Deck 25: Religion and Magic

Question 1

In the ranked society of Palau, the gods

A) are associated with different clans and are ranked like the clans.
B) have little to do with human actions.
C) are not thought to be permanent, but may die and be born again, just as the clans.
D) are all considered of equal power.

Answer 1

are associated with different clans and are ranked like the clans.

Question 2

"Animatism" may best be defined as

A) the worship of living beings.
B) a belief in impersonal supernatural forces.
C) a belief in the ultimate oneness of things.
D) the worship of inanimate objects.

Answer 2

a belief in impersonal supernatural forces.

Question 3

For anthropologists, the term mana refers to

A) a supernatural force residing in some people and objects.
B) polluting and dangerous qualities that reside in certain activities such as menstruation.
C) the souls of living things as they are exhibited in dreams, trances, and apparitions of the dead.
D) food given by gods to humans.

Answer 3

a supernatural force residing in some people and objects.

Question 4

Freud believed that early humans lived in groups, each of which was dominated by

A) a group of men that were religious leaders.
B) a tyrannical man who kept all the women for himself.
C) a single female deity who was believed to be the mother of all humans.
D) a king and queen who were believed to be the parents of all humans.

Question 5

A polytheistic religion recognizes __________ gods, not one of which is __________.

A) many important / supreme
B) two / unimportant
C) three / important
D) potential / important

Question 6

When an individual compels the gods to act on his or her behalf

A) divination is being performed.
B) sorcery is being performed.
C) witchcraft is being performed.
D) magic is being performed.

Question 7

One explanation of the witchcraft phenomenon in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 was that

A) many women were involved in a coven.
B) the men wanted the unusual women of the community removed.
C) ergot poisoning was causing the effects.
D) the women who were accused were unfit mothers.

Question 8

Anthony Wallace distinguishes taboo from mana by pointing out that

A) things containing taboo can be touched.
B) things containing taboo cannot be touched.
C) taboo is an evil, hideous force quite able to destroy all people who touch it.
D) taboo is a premeditated form of evil.

Question 9

In most societies, ghosts resemble

A) distant relatives.
B) unknown strangers.
C) close relatives.
D) known animals.

Question 10

Religion deals with the

A) existential.
B) dialectic.
C) supernatural.
D) nonexistent.

Question 11

People tend to be punished by gods for immoral behavior

A) in most societies.
B) in only some rare societies.
C) when there are considerable differences in wealth in a society.
D) when the rulers of a society receive their power from the gods.

Question 12

The belief in souls that Tylor considered the earliest form of religion is called

A) animism.
B) animatism.
C) polytheism.
D) paganism.

Question 13

Edward Tyler hypothesized that religion grew out of

A) people's speculation about dreams, trances, and death.
B) pure anxiety about death.
C) animistic beliefs and practices that later developed into full blown religions.
D) childhood anxieties and beliefs that were carried into adulthood.

Question 14

The __________ have merged the ancient Mayan worship of the sun with the Spanish conquerors' Jesus and Mary.

A) Quechua
B) Nahuatl
C) Terrascans
D) Chamulas

Question 15

__________ felt that religion helps people resolve their inner conflicts and attain maturity.

A) William James
B) Erich Fromm
C) Abraham Maslow
D) Carl Jung

Question 16

Monotheistic religions generally have beliefs in

A) a supreme supernatural being together with lower ranked supernatural.
B) only one supernatural being.
C) a dual existence for all living things.
D) forces of nature, rather than anthropomorphized gods.

Question 17

People are most likely to believe their ancestors play an active role in their lives in societies

A) where many people live to an extremely old age.
B) where mortality rates are high.
C) with a pastoral or food-collecting economy and nuclear family households.
D) where descent groups are important decision-making groups.

Question 18

__________ are generally full-time male specialists who officiate at public events.

A) Shamans
B) Mediums
C) Sorcerers
D) Priests

Question 19

In which kinds of societies are gods most likely to be viewed as aggressive and malevolent?

A) societies with external war
B) societies with hunting and gathering technologies
C) societies with punitive or hurtful child-rearing practices
D) societies with nuclear-family households

Question 20

According to Durkheim, when Australian Aborigines worship totems they are really venerating

A) the natural laws of the universe.
B) their parents.
C) Mother Nature.
D) their clans.

Question 21

What is Tylor's idea of animism? How does it compare to animatism?

Question 22

Which type of religious practitioner is most likely to be female?

A) sorcerer
B) shaman
C) medium
D) priest

Question 23

Which type of society is most likely to have a monotheistic religion?

A) a society with hierarchical political systems
B) a society that is located near the equator
C) a relatively small society in which most members know each other well
D) a society in which children are harshly disciplined

Question 24

Sorcerers and witches of both sexes tend to have

A) very high social and economic status in their societies.
B) very low social and economic status in their societies.
C) about the same status as a shaman might have.
D) much more status than a shaman might have.

Question 25

Anthropologists believe there is a universality of religious beliefs and practices because

A) the written accounts are all the same.
B) they seem to be confined to certain parts of the world.
C) they are found in all contemporary societies.
D) actually, anthropologists are not really sure.

Question 26

In which type of society are the gods most likely to take an active interest in the moral behavior of humans?

A) a food-collecting society
B) pastoral society
C) a society with inequality of wealth
D) an egalitarian society

Question 27

New religions are continually founded. Anthropologists are interested in the start of a new religion because

A) it always shows cultural progress.
B) it's always a negative event for the culture.
C) it's one of the things that happens when cultures are disrupted by contact with dominant cultures.
D) rarely can a culture support more than one religion.

Question 28

The anthropologist Clifford Geertz thought that as people face ignorance, pain, and unjustness in life they

A) would turn inward, thus creating psychological problems for themselves.
B) would explain the events as intervention by the gods.
C) would find no explanation for these events.
D) turn on each other, causing a great deal of conflict.

Question 29

Religion may satisfy psychological needs, but some social scientists, like Durkheim, believed it serves social needs because

A) basically society is the object of worship in religion.
B) it helps in personality development.
C) it helps with the natural process of growth and development.
D) none of the above.

Question 30

Some scholars have explained the epidemics of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, as a response to

A) the presence of judicial authorities to deal with crime.
B) the ingestion of hallucinogens.
C) an overly predictable environment.
D) political stability.

Question 31

Cargo cults generally occurred in Melanesian societies

A) that had never seen Western goods.
B) that had recently come into contact with Western powers.
C) that had traditionally been mostly at war with each other.
D) that had experienced decreasing contact with Western goods one year prior to the movement.

Question 32

The gods or spirits in a particular culture exhibit certain character traits because

A) they are developed over a very short time.
B) it might be related to the nature of child training.
C) they reflect the character traits of neighboring cultures.
D) they are all similar between cultures.

Question 33

A "revitalization movement" is

A) the process of resurrection in tribal eschatologist.
B) the return from the dead on ritual occasions, such as the Ghost Dance.
C) an effort to save a culture by infusing it with new purpose and life.
D) a religious movement characterized by miracles.

Question 34

Magic is used in a number of societies to manipulate the supernatural. The purpose of this manipulation is for

A) good or for evil.
B) things on the right and things on the left.
C) things that are up and things that are down.
D) good, positive things only.

Question 35

There are many variations cross-culturally in religious beliefs, especially in

A) the lack of interest in anything supernatural.
B) the very few who are involved in any one culture.
C) the size of the culture.
D) the way supernatural forces are viewed.

Question 36

Societies vary in the kinds of ways that people interact with the supernatural. Often people use

A) prayer.
B) sacrifices.
C) feasts.
D) all of the above.

Question 37

Which of the following is NOT a revitalization movement?

A) a messianic movement
B) a cargo cult
C) the witchcraft accusations of Salem, Massachusetts
D) the religious movement of Handsome Lake, which convinced the Seneca to stop drinking

Question 38

The type of religious practitioners found in a culture is related to the degree of cultural complexity. So in a society with only one practitioner you would typically see a

A) shaman.
B) priest.
C) sorcerer.
D) none of the above.

Question 39

Human sacrifices are most likely in societies with

A) high mortality in warfare.
B) simple hunting and gathering economies.
C) gods that do not concern themselves with human morality.
D) full-time craft specialists, slavery, and the corvee.

Question 40

Compare Freud's views of religion with those of Bronislaw Malinowski.

Question 41

What social problems motivated the witch craze in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

Question 42

How does magic differ from sorcery? What is the purpose of witchcraft and witchhunts according to Beatrice Whiting?

Question 43

What are the basic uses of a taboo or a good luck charm?

Question 44

What is magic? How does it differ from prayer?

Question 45

Describe how simulation is used in Voodoo. Explain the link between simulation and divination. How is Holy Communion a simulation of the Last Supper?

Question 46

List and describe the various types of religious practitioners. How does social complexity relate to this?