I will admit, when I read the prompt I knew this would not be the easiest post. Simply because my major is Political Science. And although “science” is in the title, what I do in PoliSci versus the type of science we are dealing with here in Physical Anthropology largely differ. Especially when we are focusing on things such as genetics. To me, this is the most science-y thing I have the ability to understand. This stuff just goes in one ear and out the other. So not only did I expect relating it to my major would be difficult, I thought it would be hard for me, in general, to understand 

However, I remembered that though PoliSci is my first major, it is not my only. At the end of last year I added Psychology as my secondary major and can easily see how the type of biological science that we are discussing here ties into what I am studying in my Psych major. 

For example, a large part of psychological focus and research is the chemical makeup of the brain, with researchers asking what goes on physically within us when we display certain behaviors, feel certain emotions, etc. This micro-biological perspective is a cornerstone of the psychological basis. Understanding the details of what DNA is and how that affects someone’s makeup allows psychologists to build on that and apply their genetic traits to their actions. It is with an understanding of the small things that we are able to understand the larger things, and I mean that pretty physically. 

Upon thinking about this however, I don’t think my PoliSci major is as far off from Physical Anthropology as I first thought. My major aims to deal with human beings, understanding why people feel the way they do about certain forms of governments, how and why they vote the way they do, etc. I study people. And these people would not exist if it wasn’t for our evolutionary processes and our genetics that have allowed us to survive. Everyone has a stake unlearning about evolution, even us Political Science people. Being able to apply these ideas to larger themes and ideas that I am more comfortable learning and understanding has made a huge difference in what I was able to take away from this reading. 

As far as variation, this is something that we talk extensively about in Political Science. Every person has a different opinion, whether they are even fully aware of it. Everyone possesses some difference in thought or opinion. And understanding where these differences come from and how they affect our elections and government proceedings in general is what I personally find insanely interesting about my major. I love the fact that no one thinks the same about everything, and I love even more trying to find out why that is. So understanding the differences of all differences, genetic mutations, is something that is the crux of biological sciences, but leads to the differences studied in all other areas of study as well.