Deck 5: Global Expansion, Human Variation, and the Invention of Race

Question 1

Which of the following hypotheses fits with a 'single origins' model of human evolution that acknowledges sequential migration waves?

A) Multiregional metapopulation model
B) Both the assimilation hypothesis and the replacement hypothesis
C) Replacement hypothesis
D) Assimilation hypothesis
E) All answers are correct

Answer 1

B

Question 2

What characterizes the 'multiregional metapopulation model' of human evolution that now dominates scientific thinking about our evolutionary past?

A) Human subpopulations diverged and interbred with other subpopulations, periodically passing genes back and forth so that no group diverged enough for speciation (macroevolution) to occur
B) Homo sapiens came into being in a number of regions, separately, and evolved in a parallel way.
C) Humans who left Africa early were killed off by subsequent waves of more highly-evolved migrants
D) Subpopulations separated long ago and evolved into the five distinct races we now know today
E) Human beings can live anywhere.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

A visual representation of the classic 'Out of Africa' model of human origins would look like a:

A) Spider web
B) Short bush
C) Trellis
D) Electrical grid
E) Long road

Answer 3

E

Question 4

What image provides the best metaphor for the ideas conveyed in the 'multiregional metapopulation model' of human evolution?

A) a candelabra
B) one ball of yarn
C) the tree of life
D) a trellis or a thicket
E) a fork in the road

Question 5

What characterizes the recently overturned 'multiple origins' model of human evolution?

A) Numerous human subpopulations diverged and converged continually and variously over time, periodically passing genes back and forth
B) Homo sapiens came into being in a number of regions, separately, and evolved in a parallel way, without coming into contact with each other.
C) Humans who left Africa early were killed off by subsequent waves of more highly-evolved emigrants
D) Subpopulations separated long ago and evolved into the five distinct races we now know today
E) Humans who left Africa early were assimilated by subsequent waves of more highly-evolved emigrants

Question 6

Which of these things could NEVER happen if the 'multiregional metapopulation model' of human evolution is correct?

A) assimilation
B) one highly evolved human subpopulation proving fittest, dominating or edging out the rest
C) parallel evolution
D) gene flow
E) replacement of another subpopulation

Question 7

A consists of multiple sub-populations living in separate locations but remaining connected via gene flow.

A) Multiregional population
B) Assimilation population
C) Metapopulation
D) Niche construction
E) Genetic drift

Question 8

Why were White people called 'Caucasians' in Blumenbach's racial typology?

A) Blumenbach thought that light-skinned people from the Caucasus Mountains (in Georgia/Eurasia) looked the most like Adam and Eve would had looked.
B) Caucasia is the opposite of melanin; accordingly, it leads to whiter skin.
C) Caucasus is one of the four elements that matched up with the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) and therefore with the four races.
D) Blumenbach himself was from a village in the Caucasus region.
E) Blumenbach's patron (sponsor) was from Mount Caucasus.

Question 9

What change introduced by Blumenbach in the vary late 1700s to Linnaeus's four-part typology of humankind was even more important than his adding a fifth race?

A) The prioritization of physical appearance
B) His repurposing of the cardinal directions (north, south, east, west)
C) Reference to specific regions of the globe
D) The prioritization of environment
E) Reference to genetics

Question 10

Behaviorally modern humans emerged around years ago.

A) 60,000
B) 10,000
C) 75,000
D) 100,000
E) 1 million

Question 11

Frog groups that live in different streams but which occasionally encounter other such groups and interbreed successfully form a/an:

A) Subspecies
B) Assimilation population
C) Metapopulation
D) Niche group
E) Genetic candelabra

Question 12

The 'multiregional metapopulation model' proposes that with continued , geographically separated subpopulations of evolving humans maintained their identification as one species.

A) Nonrandom mating
B) Niche construction
C) Genetic drift
D) Gene flow
E) Mutation

Question 13

Which best describes current scientific understandings about the relationship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens?

A) Homo sapiens never came into contact with Neanderthals.
B) Neanderthals were not capable of cultural practices.
C) Scholars now mostly classify Neanderthals as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis-that is, as a subspecies of Homo sapiens (us).
D) Neanderthals and modern humans do not share a common ancestor.
E) Neanderthals and modern humans do not share any genes.

Question 14

From around 130,000 to about 30,000 year ago, Neanderthals occupied which of the following regions/continents?

A) Africa
B) Europe and Western Asia
C) South America
D) The Americas
E) North America only

Question 15

In the past, Neanderthals were usually written off as a 'nonhuman' or 'subhuman' species. What is one fact that (along with other evidence) indicates otherwise?

A) Neanderthals left Africa before Homo sapiens.
B) Neanderthals developed robust features to adapt to colder climates.
C) Skeletal evidence suggests that Neanderthals had a much higher cranial capacity than modern humans.
D) Neanderthals buried symbolically important objects with their dead.
E) The Neanderthal genome is identical to the modern human genome.

Question 16

Why did the Air Force's effort to design a plane that would fit the average pilot fail?

A) In real life nobody (no body) is average on all dimensions
B) average height is nonconcordant with average weight, leg length, reach, and so on
C) We all vary, and we do so in varying ('jagged') fashion
D) All of the answers are correct
E) The controls, seat height, display angles, etc. were not adjustable (they assumed concordance of body traits)

Question 17

When physical (phenotypic) traits consistently co-occur, we call that:

A) concordance
B) nonconcordance
C) racial similarity
D) genetic overlap
E) parallel evolution

Question 18

How is 'ethnicity' different from 'race'?

A) Ethnicities are racial subgroups.
B) 'Race' refers to biology only while 'ethnicity' refers to ideas about shared culture or shared national or regional origins.
C) Ethnicity hinges upon a person's genetic makeup
D) Both are biological
E) 'Ethnicity' is the scientific term for 'race.'

Question 19

When scientists examine genetic differences between the so-called 'races' they see that:

A) humans are divided into different subgroups within a multiregional metapopulation
B) there is more difference between these groups than within them
C) phenotypic difference is unimportant in social terms
D) there is more difference within groups than between them.
E) race exists on a microscopic level.

Question 20

Skin pigmentation around the globe reflects the importance of maintaining just enough melanin to enable ample _____ absorption via _____ production while still protecting _____ stores from degradation due to UVB exposure.

A) Calcium; Vitamin D; Folate
B) Iron; Folate; Fat
C) Calcium; Vitamin D; Fat
D) Vitamin D; Folate, Calcium
E) Calcium; Vitamin D; Melanin

Question 21

Calling the achievements of individuals from so-called minority groups as 'firsts' reflects institutionalized (or structural) racism because it:

A) Implies that people of color are generally inferior to white people
B) Diverts attention from rules (such as sporting league rules) that kept them from such achievements to begin with
C) This is a trick question: it really doesn't have anything to do with institutionalized racism.
D) All of the answers (except the trick question answer) are correct
E) Individualizes our view of what people can accomplish, distracting us from systemic barriers related to unequal access

Question 22

In the modern Western world, institutionalized (or structural) racism is:

A) very obvious to those who benefit from it.
B) none of the answers is correct
C) highly unusual.
D) often expressed through inaction.
E) the result of bigoted individuals' actions.

Question 23

Of the following, which is an example of 'institutionalized racism'?

A) Police protocols disproportionately targeting one so-called racial group over another without evidence to support differential treatment
B) A medical textbook asserting that people of a specific race tend to be more theatrical about mild discomfort and suggesting that pain prescriptions should rarely be given to them.
C) Bank loan regulations that limit loans to individuals in certain (White) zip-codes regardless of the ability of individual applicants in other zip codes to repay their loans
D) A prestigious university offering to waive tuition for underprivileged students if they possess exemplary athleticism that exclusively advertises this program in areas with mostly minoritized populations
E) Every example demonstrates 'institutionalized racism'.

Question 24

A coroner's description of a corpse as an 'Asian female between 20-25 years of age' is certainly an example of:

A) racism.
B) racialization.
C) nonconcordance
D) biological determinism.
E) natural selection.

Question 25

Because the Nate Harrison archaeological excavations described in the Chapter 5 supplement box focused on artifacts, it was able to show that this Black pioneer:

A) Lived like a hermit, without any visitors
B) Had few possessions but still was able to 'make do'
C) Subsisted on acorns, wild birds, and squirrel meat.
D) Was "allergic to labor of any kind"
E) Ran a large and highly productive ranch, counter to to the racist narratives casting him as lazy.

Question 26

The largest and most significant waves of Homo sapiens to migrate out of Africa came around:

A) 100,000 years ago.
B) 60-50,000 years ago.
C) 1 million years ago.
D) 10,000 years ago.
E) 75,000 years ago

Question 27

In relation to humanity's global spread, the 'replacement hypothesis' describes the idea that groups that left Africa early to occupy territory on other continents (early immigrants) were:

A) killed off by diseases introduced by later immigrants
B) killed off by later immigrants through acts of violence
C) driven out of the new territory by later immigrants, who then took over the territory
D) unable to adapt to the new environment and so died off and left it open for new immigrant groups who arrived later on and were somehow more successful at adapting
E) All of the answers are correct

Question 28

The decision by some scientists to call Neanderthals Homo neanderthalis instead of Homo sapiens neanderthalis:

A) is arbitrary, as these titles are interchangeable.
B) proclaims that Neanderthals were in fact a separate species from anatomically modern humans, and did not interbreed with them.
C) indicates the view that Neanderthals and humans could interbreed.
D) is wholeheartedly endorsed by the entire scientific community.
E) means nothing.

Question 29

Human genetic variation is greatest on which continent?

A) North America
B) South America
C) Eurasia
D) Africa
E) Australia

Question 30

Categorizing people based on visually identifiable features such as skin color is called or is an example of:

A) racism.
B) racialism or racialization.
C) eugenics.
D) race.
E) natural selection.

Question 31

Carl Linnaeus's grouping of people into 'race' categories was an early example of

A) racist rankings.
B) racialization.
C) relativism.
D) historical particularism.
E) reflexivity.

Question 32

Which of the following is an example of 'racism'?

A) using racial data from the census in the context of pediatric quality improvement research
B) using racial data from the census to check for particular problems in educational access or achievement
C) using racial data from the census to see if high educational achievements in a race mean that that race is superior
D) using racial data from the census to find inequities in healthcare
E) using visually identifiable traits to classify people into groups

Question 33

The 'race' of a skeleton may be determined by a forensic anthropologist, but doing so is problematic (and the subject of debate among scholars) because:

A) skeletons are of little use to us when trying to classify living people.
B) the focus on the skeleton diverts us from attending to more relevant features of a person's life, like national origin, occupation, education, and so on.
C) Actually, it is never problematic and it is not the subject of debate.
D) doing so perpetuates the myth that human beings are divisible into bounded sub-species
E) All of the answers (except the 'never' one) are correct.

Question 34

The 'multiple origins' or 'multiregional' model of human evolution does NOT allow for:

A) The independent evolution of subgroups.
B) a shared common ancestor.
C) gene flow.
D) assimilation of older populations by or within newcomer populations.
E) human occupation of many habitats on earth.

Question 35

Blumenbach, who created a five-race schematic, did NOT:

A) focus on physical appearance as fundamentally important for race.
B) ascribe differences between human groups to climate and habitat.
C) proclaim people from Mount Caucasus to be closest in appearance to the original Adam and Eve.
D) deny the unity of humankind.
E) do anything on this list.

Question 36

In mapping the entire human population, Linnaeus did NOT:

A) map the human race upon the cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west).
B) include four races: American, European, Asian and African.
C) link each of those races with a humor and temperament.
D) link each of those races with a color (red, white, yellow, and black).
E) include a ranking of the four races.

Question 37

Where Vitamin D is NOT naturally present in the food supply and UVB exposure is low, which situation provides the best selective advantage?

A) light skin
B) long robes that cover all exposed skin
C) dark sin
D) lactose tolerance
E) working indoors

Question 38

Which of the following has NOT been shown to follow or exhibit a geographic cline, at least historically (prior to frequent travel and relocation)?

A) ABO blood group distribution
B) genetically-determined athletic prowess
C) the sickle cell trait
D) the ability to digest lactose as an adult
E) skin color

Question 39

Lactose tolerance:

A) was selected for in certain populations after Homo sapiens sapiens began to spread globally.
B) was common in our earliest Homo sapiens sapiens ancestors.
C) is a trait common to all high-altitude mountain dwellers.
D) never offered any selective advantage to anyone.
E) is necessary for the efficient digestion of alcohol and grain-based food items.

Question 40

Most traits that we associated with 'race':

A) clump together in predictable patterns.
B) clump together in stable patterns.
C) do not clump together in predictable or stable patterns.
D) correspond with one another.
E) are concordant.

Question 41

The key index traits popularly used to sort people into 'racial' categories are:

A) visually identifiable (superficial)
B) biochemical (under the skin)
C) below the neck
D) found universally
E) pre-cultural

Question 42

So-called 'racial markers' like skin color evolved ________ complex traits like intellectual ability.

A) after
B) before
C) in concordance with
D) in synch with
E) much more slowly than

Question 43

Most of the adaptive variations associated with 'race':

A) evolved independently, as geographically specific environmental adaptations
B) evolved together, as 'trait packages'
C) evolved prior to the emergence of culture
D) provide indisputable proof of the 'multiple origins' theory of evolution
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 44

The 'single origin' theory of humankind's invasion of the world:

A) is the same as the Australian Model.
B) states that all humans are descendants of a shared common ancestor in Africa.
C) states that all humans are descendants of a shared common ancestor in the Americas.
D) is the same as the Multiple Origins Model.
E) explains how the evolutionary paths of a number of versions of Homo came together or converged eventually.

Question 45

Which of the following best characterizes Homo sapiens' global spread?

A) We all left Africa in one group at one time after we evolved to walk upright.
B) Ancestral species evolved into humans multiple regions along convergent lines.
C) Those humans who left Africa after culture emerged did so on two feet and in a series of migration waves.
D) A meteorite hit the cradle of humanity in central-east Africa, forcing humans to go either north and east and up out of Africa, or south and west.
E) Those humans who left Africa crawled out: bipedalism had not yet evolved.

Question 46

The majority of scientists agree that ____ percent of humans today have African ancestry if you look far back enough in time.

A) 10%
B) 25%
C) 50%
D) 75%
E) 100%

Question 47

Given the list below, which group has the best chance of being confirmed as a real biological race or subspecies of Homo sapiens?

A) University professors
B) White people
C) Black people
D) Aboriginal people
E) Neanderthals

Question 48

Prior to the very late 1700s in Europe, and so according to Linnaeus's scheme, differences between what later became seen as 'races' were:

A) fit into pre-existing conceptual models of personality or character (temperament).
B) mapped onto the cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west).
C) linked with the four most basic colors recognized (red, white, black, and yellow).
D) ranked hierarchically.
E) All of the answers except for 'ranked hierarchically' are right.

Question 49

Linnaeus's original racial taxonomy reflected:

A) the legacy of four-fold thinking common to his time.
B) racial rankings
C) the legacy of five-fold thinking common to his time.
D) the three-fold underpinning of life reflected in constructions such as 'father, son, holy ghost' or 'mother, father, child.'
E) body ideals for fat and thin.

Question 50

Although sorting people into 'races' by temperament rather than visible bodily traits may seem strange, it is not uncommon cross culturally. In our text, the example provided to illustrate this involved:

A) the Lakota word for white people, which translates to 'eaters of fat' (greedy people who disregard their obligation to safeguard the environment for future generations).
B) the Lakota word for black people, which translates to 'fat people from afar.'
C) the way that surfers classify non-surfers.
D) the Australian norm of classifying others based on what they wear on their feet.
E) Actually, sorting by temperament was explained as a very strange practice, so none of the other answers is right.

Question 51

When did Europeans begin ranking human 'races' hierarchically?

A) when the age of discovery gave way to the age of conquest and colonization.
B) Actually, they always had ranked them.
C) when slavery was outlawed.
D) when there was a need to justify the call for liberty and equality amongst all human beings.
E) when racism gave way to (was replaced by) racialization.

Question 52

Overall, there is more genetic difference between _______ than there is _______.

A) members of different races / between members of the same race
B) contemporary Californians / between contemporary Africans
C) members of the same race / between members of different races
D) the races / within them
E) the races / between humans and chimps

Question 53

Which of the following is true in regard to 'race'-related genetic variation?

A) 80-85 percent of human genetic variation occurs within races.
B) 10-15 percent of human genetic variation occurs within races.
C) 10-15 percent of human genetic variation cannot be accounted for by race.
D) The average difference between races is much larger than the average difference between individuals who belong to a given racial category.
E) The average difference between races is much smaller than the average difference between individuals who belong to a given racial category.

Question 54

Which of the following is true in regard to the kind of phenotypic variation popularly associated with 'race'?

A) There is a wide range of within-race variation in traits such as skin color, eye shape, hair texture, and height.
B) There is no observable overlap in visually salient traits.
C) Skin color is categorically different (does not exist on a gradation) between races.
D) No healthy 'black' people are lighter-skinned than any 'white' people.
E) No healthy 'white' people are naturally darker-skinned than any 'black' people.

Question 55

Which of the following is an example of 'nonconcordance'?

A) Traits associated with one race often are found in people assigned to another.
B) Traits associated with one race are not always found together in a predictable pattern in members of that race.
C) Traits associated with one race are found always together, only among members of that race.
D) Particular traits can be predicted to occur among people with a very specific ancestral background.
E) All whites look alike.

Question 56

Which of the following traits is not 'concordant' with the other traits listed?

A) hair texture
B) skin color
C) nose shape
D) fingerprint pattern
E) None of the traits on this list co-occur with regularity.

Question 57

If the human species was in fact divisible into biological races, then we would be able to predict a person's hair texture with 100% accuracy from knowledge of his or her:

A) skin color
B) nose shape
C) lip shape
D) eye shape
E) All of the traits listed would be predictive of hair texture-and of each other-with essentially 100% accuracy if the human species was in fact divisible into biological races.

Question 58

In most US healthcare settings today, the clinical belief in 'race':

A) fosters clinical mistakes, such as when an individual is not tested for a problem thought only to occur among members of another 'race.'
B) has fostered more precision in diagnostic practice.
C) is not widespread.
D) is supported by scientific advances in biology in general and genetics in particular.
E) has been replaced by a practice of fine-grained inquiry into geographic ancestry.

Question 59

The way 'race' is used in healthcare today can lead clinicians to forget that sickle cell anemia is a disease of:

A) Blacks.
B) Whites.
C) Hispanics.
D) people who live where malaria has been a problem.
E) all human beings, in equal distribution.

Question 60

The 'race' assigned to a person's skeletal remains by a forensic scientist:

A) can differ from the race that would have been assigned visually by that scientist to the same person if seen in a photo or during personal interaction pre-dating the death
B) always conforms to the dead person's racial self-identity
C) is key to understanding that person's life experience
D) is based on guesswork versus systematic measurements
E) All of the answers are correct

Question 61

'Race' data from the US census:

A) can be useful because race exists as a cultural construct and has real-life ramifications for life chances and experiences.
B) is cross-culturally or cross-nationally comparable.
C) should never be used by scientists.
D) has no utility for predicting life chances and experiences at the population level.
E) has not been collected since science disproved the idea that there are human races.

Question 62

All members of an 'ethnic group' or those with shared 'ethnicity' also share:

A) membership in the same race.
B) a biological heritage.
C) national or regional origins, and culture.
D) a physical ancestral heritage .
E) the taste for spicy or bland foods.

Question 63

A map showing the distribution of various phenotypic traits as grading up and down (increasing and decreasing) over large regions is showing us:

A) geographic clines.
B) races.
C) ethnic groups.
D) geographic clusters.
E) racial clines.

Question 64

A 'geographic cline' is generally defined as a:

A) decrease in fitness across a geographic region.
B) incremental spatial (regional) gradient in the distribution of a human biological trait.
C) type of climate change brought about by overuse of ecological resources.
D) valley in which early human remains are likely to be found.
E) migration route for early humans.

Question 65

The distribution of the varieties of skin color:

A) is even around the world.
B) has a high degree of randomness.
C) correlates with the availability of dairy products.
D) roughly reflects the distribution of ultraviolet radiation on the Earth.
E) shows that darker skin has always been most common in densely forested areas.

Question 66

Head size, blood type, the ability to cope with large amounts of alcohol, and sickle cell anemia have what in common?

A) They are all highly susceptible to epigenetic adaptation.
B) They were all originally distributed in easy-to-see geographic clines.
C) They are all associated with anthropogenic diseases.
D) Each is commonly found near the equator.
E) They are all racially concordant.

Question 67

The human traits that have most often been cited as indicators of 'race' are 'nonconcordant,' meaning that:

A) they are phenotypic.
B) they always appear in particular groupings or patterns.
C) they do not co-appear in stable patterns within 'racial' populations.
D) they are expressions of multiple genes.
E) people do not agree which traits are associated with which races.

Question 68

The Jamaicans' success in the recent Olympic games:

A) reflects hard work, a can-do mindset, and a national love of running.
B) has been traced to the ACTN3 allele, which is linked to the ability to more forcefully contract muscles and which only Jamaicans have.
C) is correlated to the vast financial wealth of the nation.
D) is due to heterogeneous nature of Jamaica's gene pool.
E) shows that the Jamaicans are genetically gifted.