Deck 1: The Study of Humanity

Question 1

According to the text, perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of the discipline of anthropology is

A) that anthropologists teach in addition to doing fieldwork.
B) its scope.
C) the limited range of topics for study.
D) its age.

Answer 1

its scope.

Question 2

Anthropology has how many subfields?

A) One
B) Three
C) Four
D) Six

Answer 2

Four

Question 3

What subfield of anthropology deals with the excavation of material remains from the remote past?

A) Cultural
B) Physical
C) Linguistics
D) Archaeology

Answer 3

Archaeology

Question 4

Which of the following is NOT a subfield of anthropology?

A) Anthropological linguistics
B) Applied anthropology
C) Physical anthropology
D) Sociological anthropology

Question 5

What is the difference between prehistoric and historic archaeology?

A) Prehistoric archaeology is the study of people who had no writing system.
B) Historic archaeology is the study of people who had no writing system.
C) Prehistoric archaeology has an applied dimension and historic archaeology does not.
D) None of these; there is no significant difference between these fields of study.

Question 6

The primary goal of archaeological excavations is to

A) recover valuable treasures.
B) understand how people lived long ago.
C) give students experience in fieldwork.
D) popularize the field of archaeology and anthropology more generally.

Question 7

Which of these would historic archaeologists study?

A) Fossilized human remains
B) Ancient Native American pottery
C) Factories and plantations
D) Physical characteristics and identities of crime victims

Question 8

The reconstruction of life in ancient Jerusalem is a job for

A) paleoanthropologists.
B) forensic anthropologists.
C) prehistoric archaeologists.
D) historic archaeologists.

Question 9

What do primatologists study?

A) Plant pollen
B) Monkeys and apes
C) Prehistoric people and their sites
D) Social context of language

Question 10

In which subfield of anthropology did Jane Goodall do pioneering work?

A) Paleoanthropology
B) Primatology
C) Contract archaeology
D) Forensic anthropology

Question 11

Anthropologists who study human variation due to genetic or hereditary factors are part of which subfield?

A) Paleoanthropology
B) Forensic anthropology
C) Prehistoric archaeology
D) Biological anthropology

Question 12

What do paleoanthropologists study?

A) Our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees
B) People such as the Asmat from New Guinea
C) The aged
D) Fossilized remains of human ancestors

Question 13

Whose job is it to identify skeletal remains?

A) Historic archaeology
B) Ethnology
C) Forensic anthropology
D) Educational anthropology

Question 14

What do cultural anthropologists do?

A) Describe and analyze the structures of human languages.
B) Study contemporary cultures.
C) Study fossilized human remains.
D) Survey and excavate archaeological sites.

Question 15

What is the main focus of the subfield of cultural anthropology?

A) To understand how and why humans evolved from apelike ancestors
B) The investigation of prehistoric cultures
C) To study the customs and beliefs of some human group
D) To study human language

Question 16

Which subfield within anthropology is most likely to examine the causes and consequences of cultural change?

A) Paleoanthropology
B) Cultural anthropology
C) Physical anthropology
D) Linguistic anthropology

Question 17

What is a written account of how a single population lives?

A) An ethnography
B) An ethnology
C) Applied contract archaeology
D) Ethnolinguistic analysis

Question 18

What is the anthropological subfield that studies human language?

A) Historic archaeology
B) Anthropological linguistics
C) Forensic anthropology
D) Cultural anthropology

Question 19

Which of these is most likely to be a task for anthropological linguists?

A) Analyzing the pattern of sounds in the Mandarin Chinese language
B) Studying why adults have greater difficulty making some sounds than others
C) Examining how different forms of the same language are used in different social contexts
D) None of these is a task for anthropological linguistics

Question 20

In which of these subfields do applied anthropologists work?

A) Development anthropology
B) Educational anthropology
C) Medical anthropology
D) All of these are correct.

Question 21

What type of work do development anthropologists do?

A) They chart the growth of human infants and children.
B) They document the historical development of ancient civilizations.
C) They provide information to assist agencies in adapting projects to local needs and conditions.
D) They record disappearing languages and cultures.

Question 22

Anthropologists who help hospitals deliver health care services are called

A) prehistoric archaeologists.
B) development anthropologists.
C) medical anthropologists.
D) paleoanthropologists.

Question 23

Which perspective makes cultural anthropology distinct from other social sciences?

A) A holistic perspective
B) A comparative perspective
C) A relativistic perspective
D) All of these are correct.

Question 24

In order to understand any aspect of a culture, it must be explored in terms of its relationship to other aspects of the culture. This perspective within anthropology is called

A) cultural relativism.
B) the comparative perspective.
C) the holistic perspective.
D) human variation.

Question 25

What is the term for the process by which different peoples of the world are interconnected?

A) Ethnocentrisim
B) Applied anthropology
C) Holism
D) Globalization

Question 26

In what way do the interconnections among the people of the nations of the world today differ from the interconnections of 50 years ago?

A) Today, the interconnections are between entire continents; in the past interconnections were only local.
B) Cultural exchange is much more one-sided today due to the relatively greater power of Western countries compared with others.
C) Today, the interconnections between nations and world regions are more intense and take different forms.
D) All of these are ways that global interconnections today differ from those of the past.

Question 27

What is the term for the belief that one's own cultural values are superior to those of another culture?

A) Ethnocentrism
B) Cultural relativism
C) Cultural resource management
D) Comparativism

Question 28

Which of the following is an anthropological attitude essential for objectivity?

A) Cultural relativism
B) Ethnocentrism
C) Moral relativism
D) Holism

Question 29

Which of these would NOT be considered an important contribution of anthropology?

A) Anthropology helps us to understand technological and cultural development over time.
B) Anthropology promotes the stance of moral relativism, arguing there is no universal right or wrong.
C) Anthropology gives us a different perspective on our own lives and culture.
D) Anthropology helps to minimize miscommunication among people from different parts of the world.

Question 30

Today, almost all anthropologists specialize in only one of the four primary subfields.

Question 31

Applied anthropology is found within the subfield of cultural anthropology almost exclusively.

Question 32

Some physical anthropologists identify human skeletal remains.

Question 33

People evolved from chimpanzees.

Question 34

The more that physical anthropologists discover, the more complicated the evolutionary history of humanity becomes.

Question 35

The physical and genetic similarities among the people of the world far outweigh the differences.

Question 36

An ethnography is a record of the sound patterns of a particular language.

Question 37

Cultural anthropologists are increasingly working "here at home" rather than far away.

Question 38

Today, the majority of anthropologists work in universities and other academic settings.

Question 39

Applied anthropologists are not necessarily trained in any of the other subfields of the discipline.

Question 40

Anthropologists must seek groups of people who are "untouched" by the modern world in order to conduct their research.

Question 41

The holistic perspective holds that no culture is inherently superior or inferior to any other.

Question 42

A relativistic outlook on cultural differences might help alleviate some of the misunderstandings between different peoples.

Question 43

Globalization is an ongoing and never-ending process.

Question 44

Describe the four subfields of anthropology and give an example of a subject that might be investigated within each.

Question 45

Pick two common misconceptions about human evolution and describe why they are inaccurate.

Question 46

What insights can anthropology contribute to the solution of modern human problems?

Question 47

Discuss the three perspectives of anthropology that make it unique within the social sciences.