Deck 1: Thinking and Doing Anthropology

Question 1

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.​

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Participant observation means that the anthropologist should be involved in everything that a cultural group does in order to understand their culture.​

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Primatology is the study of living and fossil primates.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Our bones can tell stories about how we lived, including whether we were right-handed or left-handed.​

Question 5

All living humans are members of the same species.

Question 6

Archaeologists excavate artifacts to study them in isolation.

Question 7

Anthropologists can be considered synthesizers.​

Question 8

Any object made by humans is classified as an artifact.

Question 9

The anthropological study of genes and genetic relationships is known as genetic anthropology.​

Question 10

Historical linguistics is a primary branch of anthropological linguistics.

Question 11

Societies termed "prehistoric" are those that placed less emphasis on recording and transmitting information.​

Question 12

Linguistic anthropologists are interested in both spoken and written language.

Question 13

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

Question 14

Chronometric dating is another name for absolute dating.

Question 15

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

Question 16

The point of reference within a datum is called a grid.

Question 17

By utilizing a holistic perspective, anthropologists do not experience ethnocentrism in regard to other cultures.​

Question 18

When available, historical documents are always preferred to the study of material remains.​

Question 19

Only apes have a language as complex as human language.​

Question 20

All primate species are endangered today.

Question 21

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 22

Archaeologists use only absolute dating techniques to date fossils.

Question 23

Anthropological studies help us trace human connectedness; for example, in exploitative eastern Congolese mines they extract coltan, which we use every day in our:​

A)​mobile phones
B)​diesel cars
C)​fluorescent lights
D)​water treatment plants

Question 24

Another name for cultural anthropology is:​

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

Question 25

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 than North Americans.
B)​North Americans are more comfortable harvesting organs from those declared brain dead than Japanese.
C)​Japanese do not use human organ transplants in any medical situation.
D)​North Americans do not medically classify people as brain dead.

Question 26

Archaeologists frequently use eliciting devices to probe underground sites.

Question 27

Which of the following is not a primary perspective of anthropology?​

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

Question 28

​The holistic anthropological perspective is expansive and inclusive because it seeks to understand:

A)​human nature
B)​global forces
C)​biological and cultural homologies
D)​evolutionary change

Question 29

Individuals within all four subfields of anthropology practice:​

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

Question 30

What is the most significant scientific contribution of Elizabeth Guillette's research on pesticide use among the Yaqui?​

A)​It presents scientific evidence that common pesticides cause more problems to adults than to children.
B)​It highlights the importance of using pesticides to increase production levels for agriculturalists everywhere.
C)​It suggests that highland indigenous communities may suffer increased effects from pesticides because of high altitude.
D)​It suggests that pesticide use among agricultural communities may cause health problems worldwide.

Question 31

Ethnographers consider themselves to be key consultants because they work directly with living peoples.​

Question 32

The American Anthropological Association has recently petitioned to guard the confidentiality of ethnographic notes taken in medical settings and not make them subject to subpoena.​

Question 33

Which perspectives best guard against culture-bound theories?​

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

Question 34

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)​focus on issues primarily of theoretical value

Question 35

On-location research is also known as:​

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

Question 36

Culture is considered anthropology's most distinguishing feature for all of the following reasons except:​

A)​The focus on culture intersects with biology, material remains, social behavior, and language.
B)​Anthropologists use the concept of culture to establish an understanding of those groups in a society that practice culture and those that do not.
C)​Anthropologists focus on humans as culture-producing and culture-reproducing creatures.
D)​Understanding culture is integral to each of anthropology's subfields.

Question 37

Anthropology is well equipped to grapple with globalization.

Question 38

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

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

Question 39

​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 40

Maintaining one's own culture is an internationally recognized basic human right.

Question 41

Which of the following statements is most accurate regarding language today?​

A)​Nearly half of the world's remaining languages will become extinct over the next hundred years.
B)​Nearly all of the world's remaining languages will become extinct over the next 50 years.
C)​Language is currently in a stage of revitalization and growth, and linguists project that more than 200 new languages will emerge in the next 100 years.
D)​Languages constantly grow, develop, and die and there has never been a net loss of human language.

Question 42

Which of the following federal acts provides for the protection and return of Native American cultural items or human remains?​

A)​Native American Preservation of Historic and Prehistoric Places Act of 1984
B)​Native American Environmental Policy Act of 1969
C)​Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990
D)​Archaeological and Historical Preservation Act of 1974

Question 43

Which of the following is the most objective source of information for an archaeological site?​

A)​official government records
B)​material remains at the site
C)​interviews with local people
D)​objective information varies by site

Question 44

Paleoanthropology can best be described as the study of:​

A)​Paleolithic hunters
B)​genetic commonalities among the primates
C)​early human toolmaking
D)​human evolution

Question 45

All of the following are characteristics of the study of biological anthropology except:​

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

Question 46

Archaeology is the study of:​

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

Question 47

Linguists estimate today that there are approximately how many human languages?​

A)​56
B)​800
C)​12,000
D)​6,000

Question 48

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 49

Anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes founded the group Organs Watch as a way to solve the global problem of human organ trafficking. This is an example of:​

A)​applied cultural anthropology
B)​applied biological anthropology
C)​forensics
D)​ethnology

Question 50

Archaeologists are especially interested in features known as middens because they provide information on:​

A)​ancient trash that would include artifacts that people used and consumed
B)​minerals that early populations used for mining and the production of tools
C)​water sources that ancient people used for agriculture and household use
D)​architectural data that indicate where household sites and temples were located

Question 51

Which of the following cases best illustrates the practice of ethnology?​

A)​analyzing the patterns of behavior in an indigenous religious ritual
B)​comparing weddings in France with those in the United States
C)​studying ways that young children learn to play piano in a Chinese family
D)​doing participant observation in a rural setting in Taiwan

Question 52

The Garbage Project is an example of:​

A)​ethnoarchaeology
B)​applied anthropology
C)​bioarchaeology
D)​prehistoric archaeology

Question 53

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 54

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

A)​enforcing measures to decrease consumption levels in the United States
B)​testing the process of decay for biodegradable materials
C)​understanding differences between what people say and what they do
D)​understanding contemporary social issues affecting a United States population

Question 55

Participant observation:​

A)​is a research method that involves the anthropologist both observing and participating in another culture
B)​is an analytical method that uses both cross-cultural data and also informant participation in staged cultural activities
C)​is used in all subfields and is a primary component of applied anthropology
D)​is found only in cultural anthropology and is only used when studying in non-Western societies

Question 56

Molecular anthropology is the anthropological study of:​

A)​pottery and prehistoric technology
B)​genes and genetic relationships
C)​chemical reactions associated with soil typology
D)​exchange networks and trade

Question 57

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 58

How is paleoanthropology unique among evolutionary studies?​

A)​It takes a biocultural approach.
B)​It focuses on nonhuman primates.
C)​It traces the biological relationships between different human species.
D)​It considers humans to be primates and related to monkeys.

Question 59

The study of mummified skeletal remains to provide evidence of early surgery is an example of:​

A)​cultural resource management
B)​bioarchaeology
C)​medical anthropology
D)​ethnology

Question 60

Shallow, restricted concentrations of charcoal commonly indicate:​

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

Question 61

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 62

Genetic analyses indicate that the first human ancestors likely originated:​

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

Question 63

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 64

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

A)​intelligence
B)​longevity
C)​height
D)​weight

Question 65

In the "Original Study," what did the scientists find at Ukkuqsi?​

A)​a small girl buried in her toboggan and under part of the covering of a kayak
B)​a small girl who was believed to be related to the same species as famous "Lucy"; she was called "Lucy's child"
C)​a burial chamber with many artifacts and fossils associated with Inupiat daily life
D)​a skeleton of a man dated at around 9,300 years ago and named "Kennewick Man"

Question 66

The areas in which archaeologists work are known as:​

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

Question 67

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 68

Clyde Snow is a well-known forensic anthropologist associated internationally with cases of:​

A)​human rights abuses
B)​corporal punishment
C)​imprisonment and federal execution
D)​ancient prehistoric burials

Question 69

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 70

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 71

Anthropologists work to establish the reliability of the research conclusions. This is known as:​

A)​reflexivity
B)​validity
C)​culture
D)​displacement

Question 72

The enlargement of the right heart ventricle among Quechua Indians is a developmental adaptation to:​

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

Question 73

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

A)​primatology
B)​physical anthropology
C)​molecular anthropology
D)​forensic anthropology

Question 74

Forensic anthropologist Karen Burns investigated alleged atrocities in northern Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War. She established that one individual was murdered (and not buried by his family) simply through evidence of:​

A)​a large skull fracture on the left side of the cranium
B)​a gun buried beside the individual
C)​two polyester threads attached to his legs
D)​two cotton shrouds wrapping his lower body

Question 75

Which of the following is not usually studied by primatologists?​

A)​living and fossil primates
B)​socioeconomic status
C)​primate anatomy
D)​contemporary tool use

Question 76

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 sensory observations.
D)​It involves both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Question 77

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

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

Question 78

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

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

Question 79

No physical remains dating earlier than_____ million years ago are found with associated cultural remains.​

A)​7.1
B)​5.7
C)​3.3
D)​2.6

Question 80

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