Deck 4: Human Variation and Adaptation

Question 1

Gloger's rule for skin color holds true __________.

A) for people, as well as for other mammals and birds
B) for people, but not for other mammals
C) for birds and reptiles, but not for people or other mammals
D) for all animals except people

Answer 1

for people, as well as for other mammals and birds

Question 2

Hypoxia is a condition of __________.

A) oxygen deficiency
B) protein deficiency
C) malnutrition
D) hypertension

Answer 2

oxygen deficiency

Question 3

Height,in a population,is determined by what two major influences?

A) heredity and environment
B) heredity and social class
C) social class and emotions
D) emotions and environment

Answer 3

heredity and environment

Question 4

What is an adaptation?

A) a genetic change that gives the carrier a better chance of survival and reproduction
B) an alteration in a gene due to a chemical misalignment
C) selective breeding to increase the frequency of a particular trait in a population
D) a behavioral trait that makes one more popular and influential

Question 5

__________ are changes in the structure of genes.

A) Mutations
B) Gene frequencies
C) Adaptations
D) Alleles

Question 6

__________ involves physiological adjustments in individuals to environmental conditions.

A) Acclimatization
B) Coordination
C) Accustomization
D) Mutation

Question 7

In 1994,__________ published The Bell Curve,a book arguing that there is a causal link between race and intelligence.

A) Hernstein and Murray
B) Boas and Weber
C) Sapir and Wharf
D) Ember and Ember

Question 8

__________ results in more favorable genes becoming more frequent in a population over time.

A) Natural selection
B) Mutation
C) Hybridization
D) Technology

Question 9

What factor,in addition to nutrition and disease,may be related to adult height?

A) stress in infancy
B) social structure in infancy
C) time spent in school
D) childhood playmates

Question 10

The color of a person's skin depends on both the amount of blood in the small blood vessels of the skin and the amount of __________ in the skin.

A) melanin
B) riboflavin
C) calcium
D) potassium

Question 11

The first large-scale intelligence testing in the United States began with its entry into __________.

A) World War I
B) World War II
C) the Korean War
D) the Vietnam War

Question 12

How did Roberts's research provide support for Bergmann's rule?

A) It showed that the lowest body weights were found in areas with the highest mean annual temperatures.
B) It found a strong correlation between height and weight across populations.
C) It showed that the highest body weights were associated with greater body surface area.
D) It found a strong correlation between skin color and body weight.

Question 13

What are stem cells?

A) cells that can be induced to grow into any tissue type
B) cells that can only be derived from aborted fetuses
C) the precursors to mature egg and sperm cells
D) cells that have been genetically altered in some way

Question 14

In addition to genetics,what may explain a population's susceptibility to disease?

A) cultural practices to deal with illness
B) superstition about disease
C) history of the culture
D) social structure of the community

Question 15

An advantage of light skin is greater absorption of vitamin __________.

A) D
B) C
C) A
D) E

Question 16

__________ rule describes what seems to be a general relationship between body surface area and temperature.

A) Bergmann's
B) Darwin's
C) Roberts's
D) Boas's

Question 17

Which of these illnesses is due to an abnormality of the red blood cells?

A) sickle-cell anemia
B) Hodgkin's disease
C) Alzheimer's
D) HIV/AIDS

Question 18

How does a population develop inherited resistances to diseases?

A) Past exposure to a disease favors genetic traits that provide protection.
B) Medical techniques are used to immunize themselves.
C) All contact with other populations who carry disease is avoided.
D) Disease resistance happens automatically over time.

Question 19

The exact reproduction of an individual from cellular tissue is called __________.

A) cloning
B) transplanting
C) reproduction
D) mutation

Question 20

In addition to the genes,physical variations in human populations may be due to the __________.

A) environment
B) weather
C) season
D) time of day

Question 21

Where would you expect to find the greatest genetic variation in the world?

A) Africa
B) South Asia
C) Europe
D) Australia

Question 22

In what has been called "one of the first examples of biological warfare," Europeans may have deliberately spread __________ to Native American populations.

A) smallpox
B) cholera
C) measles
D) tuberculosis

Question 23

Which of the following statements is true regarding lactose tolerance?

A) Lactose intolerance is common in many parts of the world.
B) Lactose intolerance is found only among Asian populations.
C) Lactose tolerance is a result of acclimatization to dairy products in childhood.
D) Lactose tolerance is based on access to westernized medical care.

Question 24

How did Klineberg show that the environment has an influence on IQ?

A) He tested "black" schoolgirls from the South who had spent varying lengths of time in the north, and found that the longer the girls had been in the North, the higher their IQ.
B) He tested "black" schoolgirls from the South who had spent varying lengths of time in the north, and found that the longer the girls had stayed in the South, the higher their IQ.
C) He tested "white" schoolgirls from the South who had spent varying lengths of time in the north, and found that the longer the girls had been in the North, the higher their IQ.
D) He tested "white" schoolgirls from the South who had spent varying lengths of time in the north, and found that the longer the girls had stayed in the South, the higher their IQ.

Question 25

When referring to humans,race is largely a __________ category.

A) social
B) religious
C) biological
D) genetic

Question 26

Racism is the belief that __________.

A) some races are innately inferior to others
B) there are variations in human populations
C) variations between human populations not socially important
D) all races are equal

Question 27

Which of these facts supports the idea that racial differences in testing are driven by social environment and expectations?

A) The difference in GRE scores between "black" and "white" students disappeared after President Obama's election.
B) "Asians" have a mean IQ score about 15 points above that of "whites."
C) The same individual taking the same test could achieve very different scores based on how rested they were, the breakfast they had that day, or their stress levels.
D) IQ tests measure predicted scholastic achievement more accurately than they measure intelligence.

Question 28

Which of the following is an example of acclimatization?

A) shivering
B) long, lean bodies
C) dark skin and eyes
D) basal metabolic rate

Question 29

Many people treat __________ as the most important indicator of "race."

A) skin color
B) body shape
C) facial features
D) height

Question 30

Which of the following is an example of a cultural practice that physically distinguishes members of the culture from outsiders?

A) Judeo-Christian circumcision
B) skinny jeans
C) traditional dress among the Amish
D) straightening or coloring one's hair

Question 31

Barring ethical considerations,what is the best way to test the idea that facial features are influenced by environment instead of by biology?

A) raise genetically identically individuals in contrasting environments
B) raise genetically diverse individuals in the same environment
C) measure the facial features of different groups within the same environment
D) measure the facial features of one group living across multiple environments

Question 32

Why do the authors of the textbook not support the belief that it is scientifically useful to connect human "races" and behavior?

A) Their research concluded that most behaviors showed no difference between supposed "racial" groups.
B) The connection between "race" and behavior is intangible and unsuitable for scientific study.
C) There is not enough cultural data available to create a good study sample
D) The authors believe that it makes more sense to connect "races" with emotions than with behaviors.

Question 33

To what infectious disease would North American populations have the least natural resistance?

A) African sleeping sickness
B) measles
C) chicken pox
D) tuberculosis

Question 34

According to Theodosius Dobzhansky,at what point can we begin to accurately investigate differences in intelligence across groups?

A) when all people have equal opportunities to reach their full potential
B) when culturally appropriate tests are available for each group
C) after scientists settle on how many groups really exist
D) once we have determined which behaviors are biological and which are strictly cultural

Question 35

What did Franz Boas find in his study of the head shape of immigrants?

A) The head shape of second-generation immigrants of different groups were more similar to each other than to their parents, indicating some influence of the environment on head shape.
B) Children's head shapes were almost identical to their parents', indicating that head shape is a highly heritable trait.
C) There is no relationship to either biology or to the environment in terms of head shape.
D) Variation in head shape is greater among Italian immigrants than among German immigrants.

Question 36

Biologists use the term race __________.

A) to distinguish between populations within a single species.
B) to denote different species.
C) to distinguish behavioral traits rather than biological ones.
D) only in terms of describing humans.

Question 37

What is one likely reason why Europeans were able to colonize the world?

A) The natives were susceptible to diseases brought by the Europeans.
B) There were no great cities with centralized governments outside of Europe.
C) Most indigenous peoples were illiterate and uneducated.
D) European cultures were simply more advanced than other peoples.

Question 38

If a couple from North America moved to the highlands of Peru and then had a baby,how would that baby compare to native highlanders?

A) The baby would develop the same lung capacity as people born in the highlands.
B) The baby would have a lung capacity that matches her parents', not her community's.
C) The baby would have an underdeveloped lung capacity due to the environmental discrepancy between her environment and her parents'.
D) The baby would have a greater lung capacity than the local people because she will grow to be taller.

Question 39

Sickle-cell anemia is an example of __________ selection.

A) balancing
B) directional
C) normalizing
D) disruptive

Question 40

Humans are influenced by their environment,but at the same time humans can dramatically change their environment.What is an example of this phenomenon?

A) harnessing energy to create heat
B) having dark skin in environments near the equator
C) walking upright
D) having complex language

Question 41

Some people use the word "race" as an explanation of the quality of a culture.What is their argument?

A) They believe that "developed" nations are "white," while the "underdeveloped" nations are not.
B) They believe that "underdeveloped" nations are white, while the "developed" nations are not.
C) They maintain that, throughout history, "inferior races" had "inferior cultures."
D) They maintain that the quality of a culture is very hard to measure.

Question 42

If "black" Americans really were less intelligent than "white" Americans,their IQ scores should __________ "white" Americans.

A) range lower than the curve of
B) have a higher mean than
C) have a wider distribution than those of
D) have a more bell-shaped distribution than those of

Question 43

Why do many forensic anthropologists still use the concept of "race" when identifying human skeletal remains?

A) It provides a socially useful category for narrowing search parameters.
B) Forensic anthropologists can correctly identify a skeleton's "race" nearly 100% of the time.
C) These anthropologists believe that race is biologically, not socially, constructed.
D) Other than "race," there is very little useful information that can be drawn from skeletal remains.

Question 44

What is J.Philippe Rushton's position on the relationship between "race" and behavior?

A) Behaviors have a genetic basis rooted to environmental adaptations.
B) Behaviors vary across populations due to gene flow and genetic drift.
C) There is no relationship between "race" and behavior.
D) "Racial" classifications are based more on behavior than on physical appearance.

Question 45

Why might Native Americans be a general exception to the rule that darker skin is associated with environments with high UV radiation?

A) They are relatively recent migrants to the New World.
B) Native Americans have a unique genetic mutation that makes their skin darker than expected.
C) Dark skin among Native Americans is an acclimatization, and not due to genetics.
D) Dark skin among Native Americans is a culturally induced trait.

Question 46

Skin color has come to represent for many people a clear "racial" marking.What do we know about the reasons for differences in skin color?

Question 47

What is the difference between acclimatization and adaptation? Explain how you test whether a trait is due to one or the other,and give a reliable example of each.

Question 48

What was the selective pressure driving the color change in moths during the industrial revolution?

A) The predators could not see the darker colored moths on the sooty trees.
B) The darker colored moths were better able to breathe in the polluted environment.
C) The darker colored moth was active at night, when pollution was less damaging.
D) The preferred food of the darker colored moth increased with industrialization.

Question 49

Why do many argue that "race" is not a scientifically useful category?

A) Humans have exhibited so much inbreeding that we cannot divide humans into discreet groups.
B) There are too many mutually exclusive racial groups to be able to work with in any practical way.
C) There are no known genetic differences across what we call "races."
D) Individuals can change their biological "race" within their own lifetime.

Question 50

Race is a highly controversial topic when applied to human differences.Why is it so controversial?

Question 51

What factors-genetic,cultural,and environmental-account for variations in height?

Question 52

What is one explanation for why people are getting taller in many regions of the world?

A) People in those regions have better nutrition and lower rates of infectious disease than they did in the past.
B) People in those regions have better medical care than people in other parts of the world.
C) People across the world are getting taller due to gene flow from taller populations.
D) People are getting taller because tall people are more likely to have children, and the genes are becoming more frequent.

Question 53

Why are some long-term acclimatizations difficult to distinguish from adaptations?

A) Acclimatizations may persist even after the individual moves to another environment.
B) After a while, acclimatizations become programmed in the genes.
C) Acclimatizations are biologically almost identical to adaptations.
D) Both acclimatization and genetic adaptations are overrun by cultural adaptation over time.

Question 54

Do you think the perpetuation of human variability or the creation of an invariable "perfect" human is a better goal for the future of humanity? Explain your answer.

Question 55

What is the danger in genetic uniformity?

A) In the event of dramatic environmental changes, genetic variation would be needed to allow for adaptation to the new environment.
B) If everyone was genetically identical, there would be no division of labor, ability, or interests.
C) Genetic uniformity would lead to new infectious disease.
D) Once people become relatively uniform, there would be no source of new genetic material.