Human Variation & Race

1. Environmental stresses are part of all lives and has a great impact to all. Climate adaption is one of the many environmental stresses humans have encounter and have to adapt to. When living in cold climate there are many dangers that one will face such as hypothermia which is caused when there is a drop in core body temperature.  When living in cold climate usually the person has a greater increase in body mass and a diet that consists in much fattier foods which helps one to tolerate living in such harsh conditions and helps produce an increase in body heat. Cultures in that live in cold conditions face this high extreme weather is by using insulating clothing, houses, and fires. Other ways people adapt to this is by limiting the amount of time that is spent outside and leave those activities to warmer times during the day.  In some cases families will sleep in groups with one another’s bodies being pushed up against each other to help maintain a warmer body temperatures during the cold winter months.  

2. Four ways in which humans have adapted to the stress of living in cold weather are:

• People who are living in such cold climates drink alcohol to help warm them. By doing this it helps to increase blood flow which thereby causing the feeling of warmth. But these results are only temporary and can be dangerous to do because it can speed up the loss in heat from the vital internal organs which results in a more rapid death from hypothermia.

• Body size and shape are a very important influence when living in cold climate. There is a high increase in body mass and compact bodies with less surface area which are more common when living in cold climates. It helps produce a high increase in body heat.

• When living in harsh subarctic regions another way many of the cultures adapt to the cold climates is by consuming large quantities of high calorie fatty foods such as such the Inuit (Eskimo) do.  This knowingly increased the basal metabolic rate, which results in the making of extra body heat. 

• The Inuit (Eskimo) also dress in thick and heavy clothing, often slept in a huddle with their bodies next to each other, and continued to be active when being outdoors.

3. The benefits of studying human variation from this perspective across environmental clines is that we gather new information in which can teach us on how to adapt into a new environment. We can study this information and can receive so much from it. Yes this information can be very useful to help us because it teaches us how one can adapt to a new environment and gives us very valuable information.

4. Race isn’t the reason being why a certain culture can adapt. No matter what race one is we all have that power in being able to and have the capability to adapt into any environment in which is thrown to us. It is just a matter of teaching yourself on how to adapt and also by being taught and learning from other. All throughout society everyone is adapting into which ever environment they live.  It is important to learn information such as this and spread it amongst each other because that is how we are taught and it is how we learn that one’s race isn’t what matters when it comes to adapting into a new environment because we all can adapt no matter which environment we cross paths with.

Language Experiment

The language experiment was quite an experience. It showed me just how both verbal and movement communication is important when communicating with others. It sure did bring that point across to my group in which I conducted the experiment with. Throughout the whole experiment they just simply thought it was hilarious on how much I was struggling on trying to put my input in the conversation but I must admit it was a very fun and joyful experiment for both my friends and IJ.  

Movement: Now part one of the experiments I have to say was the most problematic part of the experiment for me. Not being able to use any form of speaking to communicate with my friends just seemed impossible because just let me tell you I was never good at charades so you can just imagine how this conversation went. I literally felt like I was going to go insane because throughout the whole conversation my friends were unable to comprehend what it is I wanted to point across. I just wanted to scream and shout what it is I wanted to say but I just stayed come and collected while my friends just looked at me with confusion. My partners attempted many times to change the way they were communicating with me but I’m just not great with only using movement and hand gestures to put my point across. I do that much better with verbal speaking. I do believe that a culture that uses speaking as their form of communication would have more of an advantage because it is just easier to learn and habitat a new language but then again any form of language can have an advantage because it is just simply a matter of learning ones language but that can definitely take quite some time to learn. So maybe using symbolic language will be a lot easier to use when trying to communicate with others whom are from a different culture.  

Verbal:  Part two of the experiment was relatively difficult for me because I have noticed that I myself use a lot of movement when it comes to conversing with others. I use the movement as a way to prompt my body language and show expression on the subject in which we are discussing. But since I had to sit still with no sudden movements it made this part of the experiment very challenging for me. I was able to put my point across when talking to my partners. They were fully capable to understand me and my arguments but they just thought it was the funniest thing that I couldn’t use any sort of movement when speaking because even them themselves know how difficult it is not to use hand movements or gestures when participating in a conversation. I do believe that not many people have much of a difficult time reading body language because I do feel that being able to see how one is feeling and the type of mood they’re in can be read by their body language. I also do believe that one can also feel how one is feeling you can just get this vibe off a person when standing next to them.  

After the experiment I came to a conclusion that no matter how one is communicating either it be verbal or movement each one of them has its own characteristics that one can like or dislike. In terms of which one is more important I do feel that both are very important aspect to one’s communication. They are both equally important to have when exchanging opinions, thoughts, and feelings when being part of a conversation or all in general when one is just simply communicating with others.