What are the adaptive functions of the behavior and situation?
(In anthropological terms, what is their etic experience?) This is the question which is usually not asked on a common level, yet is the one that can provide the greatest insights and understandings. For example, some Westerners may be willing to accept that the belief some peoples have about supernatural witchcraft being the cause illness is meaningful to them, rather than simply writing this off as “superstitious.” But they may fail to consider that such beliefs have important functions in these groups, such as defining norms of “good” behavior by contrasting these with what a “witch” does and as controlling deviance because people are afraid of being accused of being a witch if they step out of accepted boundaries of behavior. If we did not ask about the functions of beliefs in witchcraft, we would never develop insights like understanding that such views can help promote constructive behavior that helps the whole group adapt. A particular meaning may have an important function in a
