Behavioral Anthropology: Toward an Integrated Science of Human Behavior [Paperback]

Behavioral Anthropology is a unique introduction, combining an intellectual biography with an explanation of methodological principles. Each chapter deals with a specific methodological issue, such as research design, the role of theory, various strategies for measuring behavior, psychological or situational variables, samples and surveys, and both simple and complex methods of data analysis and interpretation. Graves includes a clear analysis of his distinctive approach to cross-cultural research. He explains how the behavioral anthropological approach gives focus to ethnographic study and illuminates the causes, correlates and consequences of within-group variation in behavior and in changes over time. For those interested in a behavioral and scientific approach to anthropology, this book will be a valuable reference and teaching tool.Theodore D. Graves is a retired professor of anthropology and social psychology who has conducted field research in the American southwest, Latin America, East Africa, and the South Pacific. He has twice won the Stirling Award in Culture and Personality of the American Anthropological Association.

I certainly agree with Graves on the need for a return to some sort of positivistic, scientific attitude in cultural anthropology, emphasizing evidence-based, and if possible, quantitative findings, with a research design that permits replication. Anthony F. C. Wallace, Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania

For those of us in anthropology committed to doing research that is both theoretically explicit and methodologically rigorous, the publication of Ted Graves' two volumes is a welcome event. These volumes bring together in one place some of the most interesting and innovative research that has been done in anthropology in the latter half of the 20th century. Students today need to study carefully his approach to integrating ethnography and quantitative methods, just as we did when these articles first appeared. All ol³³