Anthro Test 1 – Flashcards

1. What is anthropology? a.The art of ethnography b. The study of long-term physiological adaptation c.The study of the stages of social evolution d.The humanistic investigation of myths in nonindustrial societies e.The exploration of human diversity in time and space

2. What is the term for the ability to create new expressions by combining other expressions? a. Displacement b. Productivity c. Diglossia d. Morphemic utility e. Phonemic utility

3. The tendency to view one's own culture as superior and to use one's own standards and values in judging others is called a. Patriotism b. Ethnocentrism c. Moral relativism d. Cultural relativism e. Illiteracy

4. Systematic survey and excavation a. Are techniques of the past that have been replaced by remote sensing and digital photography b. Are the two major components of fieldwork in molecular anthropology c. Are techniques that have been discouraged because they lead to negative environmental impacts d. Yield better results when the study team is small e. Are the two major components of fieldwork in archaeology and paleoanthropology

5. Linguistic stratification can occur between dialects when one is considered a prestige dialect, as in the case with High German and Low German, or with Standard English (SE) and Black English Vernacular (BEV). a. True b. False

6. Although Darwin became the best-known evolutionist, the idea of evolution had been around well before him and the modern theory is different from what he described. Darwin's key contribution was to propose a mechanism that drives evolution, which is known as a. Catastrophism b. Mutation c. Creationism d. Natural selection e. Lamarckianism

7. __________________ refers to the specialized set of terms and distinctions that are particularly important to certain groups. a. Syntactical vocabulary b. Spatial vocabulary c. Focal vocabulary d. Vernacular vocabulary e. Temporal vocabulary

8. Natural selection is the process by which the forms most fit to survive in a given environment do so in greater numbers than others in the same population. But more than survival of the fittest, natural selection is the natural process that leads to a. The toughest members of their population having the longest life span b. Differential reproductive success c. The most fit members of collecting the most resources from the environment d. The survival of those members of their population that practice true altruism e. Survival success in any environment

9. Which of the following does NOT illustrate the kinds of work that applied anthropologists do? a. Working for or with international development agencies, such as the World Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development b. Helping the Environmental Protection Agency address environmental problem c. Borrowing from fields such as history and sociology to broaden the scope of theoretical anthropology d. Using the tools of medical anthropology to work as cultural interpreters in public health programs e. Applying the tools of forensic anthropology to work with police, medical examiners, the courts, and international organizations to identify victims of crimes, accidents, wars, and terrorism

10. Practice theory recognizes that the study of anthropology takes a lot of practice before resulting in accurate descriptions of a future a. True b. False

11. Sapir and Whorf argued that the grammatical categories of different languages lead their speakers to think about things in particular ways. However, studies on the differences between female and male Americans in regard to the color terms they use suggest that a. changes in the U.S. economy, society, and culture have had no impact on the use of color terms, or any on any other terms for that matter. b. It is also correct to argue that changes in culture produce changes in language and thought as well c. In support of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, different languages produce different ways of thinking d. Women and men are equally sensitive to the marketing tactics of the cosmetic industry e. Women spend more money on status goods than men

12. What is the term for the kind of cultural change that results when two or more cultures have consistent firsthand contact? a. Acculturation b. Enculturation c. Independent invention d. Colonization e. Imperialism

13. What role do the Mendelian Genetic principles of recombination and independent assortment play in evolution? a. They work to limit the amount of variation in a population b. They increase the frequencies of deleterious genes c. They work to limit the number of potential phenotypes d. They act to create genetic variability in a breeding population e. They act to reduce the overall fitness of a breeding population

14. All of the following are true about the work of paleoanthropologists EXCEPT that they a. Study human evolution through the fossil record b. Do not have to worry about ethical and legal concerns, because they are dealing with the remains of dead humans c. Often work in a team with archaeologists d. Often work in another country (in the case of U.S. paleoanthropologists) and are required by the American Anthropological Association's Code of Ethics to establish truly collaborative relations with colleagues in that country e. Try to infer the relation between the physical and cultural features of the remains they are examining

15. What is the term for the variations in speech due to different contexts or situations? a. Linguistic confusion b. Situational syntax c. Contextual phonetics d. Chomskian verbosity e. Style shifting

16. The intelligent design (ID) movement asserts that life forms are too complex to have been formed by natural processes and must therefore have been created by a higher intelligence. Attempts have been made to teach ID as an alternative theory to Darwinian evolution in biology classes in several states in the United States a. As a Pennsylvania district judge ruled in a 2005 case, ID violates the ground rules of science by invoking supernatural causation and making assertions that cannot be tested or falsified, and thus does not belong in a public school's science curriculum. b. ID should be taught as a hypothesis of human origins, not a theory c. ID should not be taught in schools, since it lacks a research and testing program and is unsupported by peer-reviewed research. d. The teaching of ID should be restricted to extracurricular activities, since it holds no scientific or cultural value e. These attempts have always failed, because ID's proponents argue that it should be taught to replace Darwinian evolution

17. As humans organize their lives and adapt to different environments, our abilities to learn, think symbolically, use language, and employ tools and other products a. Rest on certain features of human biology that make culture a biological phenomenon. b. Have made some human groups more cultured than others c. Prove that only fully developed adults have the capacity of culture; children lack the capacity for culture until they mature d. Rest on certain features of human biology that make culture possible, although culture itself is not biological e. Are shared with other animals capable of organized group life such as baboons, wolves, and even ants

18. How are the four subfields of U.S. anthropology unified a. Each subfield studies human variation through time and space b. Each subfield studies the human capacity for language c. Each subfield studies human biological variability d. Each subfield studies human genetic variation through time and space. e. The subfields really are not unified; their grouping into one discipline is a historical accident

19. In anthropology, cultural relativism is not a moral position but a methodological one. It states that a. Because cultural values vary between cultures, they cannot be analyzed and compared. b. Some cultures are relatively better than others c. In order to understand another culture fully, we must try to understand how the people in that culture see things d. To understand another culture, we must try to use tactics to jar people so that their true view of things is revealed e. To bring about desired cultural change, anthropologists should act as emissaries of the most evolved cultural values

20. What does the term gene flow refer to? a. The random loss of genes through sampling error b. The genetic mutations that occur during meiosis c. The movement of alleles from one chromosome to another d. The exchange of genetic material between populations of the same species e. A random pattern of chromosome mutations

21. In the debate of how speciation occurs, advocates of punctuated equilibrium a. Describe macroevolution as the gradual accumulation of evolutionary changes over time b. Agree with the advocates of intelligent design on views about the flaws in fossil-dating techniques c. Define species the same way creationists and gradualists do. d. Have revived Darwin's classic description of change over time e. Suggest that long periods of stasis (stability), during which species change little, are interrupted by evolutionary leaps

22. All of the following are characteristic field techniques of the ethnographer EXCEPT a. Detailed work with key consultants b. Direct, firsthand observation of behavior, including participant observation c. In-depth interviewing, often leading to the collection of life histories d. Problem-oriented research e. Longitudinal analysis of data sets gathered from state-sponsored statistical agencies

23. Culture a. Is the exclusive domain of the elite b. Is acquired by humans as members of society through the process of enculturation c. Is being destroyed by electronic media d. Developed among nonhuman primates around 10,000 years ago e. Is more developed in industrial nations than among hunters and gatherers

24. Informed consent refers to a. U.S. anthropologists' signed commitment to the American Anthropological Association that they will abide by the organization's laws and regulations b. Host country leaders' agreement that the specified research be carried out. c. People's agreement to take part in research after they have been fully informed about its purpose, nature, funding, procedures, and potential impact on them d. A coercive agreement between anthropologists and study participants that characterized much of the dubious an unethical research practices of the past. e. A signed contract between anthropologists and their academic institutions regarding the potential monetary value of the data they will collect in the field and how they will safeguard it

25. As an academic discipline, anthropology falls under both the social sciences and the humanities a. True b. False