Deck 1: Introduction

Question 1

While chatting over coffee with your friend,you overhear someone say,"I don't understand how those Hindus let cattle wander around their cities and not eat them.Where I come from,cattle are raised,branded,and then turned into steak and burgers.What the Hindus do just isn't normal." Which of the following does this situation best demonstrate?

A)Müller-Lyer illusion
B)ethnocentrism
C)jerungdu
D)Russian cultural-historical school of thought
E)culture

Answer 1

ethnocentrism

Question 2

Which of the following levels of psychological universals was NOT proposed by Norenzayan and Heine?

A)statistical universal
B)nonuniversal
C)accessibility universal
D)existential universal
E)functional universal

Answer 2

statistical universal

Question 3

In an African Studies research paper that you are writing for publication,you used the word "culture" to refer to a South African people.Which of the following is NOT a challenge to using this definition of culture to indicate "South Africans"?

A)Some South Africans have likely been exposed to ideas from many other countries,such as the United States and China.
B)Present-day South Africans are likely very different from South Africans in the early 20th century.
C)Many South Africans themselves do not know what it really means to be South African,or what that term entails.
D)There is too much variability within the South African population to warrant a single "South African" category.
E)Many South Africans have likely traveled beyond their national borders and have been introduced to messages from foreign cultures.

Answer 3

Many South Africans themselves do not know what it really means to be South African,or what that term entails.

Question 4

As the incoming CEO of a company where people of different ethnicities work in the same workspace,you have been given the task of creating a positive and friendly work environment.This means that people of different ethnicities should have trust in the company and have positive emotions toward each other.To do so,you plan to give a speech.According to the textbook,which of the following is the ideal approach to take in that speech?

A)"There are no racial differences here-only one human race."
B)"Treat everyone as a friend to make this workplace a friendlier place."
C)"Everyone is special and brings their uniqueness to the table.We should treasure and treat everyone similarly."
D)"Company parties every Friday night!"
E)"Every race brings a different piece of the puzzle that,together,will help us accomplish great things."

Question 5

All cultures congratulate their members' achievements to make them feel good about themselves,but some cultures are much more willing to do this than others.According to Norenzayan and Heine,what is this an example of?

A)existential universal
B)accessibility universal
C)functional universal
D)nonuniversal
E)conditional universal

Question 6

You are about to greet Paul for the first time.Upon meeting him,you take his right hand and put it up to your forehead.You then put Paul's hand down and release it.In your culture,this is the custom for greeting people for the first time.Suppose that researchers have decided that this custom is really a functional universal.Which of the following would you assume to be the case in other cultures?

A)The custom is not used as much in other cultures.
B)The custom does not exist in other cultures.
C)The custom is triggered by different causes in other cultures.
D)The custom solves different problems in other cultures.
E)The custom has no equivalents in other cultures.

Question 7

A key difference between "cultural" psychologists and "general" psychologists is that

A)general psychologists study people who have had their culture statistically controlled for.
B)cultural psychologists study people from different cultures,whereas general psychologists study people from one culture.
C)cultural psychologists believe that the mind is interdependent with context and content,whereas general psychologists believe that the mind is independent from context and content.
D)general psychologists believe that people everywhere are born with similar brains,whereas cultural psychologists believe that people are born with different kinds of brains in different cultures.
E)general psychologists believe that experiences shape the mind,whereas cultural psychologists believe that experiences do not shape the mind.

Question 8

You decide to start a new research project investigating the universality of drinking alcohol.To do so,you investigate two different cultures from two different continents (the Netherlands and Canada).You find evidence that people in both countries drink beer to the same extent and for the same reasons.Which of the following conclusions can you make about alcohol drinking?

A)It is an accessibility universal.
B)It is a functional universal.
C)It is an existential universal.
D)It is a nonuniversal.
E)No definite conclusion can be made.

Question 9

Your research team found evidence that people in multiple cultures walk with their shoes on their heads;but this "shoe-on-head" way of walking is activated for different reasons across cultures.This would be evidence of a(n)

A)nonuniversal.
B)existential universal.
C)functional universal.
D)accessibility universal.
E)conditional universal.

Question 10

You review all of the studies that you've done in your career,and realize that they all use WEIRD samples.Based on this characteristic of your samples,which of the following challenges is the most applicable to your work?

A)determining universality
B)countering ethnocentrism
C)getting jerungdu
D)overcoming the Müller-Lyer illusion
E)defining culture

Question 11

A key belief of the Sambia is that

A)people are born homosexual and become heterosexual with experience.
B)there are no differences between women and men,so both women and men engage in warfare.
C)the primary purpose of sexual activity is for pleasure,so they try to maximize the amount of pleasure for each person.
D)heterosexual intercourse and pregnancy are not related.
E)boys are born female,and become male by acquiring semen.

Question 12

According to the definition offered in the textbook,which of the following would NOT be a good example of "culture"?

A)iPods.
B)A child learns how to tie her shoes from her mother.
C)A child figures out how to create a hammer by tying a rock to the end of a stick.
D)A child given a new puzzle she has never seen before discovers a novel solution by herself.
E)A child learns to raise her hand in class to get the teacher's attention.

Question 13

The Russian cultural-historical school emphasized that

A)mind and cultural are mutually constituted.
B)culture is personality writ large.
C)the mind has a universal layer and a culturally specific layer.
D)people interact with their environments via culturally acquired tools.
E)the psychological effects of cultural learning are best evident by contrasting people from different historical periods.

Question 14

After an exhaustive study,you find no cultural variation across all samples explored in terms of sleeping in a tree at night.This finding would best be labeled as a(n)

A)nonuniversal.
B)existential universal.
C)functional universal.
D)accessibility universal.
E)conditional universal.

Question 15

A cat teaches another cat in the same alley to hold a mouse a certain way so that the mouse can be more easily eaten.Based on the definitions of culture used in the textbook,can this example be said to be "culture"?

A)Yes,because the information was passed on by social learning between cats.
B)Yes,because a habit or practice can be said to be "culture."
C)Yes,because the cats belong to a group of cats from the same alley.
D)No.
E)More than one of the choices is true.

Question 16

You grew up learning that nodding your head means "yes," and most people you know do the same;however,you recently learned that people in some cultures nod their heads when they mean to say "no." Nodding your head would thus be characterized as a(n)

A)existential universal.
B)functional universal.
C)nonuniversal.
D)accessibility universal.
E)statistical universal.

Question 17

People from all cultures use umbrellas,but in some cultures umbrellas are used only to block rainwater,whereas in other cultures umbrellas are used only to block the sun.The use of umbrellas across cultures would thus be classified as a(n)

A)statistical universal.
B)nonuniversal.
C)accessibility universal.
D)existential universal.
E)functional universal.

Question 18

A chimpanzee learns from his human zookeeper to wash carrots in the artificial river in his habitat before eating them.Based on the definitions of culture used in the textbook,can this example be said to be "culture"?

A)Yes,the information was passed on by social learning.
B)Yes,because a habit or practice can be said to be "culture."
C)Yes,because the chimpanzee belongs to a group of chimpanzees kept in zoos.
D)No.
E)More than one of the choices is true.

Question 19

Your friend subscribes to the notion that people interact with their environments through the human-made ideas that have been passed down to them across history.Your friend is most likely to be associated with which of the following?

A)Wilhelm Wundt's Elements of Folk Psychology.
B)the Russian cultural-historical school
C)culture and personality studies
D)early theories in social psychology
E)Jerome Bruner and the launching of the cognitive revolution

Question 20

You want to raise your child so that she won't be susceptible to the Müller-Lyer illusion.Based on what the textbook discusses as being the reason for why some people are more susceptible to this illusion than others,what should you do to make your child less susceptible to it?

A)Train her and drill her on it as soon as she can talk.
B)Remove her from North America.
C)Raise her in an environment without corners.
D)Find a place with a high point of subjective equality,and make sure to raise her somewhere else.
E)This cultural difference is genetically inherited,so little can be done to make one less susceptible.

Question 21

If a given psychological construct is found in some cultures and serves a given purpose,but is not found in other cultures,this construct is considered to be a(n)

A)accessibility universal.
B)existential universal.
C)statistical universal.
D)functional universal.
E)nonuniversal.

Question 22

You completed an exhaustive ethnographic study of every culture in the world.You were particularly interested in the practice of Culture Y,where people hit themselves with sticks on their birthday to ward off evil spirits.Upon examining other cultures,you concluded that this practice was a functional universal.Based on this information,complete the following table (assume that Culture A is characteristic of the rest of the world).

A)(1)Different from Culture Y; (2)Same as Culture Y
B)(1)Different from Culture Y; (2)Different from Culture Y
C)(1)Same as Culture Y; (2)Same as Culture Y
D)(1)Same as Culture Y; (2)Different from Culture Y
E)(1)Not enough information; (2)Not enough information

Question 23

Your friend is doing a series of visual tasks.In one task,she had to track an object sliding across the screen (slide task).In another task,she had to track an object that popped up on the screen and then disappeared (pop task).According to a brain scan taken during the tasks,her left inferior parietal lobule and right precentral gyrus showed greater activation during the slide task than during the pop task.What does this mean?

A)Your friend found the slide task easier than the pop task.
B)Your friend found the slide task more difficult than the pop task.
C)Your friend was better at the slide task than at the pop task.
D)Your friend was worse at the slide task than at the pop task.
E)Your friend was more confused during the slide task than during the pop task.

Question 24

What did the cognitive revolution NOT entail?

A)rejection of behaviorism
B)a revival of cultural psychology
C)a focus on the mind
D)an emphasis on meanings that people drive from their surroundings
E)moving away from stimulus-response relations

Question 25

Who did NOT contribute to any incarnation of cultural psychology?

A)Wilhelm Wundt
B)Jerome Bruner
C)Harry Triandis
D)Solomon Asch
E)Richard Shweder

Question 26

Which of the following statements about ethnocentrism is TRUE?

A)It is necessary for clearer definitions of what constitutes a cultural group.
B)It is when a person can use multiple cultural standards by which to judge behaviors.
C)It means that behaviors that do not seem normal tend to be viewed as less desirable.
D)It suggests an understanding that what may be natural to me may not be natural to other people around me.
E)It suggests an understanding that one takes a purely objective perspective when examining cultural differences.

Question 27

Which of the following is an example of ethnocentrism?

A)"I grew up eating fish raw,but people from Culture X like to eat fish cooked.Different countries just have different food preferences."
B)"I don't understand.How come we keep dogs as pets,but people from Culture X keep llamas as pets?"
C)"Those people from Culture X are weird.Rather than using forks to eat like we do,like people are supposed to,they like to pick things up using sticks to eat."
D)"We should be more tolerant of different ethnicities,and make that the key goal of the company."
E)None of the choices is an example of ethnocentrism.

Question 28

Living in a world with carpentered corners means that

A)you will perform better on the absolute-length task than on the relative-length task.
B)you will perform better on the relative-length task than on the absolute-length task.
C)you will have a smaller point of subjective equality.
D)you will be susceptible to the Müller-Lyer illusion.
E)your left inferior parietal lobule and right precentral gyrus will not be activated.

Question 29

To gain jerungdu,

A)you must disparage people from other ethnicities.
B)you must make sure that your research can safely conclude universality.
C)…Kaluli boys must receive semen by ingesting it.
D)…Sambian boys must receive semen by ingesting it.
E)…Etoro boys must receive semen in their anuses.

Question 30

According to the Sambia,

A)men can get jerungdu from certain trees.
B)femaleness is acquired.
C)men can produce semen,while boys must acquire it.
D)heterosexuality is a positive part of life.
E)maleness is innate.