Shienna Mae M.

Alvis
Module I.2
Biocultural and Socio-political Evolution
I. General Instructions:
a. Digest the text assigned to the module
b. Watch the youtube videos for supplementary knowledge.
c. Answer the questions via schoology.
d. Don’t forget to cite your sources.
e. Password for “module I.2” can be found below.
II. Assigned Reading: Human Biology: An Evolutionary and Biocultural Perspective

III. Videos:
1. “Darwin and Natural Selection: Crash Course History of Science #22” by Crash
Course (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfsUz2O2jww)
2. “What Happened Before History? Human Origins” by kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGiQaabX3_o&t=11s)
3. “Origins of the First Civilizations” by The Infographics Show
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGiQaabX3_o&t=11s)

IV. DEFINITION OF TERMS:

Define the following terms comprehensively using the
assigned reading for the module, or if the following terms are not found in the
assigned reading, then you may look for its contextual definition in the internet
but make sure to cite your sources.

1. Human Biology (5pts)

● study of humans from the cellular and individual level to the population level.
● Human Biologists study how the human species evolved, how the species changes over
the lifespan, how humans adapt to external stressors, and how human biology and
culture influence disease risk.
2. Plasticity (5pts)
● Plasticity refers to the capacity of organisms or cells to alter their phenotype in response
to changes in their environment.
3. Evolution (5pts)
● Evolution is a process that results in changes in the genetic content of a population over
time.
● Evolution is defined as the process of growth and development or the theory that
organisms have grown and developed from past organisms4. External Stressors (5pts)
5. Normal Clinical Range (5pts)
● The “normal clinical range” is that found for people within the clinical population.
● In medicine, a set of values that a doctor uses to interpret a patient's test results. The
normal range for a given test is based on the results that are seen in 95% of the healthy
population.
6. Synthetic Theory of Evolution (5pts)
● This term refers simply to the fact that the modern theory of evolution is a synthesis of
Darwinian theory (Charles Darwin, 1809–1882, published Origin of Species in 1859) and
the science of genetics
7. Genotype (5pts)
● A genotype is an individual's collection of genes. The term also can refer to the two
alleles inherited for a particular gene. The genotype is expressed when the information
encoded in the genes' DNA is used to make protein and RNA molecules.
8. Phenotype (5pts)
● The term "phenotype" refers to the observable physical properties of an organism; these
include the organism's appearance, development, and behavior.
9. Mutation (5pts)
● Mutation is the ultimate source of genetic variation, through the alteration of bases in the
DNA molecule. Mutation provides the raw material on which natural selection can
operate. Because mutations arise by chance, different mutations are likely to occur in
different populations, and this can be a cause of population variation
● A mutation is a change in a DNA sequence. Mutations can result from DNA copying
mistakes made during cell division, exposure to ionizing radiation, exposure to chemicals
called mutagens, or infection by viruses.
10. Gene Drift (5pts)
● Genetic drift refers to stochastic changes in allele frequencies, such as the one person
with a particular allele being eaten by a predator or killed in a motor accident. Random
change is likely to have larger effects in small isolated populations, where a given allele
may be introduced and retained (or eliminated) by chance
● Genetic drift describes random fluctuations in the numbers of gene variants in a
population. Genetic drift takes place when the occurrence of variant forms of a gene,
called alleles, increases and decreases by chance over time.
11. Gene Flow (5pts)
● Gene flow is the exchange of genetic material between populations through the
processes of migration and mating.
12. Acclimatization (5pts)
● Acclimatization refers to changes during the lifetime of an organism that reduce the
harmful effects of naturally occurring environmental factors such as climate, nutrient
imbalance, or disease. An excellent example of acclimatization is the tanning that occurs
in response to exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet radiation (UVR).
13. Habituation (5pts)
● Habituation is the gradual reduction of response to repeated stimulation or the
perception of stimulation. The ability to “tune out” urban noise after repeated or constant
exposure is an example of habituation.
14. Cultural Adaptation (5pts)
● Cultural adaptation is the process and time it takes a person to integrate into a new
culture and feel comfortable within it.
V. READING AND ANALYSIS:
Answer the following questions using the reading
assigned to the module.
1. How does human biology differ from the social sciences? (5pts)
● The study of human beings, their behavior, and social systems is known as human
biology. All social scientific hypotheses concerning human behavior must be consistent
with proven biological principles and laws, because social sciences are branches of
biology.
2. What is the role of human biology in understanding how people develop
culture? (5pts)
● Human Biologists study how the human species evolved, how the species changes over
the lifespan, how humans adapt to external stressors, and how human biology and
culture influence disease risk. Human biology requires that we attend to the fact that
humans are cultural beings. Human biologists therefore rely heavily on a biocultural
perspective. This approach recognizes that human biology interacts with culture and can
only be understood in light of culture—culture both influences our environment and
affects how we respond to that environment.

3. What can be deduced between the credentials and standard set by

Human Biology in comparison to the Social Sciences? (10pts)
● Since biology is the study of living organisms, their behavior, and social systems, and
because humans are living organisms, social sciences (the study of human behavior and
social systems) could be considered a branch of biology, and all social scientific theories
should be consistent with known biological principles.

4. Explain life history theory and what is its participation in explaining human
biology? (5pts)
● The life history hypothesis discusses the general characteristics of the life cycle, such as
how quickly an organism grows, matures, lives, and reproduces. Natural selection,
fitness, adaptation, and constraint are all addressed directly in this theory, which is why it
is so important in evolutionary biology.

5. Is the symbolic definition of culture still relevant after being explained and
reduced by a complex relationship, manifested through behaviors, found
in the interaction of the individual and the environment as said in Human
Biology? (10pts)
● Yes, the symbolic definition of culture is still relevant for still, culture shapes the way
people think about and act upon their world. Culture alters human biology by influencing
the limits of acceptable biological and behavioral traits within a society. Biology and
culture both influences our environment and affects how we respond to that
environment.The symbolic notion of culture remains significant because culture
continues to impact how individuals think about and act in their environment. Culture has
 an impact on human biology by changing the boundaries of what is considered
acceptable biological and behavioral features in a culture.

6. What can be the possible effects on how people think and analyze
occasions, such as a world wide pandemic, given the biological definition
of what culture is? (10pts)
● The ways on how people think and analyze in a certain situation is affected both by
his/her human biological and cultural identity. Culture can affect the environment of a
person, and this environment must be adjusted by the person to enable him/her to
survive. So, I think this pandemic has affected people’s thinking differently wherein they
have to adjust immediately to the changes in the environment they live in wherein the
behavior and characteristics being developed by the people will be characterized by
human biology.

VI. REFLECTION SERIES:

Make a short reflection with exactly ten (10) statements.

1. Using the ideas presented by this article, what are the possible effects of
poverty to the conditions of education, economy, politics, health, etc. of
a certain population concerning their short or long term adaptations and
the implications of these adaptations to the next generations?

● Adaptation is necessary for living organisms to survive and animals who are unable to
acclimatize to changes in their environment die.Humans adapt to poverty in many ways
either in a short or long term. When it comes to health, poverty might make a society
more susceptible to disease owing to a lack of nutrients delivered to the body. It may
also influence a person's development, as malnutrition causes stagnation in growth.
Moreover, if a person’s biological adaptation is short towards poverty, it can
negatively affect his/her health. Also, difficult adaptation in poverty brings no good in
the field of education,politics, and economy. Poverty hinders people from going to
school, and having a lack of education may cause a large increase in the
unemployment rate and may cause a large decline in the economy of the country.
With this, people need to effectively adapt behaviorally to the changes that are
happening in their environment. Furthermore, these adaptations allow the people to
obtain energy,avoid danger,restore material storage, and gain survival knowledge. The
codes for these successful adaptations are passed onto the next generation as one
generation passes on its genes to the next.
POINTS DESCRIPTION

20 Provided at least three (5) major points for discussion and explained each point
completely in not more than 10 sentences.

12 Provided two (3) major points for discussion and explained each point sufficiently
but with some missing details in exactly 10 sentences.

1 Provided two (3) major points for discussion and explained each point sufficiently
but with some missing details in exactly 10 sentences.

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