Anthropology Quizzes
In order to study culture one must travel to distant, far-off places.
False
The art found on the walls at Lascaux has been thoroughly deciphered as to its function and meaning.
False
When did anthropology emerge as an academic discipline?
1800s
Who taught Washoe (an ape) American Sign Language?
Allen and Beatrix Gardener
Who are the Narcerima?
Americans
According to "Our Babies Ourselves", which of the following is NOT typical of child-rearing practices in the United States.
Bed-sharing with child
Which of the following would be considered a functionalist?
Bronislaw Malinowski
The Origin of the Species was written by:
Charles Darwin
The thinker who developed the theory of evolution by means of natural selection in the nineteenth century was
Charles Darwin
According to the "Survival of the Fittest" video , what trait of the Rock Pocket Mouse was best adapted to survival on the lava flow?
Dark fur
Which of the following is NOT studied by anthropologists?
Dinosaur bones
"Why Isn't the Sky Blue": Which society was the earliest to have a term for the color blue in the written literature?
Egyptians
According to "Our Babies Ourselves", in the United States, individualism is valued highly, so generally parents do not hold their babies as much as other cultures.
False
Countries find it relatively easy to decide what language its citizens will speak.
False
In order to truly practice cultural relativism, one could never make a judgement on what is right and wrong.
False
Non-random mating among the Hutterite sect in Canada is a good example of how genetic drift works.
False
The term hominin refers to humans and great apes.
False
The American anthropologist responsible for the concept of historical particularism was named
Franz Boas
How would you describe Edward Tylor's evolutionary theories?
He studied the history of human society from simple to complex technology and social institutions (from so-called savagery to civilization).
Anthropologists think that the first hominin capable of speaking in sounds, not signals, was:
Homo erectus
According Becoming Human (and Daniel Lieberman), the most compelling hypothesis for why bipedalism developed in early hominins is
It conserved energy
Besides fossilized skeletal remains, what other evidence indicates bipedalism in Australopithecus afarensis?
Laetoli Footprints
The name most closely associated with the system traditionally used to classify living things is:
Linnaeus
Becoming Human: The _______________ is a deep furrow in a primate's brain. It divides parts of the brain related to vision from the rest of the neocortex, which is where more complex thought happens.
Lunate Sulcas
What is the tool tradition associated with Homo habilis?
Oldowan
The rough edge stone chopping tools made by Homo habilis are called
Olduwan tools
The ability to touch the thumb with the tips of the other fingers on the same hand is called:
Opposability
Which of the following is NOT one of the four major sub-fields of anthropology?
Paleontology
In archaeology, this is a division of prehistory based on gross changes in subsistence patterns, climatic changes, housing and burial styles, etc.
Period
Which of the following is NOT a part of a human's taxonomic classification?
Plattyrhine
"Why Isn't the Sky Blue": According to the studies of Lazarus Geiger, what color term (after black and white) appears first and most often in ancient literature?
Red
Who, along with Niles Eldredge, developed the theory of punctuated equilibrium?
Stephen Jay Gould
Which of the following is NOT evidence of early hominin bipedalism in the fossil record (as discussed in the presentation)?
Strong clavicle
A critical reason for taking field notes is that there may be a long lag time between fieldwork and writing and publishing about it.
True
A distinguishing feature of most australopithecines is their high degree of sexual dimorphism.
True
Primates often live in groups in order to avoid predators.
True
A language of mixed origin that developed from a complex blending of two parent languages is called
a creole
According to anthropologist Sherry Ortner's analysis, the American flag is an example of
a summarizing symbol
Archbishop James Ussher calculated the age of the earth at about:
about 6000 years old
An evolutionary perspective on variations in physical traits reflects
adaptive changes
One of the methods that archaeologists can use to determine potentially useful areas to excavate involves the use of
aerial surveys surface surveys regional surveys GIS systems
An ethical approach to anthropological research would emphasize
all of the above
When children in the United States reach a certain age, they often move out of their parents' home and into their own living space, something anthropologists refer to as
dispersal
The process of learning culture from a very young age is called
enculturation
Assuming your culture's way of doing things is the best described as
ethnocentrism
The key scenario differs from other kinds of symbols because it
implies how people should act
The use of mock Spanish reinforces a common impression that Hispanic people are socially inferior. This is an example of the power of which of the following?
language ideology
In some species of primates, females and their relatives and young are socially organized around
matrifocal units
If you observed gradual changes in environmental temperature and, at the same time, observed that there were changes in the phenotype of a butterfly species over fifteen generations, which theory might best help explain what is going on?
natural selection
The process by which inheritable traits are passed along to offspring because they are better suited to the environment is
natural selection
The influence of figures like Isaac Newton, Francis Bacon, and Galileo Galilei on the intellectual history of evolution is that they showed the importance of
observing nature and using evidence to build knowledge
Ethnocentrism
presents a major problem for anthropologists, means you think your culture is superior to others, is a common feature of culture
A dominance hierarchy exists when members of the same group have
ranking relative to others that establishes access to resources
Cultural anthropologists face an ethical responsibility in their work and so must disclose to informants
reasons for doing the research
The Law of Superposition says that:
sedimentary layers are deposited in a time sequence with the oldest on the bottom and the youngest on the top.
The ability to document changes in pottery styles in non-living societies happens through
seriation
What kind of data do anthropologists gather from doing interviews?
terms for biological species details about court cases life histories opinions on upcoming elections
According to the lecture, in order for an explanation to be defined as scientific, it must be:
testable
Evolution as Fact and Theory: The article states scientific creationism is not scientific because it is not ___________.
testable
The most enduring and ritualized aspects of culture are referred to as
traditions
