Anthropology Chapter One Test Quiz Questions

A cultural anthropologist who spends a year or so living with, talking to, and observing people whose customs he or she is studying is known as a(n) ______. a) ethnographer b) archaeologist c) ethnohistorian d) linguistic anthropologist

a

Anthropology is the study of ________. a) humans b) fossils c) history d) religion

a

How might anthropologists employ the holistic approach in the study of a particular religious custom? a) They would consider the environmental and economic origins of the custom. b) They would record the history of the custom as told my the community's elders. c) They would employ the methods of participant observation to better understand the custom. d) They would approach the custom with Western biases in mind.

a

Participant-observation refers to the ______. a) practice of immersing oneself in the language and customs of a society. b) use of a laboratory to standardize measurements. c) observation of how people interact in carefully contrived situations. d) employment of natives to gather information from their peers.

a

The process of cultural change is known as ________ describes a situation in which a subordinate society adopts cultural traits of technologies through contact with a more powerful society, either through force or due to perceived economic or social advantages. a) acculturation b) stimulus diffusion c) unconscious invention d) enculturation

a

What is the focus of cross-cultural researchers? a) They hope to discover general patterns about cultural traits. b) Their foam is to minimize the effects of cultural homogenization. c) They are interested in finding the best ways of behaving. d) They bridge the gap between anthropology and other social sciences.

a

Which important tenet of anthropology was first championed by Franz Boas to challenge the attitude that Western culture was inherently superior to others? a) cultural relativism b) participant-observation c) ethnocentrism d) evolutionism

a

Which of the following describes the form of culture change known as diffusion? a) Many of the foods we eat, such as pasta and chicken, were introduced to us through contact with different cultures throughout the world. b) James Hargreaves developed the spinning jenny to increase the efficiency of textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. c) Your parents teach you the proper way to speak to your elders. d) Medical experiments and discoveries lead to the cure for an epidemic disease such as polio.

a

Which type of anthropologist would be best suited to investigating the daily life of an Asian civilization dating to 15,000 years ago? a) an archaeologist b) an ethnologist c) an ethnohistorian d) a primatologist

a

Anthropologists, as well as other social scientists, feel that culture is _______. a) inherited b) learned and shared c) transmitted only from one group to another. d) only a small part of how people learn their behaviors.

b

How is the study of anthropology useful? a) Exploring human variation shows us why social stratification is unavoidable. b) The study of anthropology gives us a better standing of humankind. c) It teaches us that Western culture should be relaxed by more indigenous belief systems. d) The study of world cultures helps us determine which cultural traits are the best.

b

The !Kung hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari Desert live in small, nomadic groups and own few material possessions. Anthropologists refer to these cultural traits as ________ that help them survive in their social and physical environment. a) maladaptive customs b) adaptive customs c) assimilations d) backward traits

b

Which of the following disciplines would have the greatest overlap with biological anthropology? a) philosophy b) genetics c) history d) physics

b

Anthropology is a comparatively young discipline. It was only in the late ______ that anthropologists began to go to live with people in faraway places. a) 1600s b) 1700s c) 1800s d) 1900s

c

Ethnocentrism both hinders our understanding of other people's cultures and _______. a) ensures that our culture will never change. b) helps us adopt other peoples' customs for our own use. c) keeps us from understanding our own customs. d) reminds us of how much our culture has evolved.

c

How does anthropology differ from other disciplines concerned with humans? a) It has existed as a discipline longer than most social sciences. b) Anthropology has a more narrow focus on the cultural "other." c) It is broader in scope, both geographically and historically. d) Anthropology has a less scientific approach than other disciplines.

c

In contrast to research anthropologists, who are almost always employed in universities, ________ anthropologists are commonly employed in government agencies, development agencies, consulting firms, charitable foundations, and other settings outside academia. a) archaic b) historical c) applied d) philosophical

c

The _______ is interested in what people speak about and how they interact controversially. a) historical linguist b) biological linguist c) sociolinguist d) ethnobotanist

c

The most powerful transmitter of culture is probably _______. a) the school system b) the elders of a society c) language d) parents

c

To whom do anthropologists have the most important ethical obligation? a) the public b) their colleagues c) the people they study d) their students

c

What is culture? a) only the religion, language, and values of a population. b) advanced knowledge of literature and fine arts c) the customary ways that a particular society thinks and behaves d) traditional beliefs that have been unchanged over generations.

c

When a member of a group diverges from acceptable standards, or norms, of social behavior, he/she may be ridiculed, arrested, or otherwise pressured into conformity through what Emile Durkheim referred to as __________. a) cultural penalties b) cultural relativism c) cultural constraints d) ethnocentrism

c

Which of the following American norms might be seen as immoral or taboo by someone from another culture? a) sleeping in a bed b) wearing special clothing for sleep c) putting a baby to sleep in it's own room d) sleeping for 6-8 hours each night

c

Which of the following areas of study is a part of anthropology? a) how insect colonies are organized. b) how race is linked to behavior and intelligence c) why contemporary peoples have different cultures d) when and how dinosaurs became extinct

c

Which type of anthropological knowledge is often applied to forensic investigations? a) cultural b) linguistic c) biological d) archaeological

c

A ______is a group of people who occupy a particular territory and speak a common language. a) subculture b) culture c) family d) society

d

A distinguishing feature of anthropology is the goal of understanding how aspects of human experience such as local history, physical environment, family life, language, settlement patterns, and religion are interrelated. This approach to culture is referred to as _______. a) participant observation b) sociological approach c) cultural materialism d) the holistic approach

d

An adaptive custom is one that __________. a) was learned from other cultures b) changes with other cultural fluctuations c) persists over several generations d) enhances survival and reproduction

d

Anthropology helps us realize that people are physically and culturally adapted to their particular ______. a) language b) lifestyle c) religion d) environment

d

Individuals have ______, but groups share _______. a) beliefs; behavior b) culture; society c) society; beliefs d) behavior; culture

d

The study of how languages change throughout time and how they may be related is called ________. a) descriptive linguistics b) structural linguistics c) sociolinguistics d) historical linguistics

d

The tendency to judge other cultures without trying to grasp the reason behind their customs is what anthropologists refer to as _______. a) diffusion b) acculturation c) cultural relativism d) ethnocentrism

d

Unlike archaeologists, __________ draw on a database of observations and interviews with living people. a) bioarchaeologists b) paleoanthropologists c) ethnohistorians d) ethnologists

d

What does the concept of cultural integration mean? a) Cultural elements are a fairly eclectic assortment. b) Cultural elements are constant. c) Cultural traits that are maladaptive can be made to work with adaptive traits. d) Various subgroups in the society work together.

d

_________ is the study of descriptive materials about a single society at more than one point in time. a) Cross-cultural research b) Within-culture comparison c) Nonhistorical controlled comparison d) Ethnohistory

d