Anthropology quiz #1 on chapters 1 and 2

When did food production originate?

12,000−10,000 years ago

What is one of the most fundamental key assumptions that anthropologists share?

A comparative, cross-cultural approach is essential to study the human condition.

What do anthropologists mean when they say culture is shared?

Culture is an attribute of individuals as members of groups.

How are the four subfields of U.S. anthropology unified?

Each subfield studies human variation through time and space.

the study of the interrelations among living things in this environment is called

Ecology

Culture is transmitted genetically.

False

a cultural relativist would have no problem with using his or her own values or cultural understandings to judge another culture.

False

ethnology is a key part of biological anthropology

False

What does it mean to say that humans use culture instrumentally?

People use culture to fulfill their basic biological needs for food, drink, shelter, comfort, and reproduction.

Who was the anthropologist who defined culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society"?

Sir Edward Tylor

What are cultural particularities?

Traits unique to a given culture, not shared with others

Although culture is one of the principal means humans use to adapt to their environment, some cultural traits can be harmful to a group's survival.

True

Culture encompasses rule governed, shared, symbol-based, and learned behavior as well as beliefs transmitted across the generations.

True

Culture has an evolutionary basis.

True

Culture is acquired by all humans, as members of a society, through enculturation.

True

Everyone is cultured

True

Humans can adapt to their surroundings through both biological and cultural means.

True

cultural particularities are unique to certain cultures, while cultural generalities are common to several (but not all) cultures.

True

independent invention occurs when two or more cultures independently come up with similar solutions to a common problem.

True

Which of the following examples illustrates how culture is symbolic?

a national flag that stands for a particular country

Which of the following dimensions were recognized by the American Anthropological Association when it formally acknowledged a public service role?

academic anthropology and applied anthropology

An exchange of cultural features between groups in firsthand contact is known by the term

acculturation

An exchange of cultural features between groups in firsthand contact: ____________

acculturation

Regarding human capacity for culture, anthropologists agree that

although individuals differ in their emotional and intellectual capacities, all human populations have equivalent capacities for culture.

Reconstructs, describes, and interprets human behavior and cultural patterns through material remains: ____________

anthropological archeology

General anthropology refers to

anthropology as a whole or the "four fields"

Which of the following perspectives emphasizes how cultural forces constantly mold human biology?

biocultural perspective

Primatology is a specialty within

biological anthropology

The study of human biological diversity through time and as it exists in the world today: ____________

biological anthropology

The values that are considered to be key, basic, or central and that integrate a culture are called

core values

The comparative, cross-cultural study of human society and culture: ____________

cultural anthropology

The subfield that describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains social and cultural similarities and differences is called

cultural anthropology

What process is most responsible for the existence of international culture?

cultural diffusion

Our own __________ depends on the uniquely developed human capacity to use symbols.

cultural learning

A(n) __________ is a trait or feature of culture that is not generalized or widespread; rather, it is confined to a single place, culture, or society.

cultural particularity

_________ is the idea that behavior should be evaluated not by outside standards but in the context of the culture in which it occurs.

cultural relativism

__________ is the idea that behavior should be evaluated not by outside standards but in the context of the culture in which it occurs.

cultural relativism

The four fields of anthropology include

cultural, archaeological, biological, and linguistic anthropology.

The borrowing of cultural traits between societies is called

diffusion

The borrowing of cultural traits between societies: ____________

diffusion

Which of the following is a mechanism of cultural change?

diffusion

Diffusion is __________ when two cultures trade, intermarry, or wage war on one another.

direct

The process by which a child learns his or her culture: ____________

enculturation

What is the name for the process by which a child learns his or her culture?

enculturation

What is the process by which children learn a particular cultural tradition?

enculturation

The tendency to view one's own culture as superior and to use one's own standards and values in judging others is called

ethnocentrism

The term that cultural anthropologists use to describe fieldwork in a particular cultural setting is

ethnography

What component of cultural anthropology is comparative and focused on building theories to enhance our understanding of how cultural systems work?

ethnology

According to the chapter, the idea of culture is not considered to be a central concern to anthropologists.

false

According to the text, the term hominins refers to chimps and gorillas.

false

Acculturation is the process by which people lose the culture they learned as children.

false

An example of "culture is all-encompassing" might be the shared beliefs, values, memories, and expectations that link people who grow up in the same culture.

false

Anthropologists agree that a comparative, cross-cultural approach is unnecessary as long as researchers are diligent in their work.

false

Anthropologists study only non-Western cultures.

false

Biological anthropologists study only human bones.

false

Cultural relativism is the tendency to view one's own culture as superior and to use one's own standards and values in judging outsiders.

false

Culture is passed on genetically to future generations.

false

Culture is transmitted by both formal and informal instruction, but not by observation.

false

Holism refers to traditions and customs transmitted through learning.

false

In the chapter, anthropology is not considered a humanistic science.

false

In the discussion of the four types of high-altitude adaptation, "technology" (a form of adaptation) was considered a "biological" type of adaptation.

false

The biocultural view studies only the biological sides of humanity.

false

culture is being destroyed by electronic media.

false

culture is developed among nonhuman primates around 10,000 years ago.

false

culture is more developed in industrial nations than among hunters and gatherers.

false

culture is the exchange of cultural features that results when two or more groups come into consistent firsthand contact.

false

culture is the exclusive domain of the elite.

false

Ethnography is the

fieldwork component of cultural anthropology.

Anthropology as a whole or "four-field anthropology": ____________

general anthropology

The name for a culture pattern or trait that exists in some but not all societies is

generality

Larger "barrel chests" of native highlanders: ____________

genetic adaptation

The accelerating interdependence of nations in the world system today: ____________

globalization

this chapters description of how humans cope with low oxygen pressure in high altitudes illustrates.

human capacities for cultural and biological adaptation, the latter involving both genetic and physiological adaptations.

Biological anthropology includes the study of

human genetics

The independent development of a cultural feature in different societies: ____________

independent invention

What mechanism of cultural change is exemplified by the fact that agriculture separately developed in both Mexico and the Middle East?

independent invention

General anthropology is a North American concept because

interest in the origins and diversity of Native Americans brought together the four fields of anthropology.

Linguistic Anthropology

involves reconstructing the basics of ancient languages by comparing their contemporary descendants.

Anthropology

is the study of humans around the world and through time

Studies language in its social and cultural context, throughout the world and over time: ____________

linguistic anthropology

More efficient respiratory system to extract oxygen from "thin air": ____________

long term physiological adaptation

The presence of more efficient respiratory systems to extract oxygen from the air among human populations living at high altitudes is an example of

long-term physiological adaptation.

A holistic and comparative perspective

most characterizes anthropology, when compared to other disciplines that study humans

An example of a cultural adaptation to high altitude would be

pressurized airplane cabins with oxygen masks.

__________ studies cross-cultural similarities and differences in psychological traits and conditions.

psychological anthropology

The name of the branch of anthropology that includes activities such as cultural resource management, public educational programs, and historic preservation is

public archaeology.

Anthropological archaeology

reconstructs, describes, and interprets human behavior and cultural patterns through material remains

Adaptation

refers to the processes by which organisms cope with environmental forces and stresses.

As humans organize their lives and adapt to different environments, our abilities to learn, think symbolically, use language, and employ tools and other products

rest on certain features of human biology that make culture, which is not itself biological, possible.

Increased heart rate, hyperventilation: ____________

short term physiological adaptation

increased heart rate and hyperventilating, as discussed in the case study of adaptations to high altitudes, is which type of adaptation.

short term physiological adaptation

In order to cope with the range of environments humans have occupied in time and space, which of the following have humans become increasingly dependent on?

social and cultural means of adaptation

Linguistic Anthropology

studies language in its social and cultural context, across space and time.

One of the most significant ways in which culture is learned is through

symbols

Pressurized airplane cabins with oxygen masks: ____________

technology

Which of the following best describes biological anthropology?

the study of human biological diversity

Ethnology is

the study of sociocultural differences and similarities based on data gathered in different societies.

Holism refers to

the study of the whole of the human condition

In anthropology, cultural relativism is not a moral position but a methodological one. It states that

to understand another culture fully, we must try to understand how the people in that culture see things.

Cultures are described as

traditions and customs that are transmitted through learning and that form and guide the beliefs and behavior of the people exposed to them.

A biological anthropologist might study the field known as primatology.

true

A universal is something that exists in every culture.

true

Anthropology is a uniquely holistic and comparative science.

true

Anthropology is comprised of four subfields.

true

As an academic discipline, anthropology falls under both the social sciences and the humanities.

true

Core values of a culture distinguish it from other cultures.

true

Cultural relativists believe that a culture should be judged only according to the standards and traditions of that culture and not according to the standards of other cultural traditions.

true

Culture helps us define the world in which we live, to express feelings and ideas, and to guide our behavior and perceptions.

true

Culture is not itself biological but rests on certain features of human biology.

true

Cultures are integrated, patterned systems in which a change in one part often leads to changes in other parts.

true

Diffusion plays an important role in spreading cultural traits around the world.

true

Ethnography involves the collection of data that is used to create an account of a particular community, society, or culture.

true

The interests and methods of anthropology and sociology are now converging.

true

When cultural traits are borrowed, they are reintegrated to fit the culture that adopts them.

true

culture is acquired by humans as members of society through the process of enculturation.

true