Question

you can define each of the following concepts in your own words.

• atavism
• colonialism
• imperialism
• criminal anthropology
• forensic psychiatry
• positivism
• medicalization
• biochemical contributions
• Binet Scale
• criminal profiling
• eugenics

Answer 1

Atavism

It is a modification of a biological structure whereby an ancestral trait reappears after having been lost through many years together in previous generations. Atavisms are traits of distant ancestors that reappear in the modern day eg: having wide jaw with larger teeths.

Colonialism

A country conquers and rules over other regions. It means exploiting the resources of the conquered country for the benefit of the conqueror.EG: places like India, Australia, North America, Algeria, New Zealand and Brazil, which were all controlled by the Europeans.
Imperialism

A foreign government governs a territory without significant settlement. Imperialism is just exercising power over the conquered regions either through sovereignty or indirect mechanisms of control. Eg:The scramble for Africa in the late 19th century and the American domination of Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

Criminal Anthropology

It means something like a born criminal or criminal type, based on the belief that criminals had certain physical characteristics e.g., sloping teeth, large ears that distinguished them from non criminals

Forensic psychiatry

It is a branch of psychiatry that deals with issues arising in the interface between psychiatry and the law, and with the flow of mentally disordered offenders along a continuum of social systems.

Positivism

Positivism is the view that social phenomena ought to be studied using only the methods of the natural sciences. It’s a philosophical system that holds that every rationally justifiable assertion can be scientifically verified or is capable of logical or mathematical proof, and that therefore rejects metaphysics and theism.

Medicalization

It’s a process in which human problems become defined and treated as medical problems” It notes whether a condition has come under medical jurisdiction.

Biochemical contributions

Biochemistry determine the chemical composition of foods, research ways to develop abundant and inexpensive sources of nutritious foods, develop methods to extract nutrients from waste products, and/or invent ways to prolong the shelf life of food products.

Binet Scale

An examination meant to measure intelligence through five factors of cognitive ability. These five factors include fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing and working memory. Both verbal and nonverbal responses are measured.

Criminal profiling

It involves the investigation of a crime with the hope of identifying the criminal based on crime scene analysis, forensic psychology, and behavioral science.

Eugenics

It’s a study of methods improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics).