Deck 13: Culture, Religion, and Ethnicity: Processes and Differences

Question 1

Measuring everyone against the norms and customs of one's own ethnic group is termed

A) ethnography.
B) transethnicity.
C) ethnocentrism.
D) ethological.
E) prejudice.

Answer 1

ethnocentrism.

Question 2

Mead, in her study of South Pacific Islanders, found that

A) in some cultures, adolescents are viewed as gods.
B) the difficulties of adolescence are the same across cultures.
C) in some cultures, there is no hormonal puberty.
D) the difficulties of adolescence are not the same across cultures.

Answer 2

the difficulties of adolescence are not the same across cultures.

Question 3

According to research by Whiting & Whiting (1975), children who grow up in a cooperative home environment tend to be more __________ as adults than those raised in a competitive atmosphere.

A) introverted
B) prosocial
C) extroverted
D) neurotic
E) antisocial

Answer 3

prosocial

Question 4

In his book The Cultural Background of Personality, Ralph Linton argued that

A) people in the same culture all share the same personality traits.
B) personality is set in early childhood by the influence of key figures in the culture.
C) people in the same culture share things like behavior and knowledge, which may shape apparent "personality."
D) people in different cultures inherit different genetic predispositions.

Question 5

A(n) __________ approach to personality focuses on one specific culture, whereas a(n) __________ approach is cross-cultural.

A) etic; emic
B) etic; rational
C) rational; diverse
D) emic; etic
E) narrow; emic

Question 6

Cross-cultural researchers have found that Western cultures tend to be more __________ whereas Eastern cultures emphasize a(n) __________ viewpoint.

A) humanitarian; individualistic
B) outspoken; optimistic
C) individualistic; collectivist
D) collectivist; outspoken
E) optimistic; pessimistic

Question 7

Groups are often formed based on which of the following?

A) Cultural habits and customs
B) Political beliefs
C) Physical characteristics
D) Religious practices
E) All of these

Question 8

The "American dilemma," as discussed by Myrdal, refers to the fact that

A) individuals have the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," and yet people often die early in life before having a chance to really "live."
B) the "American Dream" is to own a house and raise a family and yet it is becoming harder and harder to achieve this goal.,
C) Americans believe that "all men are created equal," and yet there was a time when slavery was permitted.
D) Americans have a democratic system, but many people don't bother to vote.

Question 9

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a term that describes a person's relative standing in

A) education and income.
B) income and physical characteristics.
C) ancestry and physical characteristics.
D) ancestry and income.
E) education and physical characteristics.

Question 10

The fact that someone with higher SES is at a lower risk of becoming ill and dying prematurely than someone of lower SES is called the SES

A) condition.
B) enigma.
C) bias.
D) injustice.
E) gradient.

Question 11

According to Marx, psychosocial phenomena such as alienation could be understood by studying

A) personality traits across cultures.
B) the criminal minds of convicted killers.
C) great leaders of socialist societies.
D) the economic structure of capitalist societies.

Question 12

Which of the following illustrates how closely people associate their identity with their language?

A) The "English only" movement in the United States
B) Cross-cultural psychology
C) Bilingual education
D) Children speaking the language of their parents

Question 13

Language influences all but which of the following?

A) The way we interact with others
B) The physical characteristics we possess
C) The way we perceive the world
D) The way we express ourselves
E) The way we think about problems

Question 14

Which of the following illustrates the concept of "linguistic relativity"?

A) Suzy doesn't understand the complexities of weather because, in her culture, words for describing weather are broad and general, rather than specific.
B) Suzy speaks differently when she is with close family and relatives than she does when she is around her school friends.
C) Suzy often uses profanity because she hears her older sister swearing.
D) Suzy tries to appear more intelligent by using big, impressive-sounding words.

Question 15

Doob (1958) has found that people who tend to use active verbs also tend to have ________ personalities.

A) insecure
B) secure
C) open minded
D) field dependent
E) field independent

Question 16

One's location in the social hierarchy may be inferred from which of the following?

A) Occupation
B) Wealth
C) Age
D) Sex
E) All of these

Question 17

Research has shown that a child reading the sentence "Each student was instructed to return his exam to the teacher" is likely to envision __________ if the child is a boy and __________ if the child is a girl.

A) a female student; a male student
B) a male student; a male student
C) unknown; unknown (research on this topic has not been done)
D) a female student; a female student
E) a male student; a female student

Question 18

Scores on psychological tests are known to be affected by

A) qualities of the test administrator.
B) socioeconomic status.
C) motivation.
D) previous test-taking experiences.
E) all of these.

Question 19

Which of the following incorporates culture as part of the assessment itself?

A) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
B) System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment
C) Raven Progressive Matrices Test
D) Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Question 20

Suppose you have given a personality test to samples of individuals from two different cultural groups. You find that one group scores significantly higher on neuroticism. How can you determine whether this is a true finding, or whether it reflects a cultural bias in your measurement?

A) Ask the individuals if they think the test was biased.
B) Look at other sources of information about the groups for confirming or disconfirming evidence.
C) Have the groups retake the test and see if the difference still exists.
D) Have the groups retake the test after a long period of time and see if the difference still exists.

Question 21

In Erikson's (1950) study of the Sioux in South Dakota, he found that many white teachers believed the Native American children had fundamental personality flaws, mostly because they didn't cooperate and do well in the classroom. Erikson traced this problem to which of the following?

A) There were independent reservations, but people living on them were made dependent on the government for their livelihood.
B) U.S. government policies applied the norms of the larger American culture onto the American Indians.
C) Lip service was given to "trust" and "cooperation," but agreements were often broken.
D) The culture of the Native Americans was different from the culture of the white teachers.
E) All of these

Question 22

Brian is a psychologist studying "the psychology of the rave party." He goes to raves in England, Scotland, Canada, and the United States, and records the behavior he observes in each location using one common set of descriptions. Brian is using an __________ approach.

A) emetic
B) enteric
C) aesthetic
D) emic
E) etic

Question 23

Jen lives in a society where individuals see themselves as all working on a common "team." The success of the group is valued above her individual success. She is most likely living in a(n) __________ society.

A) communist
B) collectivist
C) individualistic
D) socialist
E) humanist

Question 24

Ralph lives in a society where individuals are taught to "be all they can be." One of his goals is to stand out and be different. He is most likely living in a(n) __________ society.

A) socialist
B) individualistic
C) collectivist
D) communist
E) humanist

Question 25

The concept of __________ suggests that our interpretation of the world is, to a large extent, dependent on the linguistic system by which we classify it.

A) assimilation
B) acculturation
C) linguistic relativity
D) linguistic solidarity
E) cumulus relativity

Question 26

Stereotype threat may lead to

A) anxiety.
B) physiological responses from threatened individuals.
C) improved test performance.
D) poorer test performance.
E) all of these.

Question 27

According to the __________ perspective, culture is the set of reinforcement contingencies in place at a certain geographic location or shared environment.

A) psychoanalytic
B) trait and skill
C) behaviorist
D) biological
E) cognitive

Question 28

According to the __________ perspective, culture is the realization of human beings' strivings to create enduring meaning and value in their lives.

A) psychoanalytic
B) biological
C) behaviorist
D) cognitive
E) humanistic-existential

Question 29

Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray published a book called The Bell Curve, which suggested

A) racial differences in IQ do not exist.
B) racial differences in IQ can be contributed to genetics.
C) "curving" scores on exams hurt ethnic minorities more than it helped them.
D) putting children in the "right " schools will increase their IQ.
E) IQ is largely due to social influences.

Question 30

The fact that Americans believe that "all men are created equal," and yet, everyone is not treated equally is a phenomena called

A) Racial Profiling.
B) the American Hypocrisy.
C) the American Contradiction.
D) Subtle Inequality.
E) the American Dilemma.

Question 31

Brenda took a trip abroad recently and found herself comparing the Europeans' traditions to her own. She found it very strange that there was so much napping going on in the afternoon and that people seemed to get things done so slowly. Although she knew she would enjoy herself more if she appreciated the culture she found herself immersed in, she really didn't like the different traditions she observed. Brenda is being __________ in her view of European culture.

A) ethnocentric
B) emic
C) individualistic
D) collectivist
E) etic

Question 32

The SES gradient is a phenomenon in public health that refers to the findings that

A) the higher a person's socioeconomic status is, the less happy and psychologically healthy a person is.
B) the higher a person's socioeconomic status is, the higher is that person's risk of getting sick and dying prematurely.
C) the higher a person's socioeconomic status is, the happier a person is.
D) the higher a person's socioeconomic status is, the lower is that person's risk of getting sick and of dying prematurely.
E) socioeconomic status is only related to health among individuals of low income.

Question 33

Which term describes "evaluating others from one's own cultural point of view"?

A) Enthnography
B) Egocentrism
C) Ethnocentrism
D) Ethology
E) Enthnicology

Question 34

What is the difference between an emic approach and an etic approach to studying cultures?

A) An emic approach signifies bias; an etic approach signifies non-bias.
B) An emic approach is culture specific; an etic approach is cross-cultural.
C) An emic approach is culturally centered; an etic approach is culturally applied.
D) An emic approach is when someone studies his or her own culture; an etic approach is when someone studies another culture.
E) Both terms apply to the same approach.

Question 35

The term "idiolect" refers to what?

A) A specialized system that determines the syntax of language
B) A person's unique version of his or her native language
C) The general version of a local language
D) Different dialects of one common language
E) The language used by people lacking intelligence

Question 36

Which of the following is true of bilingualism (speaking two languages)?

A) It is impossible to be truly bilingual; one can only fully know one language.
B) People who speak two languages create two polar opposite personalities, one for each language.
C) People who speak two languages usually relate certain things to each language and act accordingly depending on the language they are speaking or the situation they are in.
D) People who are bilingual do not connect to languages as people who are monolingual (one language) do.
E) People who are monolingual are found to be high on introversion scales, and people who are bilingual are found to be high on extraversion scales.

Question 37

Which of the following best describes the behaviorist approach to culture?

A) Only positive reinforcement of desirable behaviors helps form culture.
B) Culture is a human illusion.
C) Culture creates the system by which people decide what goals are important in their lives.
D) Culture is not important and/or studied by the behaviorist approach.
E) Culture is a set of reinforcement contingencies that operate in shared environments.

Question 38

How has the scientific study of culture been used in a negative way?

A) It has been used to gather data on different cultures.
B) It has been used to try and understand cultural differences.
C) It has been used to draw inferences between cultures.
D) It has been used to understand humans as a species.
E) It has been used to reinforce stereotypes.

Question 39

Individuals learn shared behaviors and customs in their environmental context or __________, which has a bearing on their personality.

Question 40

Evaluating others from ones' own point of view is called __________.

Question 41

A(n) __________ approach is culture-specific; it focuses on a single culture, understood on its own terms. A(n) __________ approach is cross-cultural; it searches for generalities across cultures.

Question 42

According to Jung, __________ are universal structures of the collective unconscious.

Question 43

One key dimension in viewing how cultures differ from one another is the idea that Western cultures are more __________, while Eastern cultures are viewed as more family-focused and __________.

Question 44

The term for the paradoxical idea that slavery was allowed and endorsed despite the claim that the United States was founded on the principle that all men are created equal is called the __________.

Question 45

__________ refers to the fact that the higher a person's socioeconomic status is, the lower is the person's risk of getting sick and dying prematurely.

Question 46

Because we each have different experiences, each individual speaks a unique version of his or her native language, called a(n) __________.

Question 47

Variations between groups of people who share regional characteristics or cultural characteristics create distinct linguistic __________.

Question 48

According to the theory of __________, our interpretation of the world is to a large extent dependent on the linguistic system by which we classify it.

Question 49

Some languages have use pronouns that express the __________ of the person being addressed or discussed.

Question 50

A test that explicitly takes culture into account is the System of __________, where the focus of comparisons in among individuals within a cultural group rather than between cultural groups.

Question 51

The threat that others' judgment or your own actions will negatively stereotype you is known as __________.

Question 52

Studying the vague notion of __________ is less fruitful than studying the effects of ethnic identification, history, and culture on personality.

Question 53

The __________ is a fascinating public health phenomenon referring to the fact that the higher a person's socioeconomic status is, the lower is that person's risk of getting sick and dying prematurely.

Question 54

Although the United States was founded on the principle that "All men are created equal," the U.S. Constitution allowed for slavery. This contradiction was called the __________ by Gunnar Myrdal.

Question 55

Suppose that you have a well-constructed questionnaire that assesses the personality trait "agreeableness." Suppose, also, that you have demonstrated that your questionnaire does a good job of measuring agreeableness in American college students. Now you want to use your questionnaire to measure agreeableness in a couple of non-English speaking groups (Mexican-American mothers and Vietnamese school children). So, you hire someone to translate your questionnaire into Spanish and Vietnamese. Can you now use this questionnaire? Do you anticipate any problems? If so, what might they be?

Question 56

Does it ever make sense to study "race" as it relates to personality? What can we gain from such investigations? What are some of the dangers in undertaking these kinds of studies?

Question 57

What are some of the mechanisms which might explain the SES gradient? What does the SES gradient have to do with personality?

Question 58

People have created language, but how has language served to mold its creators?

Question 59

What kinds of tests have been developed that are "culture free"? Are they really free from cultural bias? If not, what kinds of biases still creep in?

Question 60

Describe how three different perspectives (of the eight perspectives discussed in the text) explain relations between personality and culture. Which theory best accounts for cultural influences on personality? Which theory is least adequate to explain these?

Question 61

Describe the central idea of the language hypothesis forwarded by Whorf and Sapir. Provide an example of how this hypothesis provides insight into the relations between culture and personality.