Deck 17: The Analysis of Human Variation

Question 1

Genetic diseases,such as Tay-Sachs disease and sickle-cell anemia,are:

A)found with equal frequency in all populations
B)found with equal frequency among peoples of the same skin color
C)often more frequent in some populations than in others
D)found only in populations of small size

Answer 1

often more frequent in some populations than in others

Question 2

Linnaeus:

A)did not include people in his classification
B)used the cephalic index in classifying people
C)was the first to employ blood type in human classification
D)none of the above

Answer 2

none of the above

Question 3

An example of a non-deliberate cultural body modification would be:

A)bony extensions on the bones of the foot as a result of a particular resting posture
B)placing a board on the soft forehead of an infant to flatten the front of the skull
C)slitting the earlobes and inserting brass rings,which eventually draws the earlobe down to the shoulder
D)none of the above

Answer 3

bony extensions on the bones of the foot as a result of a particular resting posture

Question 4

The lowest frequency of blood type B in Europe is found among populations in:

A)western Russia
B)Greece
C)Great Britain
D)northeastern Spain

Question 5

The distribution of both skin color and body build shows a(n):

A)clinal distribution
B)discontinuous distribution
C)nonclinal distribution
D)ontological distribution

Question 6

A clinal distribution is also called:

A)discontinuous variation
B)continuous variation
C)ontological distribution
D)gradual distribution

Question 7

Anthropologists have studied head shape for well over a century.A newly discovered population has extremely elongated heads.This probably means that:

A)the population was isolated genetically and so evolved an unusually head shape
B)the growth pattern of the head was influenced by unusual dietary patterns
C)an unusual mutation occurred in this population for elongated heads
D)elongation of the head may not be the result of any biological factor since some people artificially alter the shape of their heads

Question 8

Blood type B is rare or absent among the aboriginal populations of:

A)North America
B)India
C)Japan
D)Africa

Question 9

Folk taxonomies:

A)are classifications which are parts of specific cultural traditions
B)differ from group to group
C)do not necessarily correspond to biological reality
D)all of the above

Question 10

In a scientific sense,the term Negro:

A)refers to all of the dark-skinned people in the world
B)refers to all of the dark-skinned people of Africa
C)refers to all of the dark-skinned people of Africa and the United States
D)is a term of sociological significance with no biological reality

Question 11

Human variation:

A)can be clinal for some traits and discontinuous for others
B)is such that populations similar for one trait will always be similar for all traits
C)is not affected by migration
D)all of the above

Question 12

The reasons why certain genetic diseases are associated with particular populations include:

A)inbreeding in small populations
B)preferences for consanguineous matings
C)founder principle in small migrant populations
D)all of the above

Question 13

If we look at the distribution of skin color,red hair color,and B blood type in Europe we find that:

A)they all show clinal distributions from south to north
B)they all show clinal distributions,but in different directions
C)they do not all show clinal distributions

Question 14

The Diego blood antigen can be used to identify people who are usually:

A)African
B)eastern Asiatic
C)Australian
D)eastern European

Question 15

A clinal distribution is one in which:

A)a trait shows no gradation between populations
B)the same frequency is found everywhere
C)frequencies show a gradation
D)little variation from north to south is found

Question 16

Scientific classifications are:

A)ends in themselves
B)means of discovering relationships
C)derived from empirical studies
D)b and c
E)all of the above

Question 17

The selective pressure acting on the ABO blood system may be that people with blood types O and B are resistant to:

A)sickle-cell anemia
B)phenylketonuria
C)smallpox
D)tuberculosis

Question 18

An anthropologist from Planet X finds that as he travels from east to west,the inhabitants of the planet become one inch taller for every 200 miles covered.Thus,the researcher has discovered a(n):

A)clinal distribution
B)discontinuous distribution
C)nonclinal distribution
D)ontological distribution

Question 19

A discontinuous distribution is one in which:

A)a trait shows no gradation between populations
B)the same frequency is found everywhere
C)frequencies show a gradation
D)little variation from north to south is found

Question 20

Body modifications based on cultural traditions include:

A)deformation of the head
B)body piercings
C)scarification
D)all of the above

Question 21

Linnaeus's classification of humans into four groups:

A)is still considered valid by most scientists today
B)has been reduced to three groups by most contemporary scholars
C)only took into account European peoples
D)is not considered valid by scientists today

Question 22

Albinism is common among the Hopi because:

A)Native Americans carry the albino allele at higher rates
B)being albino conferred a selective advantage against smallpox
C)of Hopi cultural practices that favored albinos
D)none of the above

Question 23

A group or block of nucleotides that tends to be inherited together is called a:

A)genome
B)haplotype
C)DNA cluster
D)genomic

Question 24

A problem with using blood type frequencies in human classification is that:

A)it is extremely difficult to collect blood type data
B)blood type is highly influenced by the environment
C)most of the frequencies show a clinal distribution
D)there is very little variation in blood type frequencies from population to population

Question 25

The difficulty in using skin color to categorize human groups is that:

A)the precise genetic mechanisms of skin color are not known
B)skin color can be strongly influenced by environmental and cultural factors
C)skin color distribution is largely clinal
D)all of the above

Question 26

Human variation is:

A)static
B)dynamic
C)indescribable
D)always clinal

Question 27

Most anthropologists now believe that IQ scores are:

A)valid measures of intelligence
B)biased in favor of the groups for which and by whom they were designed
C)influenced by general cultural background
D)b and c

Question 28

The authors of the 1994 book The Bell Curve:

A)came to the conclusion that race and intelligence are not correlated
B)implied that race and intelligence are correlated
C)totally rejected the idea of race
D)a and c

Question 29

The study of human variation on the molecular level has shown that:

A)there is more variation within geographically separated human populations than between them
B)there is more variation between geographically separated human populations than within them
C)different human populations can be assigned to different subspecies
D)both b and c

Question 30

A genome is all of the:

A)genes carried by a single gamete of a specific species
B)genes carried by all of the members of a species
C)recessive alleles found in a population
D)dominant alleles found in a population

Question 31

Alfred Binet developed the IQ test to:

A)measure general intelligence
B)measure emotional intelligence
C)measure job readiness
D)determine if school children needed special education

Question 32

About what percent of allelic variation in human populations occurs within any given continental group?

A)93 percent
B)85 percent
C)67 percent
D)50 percent

Question 33

Problems in the correlation of human fossils from the remote past to modern human variants include:

A)gene flow between adjacent groups
B)migrations
C)that it contradicts the regional continuity model
D)all of the above
E)a and b

Question 34

Government medical research fund granting agencies,such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH)and the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA),require research subjects to be classified by racial categories determined by the U.S.Office of Management and Budget (OMB).This requirement:

A)reinforces what most biologist now consider to be the false concept of race being genetically based
B)reinforces the false idea that races fall into neat categories
C)is seen by most physical anthropologists as being illogical and not conforming to empirical data
D)all of the above
E)none of the above

Question 35

Stanley Garn:

A)believes that races do not exist
B)does not take clinal variation into account
C)divides the human species into nine geographical races
D)all of the above

Question 36

The conclusion of genomic research is:

A)the number of dominant alleles is always greater than the number of recessive alleles in a population
B)the differences between populations emerge at the genomic level
C)there are genomic differences between some continental groups but not between others
D)fixed groupings of people do not emerge from these studies

Question 37

All human share _____ percent of their genome.

A)95 percent
B)97½ percent
C)98½ percent
D)99½ percent

Question 38

The cephalic index refers to the relative proportions of:

A)head length to head breadth
B)head height to head circumference
C)nose length to nose breadth
D)stature to weight

Question 39

Blood type systems have been used in human classifications because:

A)blood types are easy to determine
B)blood types are not affected by the environment
C)the mechanisms of inheritance are,for the most part,known
D)all of the above

Question 40

Diseases such as sickle-cell anemia are associated with:

A)specific racial groups
B)people with a specific ancestry in a specific area of the world
C)all populations equally

Question 41

The major differences among human groups are differences in:

A)culture
B)anatomy and physiology
C)innate patterns of behavior
D)skin color

Question 42

The assertion that there are pure races is:

A)true
B)false
C)no longer true today,but was probably true a hundred years ago
D)still debated amongst anthropologists

Question 43

What is the nature of human variation? Include in your discussion the concepts of clinal distribution and discontinuous variation.

Question 44

Some researchers believe that the concept of race as applied to humans is more of a social concept than a biological one.Explain this point of view.

Question 45

Civilizations did not arise in central Africa because of all the following except:

A)the terrain was not suitable for quick movement of people or goods
B)the hot,humid climate
C)endemic disease
D)the lower intelligence of those in Africa as compared to Europe

Question 46

What conclusions did Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza make about the nature of human variation? What relationship did his genetic divisions of humanity have to linguistic data?

Question 47

The way in which "race" is defined has political consequences.Explain.

Question 48

Social concepts of race:

A)do not usually correspond well or at all to biological facts
B)are often tied into ideas of superiority and inferiority
C)are often used to justify social stratification
D)all of the above

Question 49

What is the difference between a race and an ethnic group?

Question 50

Describe the various attempts to scientifically describe human variation.

Question 51

Jared Diamond's explanation for the development of colonial empires in Eurasia and not in Africa or South America is based on:

A)the more extensive development of agriculture in Europe
B)the greater availability of domesticatable plants and animals in Europe
C)the East-West orientation of the European continent
D)all of the above

Question 52

Eurasians developed global colonial empires,while Africans and Native Americans did not.This was commonly attributed to the "racial superiority" of the Eurasians.How does Jared Diamond explain this historical development? Do his explanations support racial superiority?

Question 53

In what ways are folk taxonomies not scientific?

Question 54

Robert Sternberg believes that intelligence is exercised in which area?

A)contextual intelligence
B)internal intelligence
C)experiential intelligence
D)all of the above