Deck 1: The Essence of Anthropology

Question 1

Individuals within all four subfields of Anthropology practice:

A) ethnological anthropology
B) applied anthropology
C) development anthropology
D) molecular anthropology

Answer 1

applied anthropology

Question 2

Participant observation:

A) is the common term used for the ethnographic method
B) is a common cross-cultural ritual
C) is not used in anthropology
D) is only used in chemistry

Answer 2

is the common term used for the ethnographic method

Question 3

Which of the following is not a characteristic of medical anthropology?

A) brings together theoretical and applied approaches
B) uses approaches from cultural and biological anthropology
C) studies human sickness and health
D) involves anthropologists who are sick

Answer 3

involves anthropologists who are sick

Question 4

What perspective best helps guard most against culture-bound theories?

A) a cross-cultural perspective
B) a cross-cultural and long-term evolutionary perspective
C) a long-term evolutionary and philosophical perspective
D) all perspectives guard against culture-bound theories

Question 5

All of the following are features of discourse studied by sociolinguists except:

A) physical and psychological setting
B) social rules
C) purpose
D) anatomy

Question 6

Shallow, restricted concentrations of charcoal commonly indicate:

A) hunting sites
B) food processing sites
C) farming sites
D) religious sites

Question 7

Archaeology is the study of:

A) human material remains and environmental data
B) human fossils
C) human skeletal remains
D) ancient written documents

Question 8

Which of the following best describes ethnology?

A) cross-cultural comparative research
B) detailed description of a particular culture
C) study of customary patterns in human behavior
D) participant observation research

Question 9

What difference did Margaret Lock find between Japanese and North American perceptions of death?

A) Japanese are more comfortable harvesting organs from those declared brain dead
B) North Americans are more comfortable harvesting organs from those declared brain dead
C) Japanese do not use human organ transplants
D) North Americans do not classify people as brain dead

Question 10

The detailed description of a particular culture primarily based on fieldwork is called:

A) ethnology
B) ethnography
C) forensic anthropology
D) molecular anthropology

Question 11

Another name for Cultural Anthropology is:

A) sociology
B) ethnology
C) sociocultural anthropology
D) ethnography

Question 12

Which of the following is not a perspective of anthropology?

A) a holistic perspective
B) an ethnocentric perspective
C) a cross-cultural perspective
D) a long-term evolutionary perspective

Question 13

Which of the following is not a common practice within applied anthropology?

A) collaboration between anthropologists and community members
B) conducting research together as a team with community members
C) solving specific problems
D) involvement in issues of no practical value

Question 14

Location research is also known as:

A) cultural resource management
B) ethnology
C) fieldwork
D) site research

Question 15

Which of the following characteristics uniquely defines the anthropological approach?

A) a concern with the study of humans
B) a focus on human relationships and society
C) a focus on humans as biological organisms
D) a holistic perspective

Question 16

The holistic anthropological perspective is expansive and inclusive and involves the study of human beings as:

A) complex biological and cultural organisms
B) interdependent cultural and social organisms
C) interdependent psychological and biological organisms
D) interconnected psychological and philosophical organisms

Question 17

The term "prehistory" refers to a period in which:

A) people had no means of recording their thoughts
B) there was no written record
C) people had no history
D) humans had not yet diverged from the primate line

Question 18

One aspect that makes anthropology unique among social sciences is its traditional focus on:

A) peoples of Caucasian and African descent
B) European peoples
C) non-Western peoples and cultures
D) peasants and farmers

Question 19

Which of the following describes how anthropologists study culture:

A) anthropologists study individuals who are more "cultured" than others
B) anthropologists study a society's shared and socially transmitted ideas
C) anthropologists grow microbial organisms
D) anthropologists do not study culture

Question 20

All of the following are approaches that linguistic anthropologists may take except:

A) studying the way languages change over time
B) describing the way that a language is formed
C) analyzing which languages are superior
D) studying the relation between language and culture

Question 21

Which of the following is not a federal act that provided the basis for Cultural Resource Management work in archaeology?

A) National Preservation of Historic and Prehistoric Places Act of 1984
B) National Environmental Policy Act of 1969
C) Historic Preservation Act of 1966
D) Archaeological and Historical Preservation Act of 1974

Question 22

What most distinguishes anthropology from other sciences is:

A) its focus on humans as the central topic of study
B) its use of biological data
C) its use of social observations
D) the diversity of ways in which scientific research is conducted

Question 23

The study of mummified skeletal remains providing evidence of early surgery is an example of:

A) the garbage project
B) bioarchaeology
C) sociology
D) ethnology

Question 24

Paleoanthropology can best be described as the study of:

A) Paleolithic hunters
B) genetic commonalities among the primates
C) early human tool-making
D) human evolution

Question 25

The Garbage Project is an example of:

A) ethnoarchaeology
B) contemporary anthropology
C) ethnology
D) ethnography

Question 26

Which of the following is not studied by primatologists?

A) living and fossil primates
B) socio-economic status
C) primate anatomy
D) tool use

Question 27

The identification of human skeletal remains is the primary focus of:

A) criminology
B) physical anthropology
C) molecular anthropology
D) forensic anthropology

Question 28

How is paleoanthropology unique among evolutionary studies?

A) it takes a biocultural approach
B) it focuses on non-human primates
C) it traces the biological relationships between different human species
D) it considers humans to be primates and related to monkeys

Question 29

All of the following are important aspects of study in the Garbage Project except:

A) how to decrease consumption levels in the United States population
B) testing the validity of survey techniques
C) understanding the differences between what people say and what they actually do
D) understanding contemporary social issues affecting a United States population

Question 30

Genetic analysis indicates that the first human ancestors originated:

A) 10-15 million years ago
B) 7-10 million years ago
C) 5-8 million years ago
D) 2-5 million years ago

Question 31

All of the following are characteristics of the study of physical anthropology except:

A) primatology
B) human adaptation
C) human growth and development
D) ethnology

Question 32

Anthropologists commonly study the basis of healthy human growth among living populations through all of the following except:

A) physiology
B) genetics
C) hormonal development
D) linguistics

Question 33

The enlargement of the right heart ventricle among Quechua Indians is an adaptation to:

A) cold weather
B) high altitude
C) poor nutrition
D) farming

Question 34

Short-term biological changes in response to particular environmental stimuli are referred to as:

A) cultural adaptations
B) environmental adaptations
C) physiological adaptations
D) biosocial adaptations

Question 35

Molecular anthropology is the anthropological study of:

A) atoms and molecules
B) genes
C) language
D) exchange networks

Question 36

Applied physical anthropologists routinely use their expertise in all of the following areas except:

A) public health
B) gross anatomy laboratories
C) the study of primates
D) criminal investigations

Question 37

What does it mean to say that "Anthropology is an empirical science"?

A) it focuses on the study of humans
B) it works with hypotheses based on intuition
C) it is based on observations
D) it involves both qualitative and quantitative methods

Question 38

Franz Boas found that one of the major differences between first-generation immigrants to the United States and their children was in the area of:

A) education levels
B) earning potential and access to resources
C) height
D) communicable diseases

Question 39

The relationships between a forensic anthropologist and a forensic archaeologist can be likened to that between:

A) a coroner and a pathologist
B) a forensic crime investigator and a funeral director
C) a forensic pathologist and a crime scene investigator
D) a police investigator and a crime scene investigator

Question 40

Which of the following individuals is a well-known forensic anthropologist?

A) Clyde Snow
B) Margaret Lock
C) William Haviland
D) Franz Boas

Question 41

Which of the following is a relative date?

A) seriation
B) potassium argon
C) uranium series
D) radiocarbon

Question 42

Why do ethnographers frequently utilize key consultants?

A) these individuals know everything about the culture being studied
B) key consultants are the anthropologists' best friends at all times
C) key consultants spend time with ethnographers and provide explanations
D) the key consultants are cultural informants who are willing to tell secrets

Question 43

A North American researcher disapproving of Japanese resistance to organ transplantation is an example of culture-bound theory.

Question 44

What is the name of the organization that oversees a code of ethics for anthropological research?

A) United States Ethics Commission
B) National Committee of Anthropological Research
C) American Anthropological Association
D) International Association of Anthropologists

Question 45

What are the basic ingredients of science according to the authors?

A) creativity and imagination
B) imagination and skepticism
C) skepticism and creativity
D) rationalism and imagination

Question 46

What must cultural anthropologists do in fieldwork?

A) step out of their own cultural comfort zone
B) pretend they are a member of the society they are visiting
C) collaborate with international teams working in the same area
D) distort the data to fit their preconceived ideas since others are unlikely to visit the same remote location

Question 47

All of the following are archaeological and paleoanthropological methods except:

A) analyzing artifacts
B) analyzing material culture
C) processing fossils
D) doing oral life histories

Question 48

The datum point is established in relation to the:

A) physical surface of an area
B) location of water
C) grid system
D) midden

Question 49

The areas in which archaeologists work are known as:

A) fields
B) grids
C) composites
D) sites

Question 50

An explanation supported by a reliable body of data is called a:

A) hypothesis
B) law
C) theory
D) fact

Question 51

Which form of dating involves the comparison of tree ring growth?

A) faunal and floral series
B) electron spin resonance
C) dendrochronology
D) fission track

Question 52

What is the primary advantage of using a comparative approach in anthropology?

A) it allows researchers to determine which culture is superior
B) it provides a broader basis for drawing general conclusions about humans
C) it generates data on the fieldworker's own culture only
D) all of the above

Question 53

If an ethnographic researcher shares stories with informants in order to exemplify the type of data he or she would like to collect, it is the use of a/an:

A) eliciting device
B) informal interview
C) key consultant
D) grid system

Question 54

The prehistoric refuse mounds found along coastal areas in North America were known as:

A) dumps
B) pits
C) middens
D) soil marks

Question 55

If you cannot determine the exact age of an artifact, but you know by its composition that it is older than a known date, the dating technique used is called:

A) chronometric dating
B) relative dating
C) superimposition
D) absolute dating

Question 56

One of the key causes of ethnic and religious conflict is:

A) lack of education
B) family background
C) geographical location
D) globalization

Question 57

The preserved remains of plants and animals that have lived in the past are called:

A) fossils
B) artifacts
C) casts
D) mummies

Question 58

Anthropologists can be considered synthesizers.

Question 59

A Japanese researcher disapproving of North Americans harvesting organs from individuals declared brain dead is an example of a culture-bound theory.

Question 60

Physical remains dating to _____ million years ago are found with associated cultural remains.

A) 7.0
B) 5.5
C) 3.0
D) 2.5

Question 61

NAGPRA is an acronym that stands for Native American Graves Protection and Return Act.

Question 62

Linguistic Anthropologists are interested in both spoken and written language.

Question 63

All humans are members of the same species.

Question 64

Studies of growth and development can provide data on the evolutionary history of humans.

Question 65

Anthropologists use both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Question 66

Primatology is the study of living and fossil primates.

Question 67

Archaeologists use only absolute dating techniques to date fossils.

Question 68

The fact that anthropologists gather data for testing makes it an empirical science.

Question 69

Only apes have a language as complex as human language.

Question 70

The anthropological study of genes and genetic relationships is known as Genetic Anthropology.

Question 71

Anthropologists do not have any biases or assumptions about the different groups they work with.

Question 72

When available, historical documents are always preferred to the study of material remains.

Question 73

Anthropologist Elizabeth Guillette's study of the effects of pesticide exposure on children's performance of normal childhood activities in a Yaqui village in northern Mexico is an example of applied medical anthropology.

Question 74

Anthropology is well equipped to grapple with globalization.

Question 75

Any object made by humans is classified as an artifact.

Question 76

All primate species are endangered today.

Question 77

Participant observation means that the anthropologist should be involved in everything that a cultural group does in order to study them.

Question 78

An ethnographer may work among stock brokers in New York City.

Question 79

Most living organisms eventually become fossils.

Question 80

Archaeology deals with a much greater time span than the other subfields of the discipline.