Deck 7: Human Biodiversity Today: Understanding Our Differences and Similarities

Question 1

Which of the following is not an example of the ways humans vary biologically?

A) blood type
B) immune system response
C) the ability to resist certain diseases
D) race

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What is the cause of clinial variations?

A) historical movement
B) intermingling between populations
C) gene flow
D) all of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The social processes that make race part of the natural order of things-by producing theories, schemes, and typologies about human differences is

A) stereotyping
B) hegemony
C) structural violence
D) the way race is naturalized

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following groups of people were instrumental in the development of categorizing humans into distinct races?

A) politicians
B) scientists
C) clergy
D) explorers

Question 5

All biological approaches to race are problematic because

A) they rarely describe an actual individual or characterize whole groups of people
B) the sampling is too specific and focuses only on visible traits
C) one trait tends to be representative of other characteristics like intelligence and personal character
D) all of the above

Question 6

Anthropometry measures

A) the expression of racial traits
B) human leukoctye antigen activity
C) ratio of melanin production to skin reflectance
D) body parameters to assess physical variation

Question 7

Negative or unfair treatment because of his or her group membership or identity is

A) racism
B) prejudice
C) discrimination
D) racialization

Question 8

What other disease do people with sickle cell disease rarely contract?

A) cholera
B) dysentery
C) malaria
D) epilepsy

Question 9

What is an embodied consequence of being a racial minority?

A) shorter life expectancy
B) low infant birth weights
C) higher rated of hypertension
D) all of the above

Question 10

Variations in skin pigmentation can be traced to

A) the latitude where one's ancestors spent the most time
B) differences in body mass
C) changing body shapes since Homo emerged as a genus
D) differences in the human leukocyte antigen system

Question 11

The negative or unfair treatment of a person because of their membership in a particular social category is

A) discrimination
B) prejudice
C) racism
D) stereotyping

Question 12

The experience of discrimination through the body can shed light on the way culture can contribute to the production of

A) prejudice
B) discrimination
C) biological variation
D) racism

Question 13

__________ is a concept that organizes people into groups based on specific physical traits that are thought to reflect fundamental and innate differences.

Question 14

__________ variation means that change is gradual across groups and that traits shade and blend into each other.

Question 15

Almost all human biological __________ exists within populations, not between them.

Question 16

__________ is a concept that refers to how people literally incorporate, biologically, the material and social worlds in which they live.

Question 17

All humans share __________% of the same genes and 99.9% of their variations.

Question 18

__________ is a potent forces in making race an objective reality.

Question 19

The Human Genome Project has shown that, as is true among other large-bodied mammals, most human genetic variation exists between populations.

Question 20

Genetically speaking, humans are a remarkably homogeneous species: there is far greater variation within human groups than there is between them.

Question 21

Race can become biology, by shaping people's biological outcomes due to disparities in access to certain kinds of healthcare and diets, exposure to certain kinds of diseases, and other factors that can make people either sick or healthy.

Question 22

Scientific and medical authorities no longer try to biologize racial difference.

Question 23

Forensic scientists can identify the race of an individual's skull with 100% accuracy

Question 24

Anthropology's understanding of skin pigmentation emphasizes that

A) it is an adaptive response to ultraviolet light
B) it has little relationship to the latitude where one's ancestors spent a lot of time
C) it reflects the natural inferiority of some groups
D) it helps some populations resist malaria

Question 25

Anthropological analysis of the Culí population in Costa Rica is demonstrates what about genetic variation?

A) genetic variation maps on to trait-based racial classification
B) genetic variation is random
C) there is more genetic variation between racial groups than within racial groups
D) genetic variation is tied to gene flow

Question 26

A major problem with the approach to race that defines race as reproductively isolated breeding populations is that

A) every breeding population qualifies as a race
B) it is essentially trait-based
C) it does not allow for cultural factors to be included
D) all of the above

Question 27

Despite being rooted in a cultural process, discrimination also has a measurably negative impact on

A) intelligence quotient or I.Q.
B) physical strength
C) disease immunities
D) the individual body

Question 28

What is the typical pattern of genetic variation for most mammals?

A) most variation is between populations and individual populations are uniform
B) there is little variation within species
C) most variation is within individual populations, not between populations
D) genetic variation is unpredictable because of shifting migration patterns

Question 29

Understanding biological variation means we must understand the role of

A) genetic and biological truths about racial differences
B) the allocation of funding for healthcare and education
C) social relationships and cultural attitudes that affect health outcomes
D) none of the above

Question 30

The reality of race exists through marginalization, exploitation and stigma, as well as

A) the well-documented science behind racial classification
B) the extent of privilege that some groups have
C) individual willpower
D) innate differences between races

Question 31

What basic assumption do anthropologists question in the debate over Senator Elizabeth Warren's claims to Native American ancestry.

A) Native American ancestry can be ascertained through genetic testing
B) White people can make claims to be Native American
C) Commercial genetic testing is superior to research-driven testing
D) People with any percentage of Native American DNA are Native American

Question 32

How do contemporary variations in body size and mass compare with the variability among early hominins?

A) there is greater variation now in height, but less in body mass
B) there is greater variation now in sexual dimorphism, but less along the cormic index
C) there is less variation now in both sexual dimorphism and size and mass
D) variations have remained fairly constant

Question 33

Racism works through a combination of how people are treated, which we understand as discrimination, and

A) expressions of prejudice
B) the deeper understanding of ethnic and cultural differences
C) ignorance about biological facts about race
D) how we raise our children

Question 34

Why is genetic testing a part of conversations about reparations in the Caribbean?

A) it might be useful in determining who qualifies for reparations
B) it is seen as a contemporary extension of the eugenics movement
C) it is a method of neutral classification of those descended from slaves
D) all of the above

Question 35

Does race have biological consequences?

A) no, because of culture
B) no, because of naturalization
C) yes, because of racialization
D) yes, because of racism

Question 36

Jim Crow laws in the U.S. South after the Civil War are a good illustration of overt __________.

Question 37

Saying race is not __________ is not enough because race has real consequences.

Question 38

Most people believe that biological and genetic differences are __________.

Question 39

Health inequalities are the __________ of race, not __________ by race.

Question 40

Ashley Montagu would disagree with any scientific concept of race.

Question 41

The way in which most people incorporate the social and material aspects of their lives into biological experiences and outcomes is known as embodiment.

Question 42

Unequal health outcomes between blacks and whites are not the result of how blacks have been racialized.

Question 43

Patterns of social inequality and racial discrimination have important biological consequences for certain groups, such as African Americans.

Question 44

A good illustration of the naturalization of race is

A) people from a particular racial group projecting their ideas of scenic beauty onto a landscape
B) the natural occurrence of differences in skin color between populations
C) the classification of people into races based on anthropometric measurements
D) all of the above

Question 45

The perception of "color" in skin can be better understood by looking at

A) the way in which different cultures name colors
B) the extent to which different groups experience melanoma or skin cancers
C) the concentration of UV radiation according to geography
D) market penetration of sun-blocking agents

Question 46

An anthropologist who wanted to understand discrimination would likely be interested in which of the following?

A) trait-based racial classification
B) the use of genetic ancestry testing in reparations payments
C) racial profiling of black people by a security officer
D) all of the above

Question 47

If you wanted to understand the embodied consequences of race, which of the following would you be most interested in?

A) comparing maternal mortality rates in black and white women
B) de facto segregation in public schools
C) anti-bias training in police academies
D) all of the above

Question 48

If you wanted to better understand and explain genetic variation between, and not within, human populations today, you would

A) conduct fieldwork in at least two geographically distinct areas
B) study the findings of the Human Genome Project
C) identify the genetic differences between humans and other primates
D) perform a more thorough analysis of existing forensic and archeological evidence

Question 49

The significance of Ashley Montagu's writings about race was his observation that

A) race is a myth that shapes understanding of how the world works
B) Franz Boas and his students were correct in their initial thinking about race
C) biology and race are inherently linked
D) only "uncivilized" people believe in myths

Question 50

How might an anthropologist studying contemporary U.S. race relations benefit from understanding the work of Ashley Montagu, who wrote about race over 60 years ago?

Question 51

How does anthropometry contribute to the establishment and maintenance of prejudice and discrimination?

Question 52

Aside from the biologizing of race, can you identify other ways in which our society biologizes social differences?

Question 53

If you were an antiracism educator in an elementary school in the United States, what role do you think anthropological insights about prejudice and discrimination could play in your work?

Question 54

Discuss the differences between the scientific concept of race and the culturally constructed concept of race.

Question 55

How would you apply the insights about biological variability in human populations described in the textbook in a public service announcement promoting racial equality?

Question 56

What does it mean that race does and does not exist?

Question 57

Explain how race becomes embodied.

Question 58

If you were in charge of distributing reparations, how would you use genetic evidence to determine who among your constituents might be eligible for compensatory payments?

Question 59

How does recreational genetic ancestry testing contribute to the naturalization of race?