely that individual is capable of surviving in cold weather; on the contrary, we know that this body type is not idea for living in warm conditions.

4.  Race has very little to do with the short term response addressed in #2 because people of all races shiver when they are cold in order to heat their bodies.  However, one could affiliate certain races with more fat covering their vital organs, which would associate that race with the facultative adaption I addressed.  The same can be said for the developmental trait, as one could suggest that a specific race is more likely to be rounder and more compact than others (again, not necessarily true but it can be used to understand the types of people who are more likely to thrive in cold weather).  Finally, the clothing worn by individuals can tell a lot about their culture as well as the climate, so heavier clothing on a group of people would suggest success in cold weather.  Of course, none of these relationships to race are as legitimate as linking these adaptations to traits that are common amongst any individual in these environments.  The fact is that a person of any race can survive in freezing climates so long as they possess the traits that are required to survive; this is why race is an inferior method of understanding human variation.

Language Experiment Blog Post

This is my account of the results of the language experiment I engaged in over the weekend, which involved myself, a few of my friends, and my two brothers.

Part 1:  I found this experiment to be very challenging because it removes the communication aspect of having a conversation (for lack of a better description).  As I involved myself in a conversation with people, I quickly found myself shut out of the discussion, with the occasional question asking if I agreed with something that had been said, to which I would have no choice but to respond with a mere nod or shake of the head.  This is something that I do not often find myself doing in conversation, as I prefer to use a healthy combination of verbal and physical communication in everyday conversations.  It was this departure from what I am comfortable doing that made this experiment difficult, but definitely not as difficult as its second part (which was definitely a surprise to me).  As I mentioned above, my partners in conversation definitely treated me differently while I was unable to speak verbally; most of them did not include me in the conversation because they knew I could not keep one going (after all, how entertaining and enticing can a conversation be if one of the participants isn't truly participating?).  A few of the people tried to include me, as I previously mentioned, but I could only contribute nods or head shakes, anything that did not resemble actual language.  I must say, however, that this part of the exercise made me a much better listener in conversations, as I was more or less forced to listen to what my partners while thinking of limited ways I could contribute.  But I digress; essentially, the way my friends and brothers communicated with me for these fifteen minutes was very different from the way we normally communicate with one another because of my inability to speak and therefore contribute to the conversation.  If my partners and I were part of two different cultures that were meeting for the very first time, I would say that the culture I belong to would be at a severe disadvantage because my partners are able to verbally communicate.  This ability allows them to present and discuss new and complex ideas much better than I would be able to in this scenario, given that I cannot speak and therefore cannot do much more than respond to yes or no questions.  Because of my inability to speak, I would most likely be viewed by the speaking culture as inferior to them, and they would most likely treat me in a way that demonstrates their assumed superiority over me.  An example of this scenario in our culture today would be people who immigrate to the United States of America (or to any land foreign to them) and attempt to integrate themselves into the population.  The cultural differences as well as the variation in spoken language would both contribute to these newcomers receiving negative attention from many people; some would most likely feel that the immigrants are inferior to them simply because they are not accustomed to the local customs and language.  While it is clear that this treatment is unfair, it cannot be denied that people from other countries who are not familiar with American culture and/or the English language deal with negative treatment from those who are fluent in the language and culture of the country.

Part 2:  I was surprisingly able to communicate using only words for fifteen minutes with my partners, but it was an extremely difficult challenge for me.  For one, it is nearly impossible to speak without using inflections that subtly (or blatantly, depending on how they are used) reveal my emotions about a particular subject.  I am certain that I inadvertently used intonations in my voice at one point, but for the most part I was able to avoid using them.  What made this such a challenge was the additional lack of movements and gestures that accompanied the scenario; participating in this experiment made me realize how much I use my hands and face to express my feelings throughout a conversation.  In order to remain focused on my task, I forced myself to keep my hands pinned to my side while I thought of ways to stay as detached from the conversation as possible (I wanted to avoid getting excited or passionate about the discussion because I often use my hands and face when talking about something I am into).  Because I could speak using actual words in this span of fifteen minutes, my partners were rather relieved, although they were thrown off by my almost robotic lack of emotion as I spoke.  Some of my friends did not understand my sarcasm or joking remarks because I was unable to say them in a way that would typically provide levity to a situation.  These minor issues were not nearly as off-putting to my brothers and friends as my inability to speak was in the previous part of the experiment.  This part of the experiment shows just how important it is to be able to communicate not only what you feel, but why you feel that way.  Without being able to demonstrate different vocal tones or use hands, people are incapable of sharing exactly how they feel about something; it would almost feel like having a conversation with a machine that has no emotions or desire.  This inability to have effective conversations is greatly contributed to this machine-like delivery of information, which is why it is so necessary to use physical gestures in speech.  There are some people who have difficulty reading body language, particularly those who are socially primitive and have little experience dealing with people (I imagine a hermit would definitely be amongst those who struggle with reading body language).  If a person (or a creature) is able to read body language, it might help that person or animal stay alive.  For example, a creature in the ocean that can read body language might be able to figure out when predators are coming to attack because of the physical hints that body language provides.  At the moment, I cannot think of any particular situation where being able to read body language might not come in handy in the environment (when I do think of some I will add them to this post by commenting on it).  Perhaps in an environment where body language is misleading and will lead to death?