Peoples and Cultures of the World Test Preparation
Course Introduction
Peoples and Cultures of the World is an anthropological exploration of the vast diversity of human societies across the globe. This course examines cultural traditions, social structures, belief systems, and everyday practices among various populations, highlighting how people adapt to their environments and express their identities. Through comparative analysis and ethnographic case studies, students gain insights into topics such as language, kinship, religion, economics, and globalization, fostering a deeper appreciation for cultural similarities and differences and the ways in which global connections shape the contemporary world.
Recommended Textbook
Cultural Anthropology 14th Edition by
Carol R. Ember
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18 Chapters
990 Verified Questions
990 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: What Is Anthropology
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Sample Questions
Q1) Compared to anthropologists of previous years, an anthropologist today is more likely to __________.
A) specialize in one certain topic or area
B) investigate many different aspects of life of the people studied
C) study a geographically more distant society
D) do fieldwork alone
Answer: A
Q2) In what way has anthropological research changed over the years?
A) Anthropologists now have more specialized areas of research.
B) Modern anthropologists are no longer trained with a holistic approach.
C) Anthropologists only work in academic settings today.
D) Anthropologists are now only interested in non-Western cultures.
Answer: A
Q3) An ethnohistorian would __________.
A) study the way in which cultures have changed over time
B) work in the field for long periods of time
C) study only past cultures, much as archaeologists do
D) prepare lengthy reports on extinct cultures
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: Culture and Culture Change
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Sample Questions
Q1) The adoption and later elimination of the sepaade tradition among the Rendille is an example of __________.
A) intentional cultural change
B) acculturation
C) diffusion
D) a maladaptive custom
Answer: A
Q2) What does the concept of cultural integration mean?
A) Various subgroups in the society work together.
B) Cultural elements are constant.
C) Cultural traits that are maladaptive can be made to work with adaptive traits.
D) Cultural elements are a fairly eclectic assortment.
Answer: A
Q3) An adaptive custom is one that __________.
A) enhances survival and reproduction
B) changes with other cultural fluctuations
C) persists over several generations
D) was learned from other cultures
Answer: A
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Culture and the Individual
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Sample Questions
Q1) What did a study of single mothers in California find about the consistency of parenting conventions?
A) So-called "unconventional" parents did not differ that much from the more "conventional" ones.
B) Single mothers were more likely to see themselves as "unconventional" parents.
C) Single mothers were more likely to follow traditional childrearing methods.
D) "Unconventional" parents used methods that were very divergent from the general cultural pattern.
Answer: A
Q2) __________, such as family organization and subsistence techniques, give rise to certain personality characteristics, while __________, such as art and religion, reflect the motives, conflicts, and anxieties of a society.
A) Primary institutions; secondary institutions
B) Secondary institutions; primary institutions
C) Cultural characteristics; psychotic characteristics
D) Formal institutions; informal institutions
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Understanding and Explaining Culture
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Sample Questions
Q1) Participant-observation refers to the __________.
A) practice of immersing oneself in the language and customs of a society
B) use of a laboratory to standardize measurements
C) observation of how people interact in carefully contrived situations
D) employment of natives to gather information from their peers
Q2) The method of __________ shows that a theory seems to be wrong.
A) falsification
B) proving
C) guessing
D) testing
Q3) How are cases chosen for a random sample?
A) so that each case has an equal chance of being selected
B) by preconceived ideas of which cases will support the hypothesis
C) on the basis of some standard criterion, such as size of population
D) from among materials the researcher happens to have at home or in the office
Q4) What do scientists use as predictions of what might be found in a study?
A) hypotheses
B) theories
C) statistics
D) associations
Page 6
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Chapter 5: Communication and Language
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is a protolanguage?
A) spoken reconstructed language from which modern languages derived
B) the simplest form of language known, with no tenses or number terms
C) the language that early Homo sapiens is believed to have spoken
D) the rudimentary language used by the apes and monkeys
Q2) Which feature is shared by all creole languages?
A) the use of double negatives
B) a restricted set of color terms
C) an inclusion of gendered nouns
D) the use of a past tense
Q3) Historical linguists are interested in __________.
A) comparing certain languages to determine if they were derived from a common ancestral language
B) how people spoke in ancient times
C) how the role of body language differs between different historical periods
D) comparing how the number of basic color words increases in a society over time
Q4) Do you believe that grammar is universal? Support your answer with information learned from the study of pidgin, creole, and children's acquisition of language.
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Page 7
Chapter 6: Getting Food
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Sample Questions
Q1) Beginning about __________ years ago, people in some regions began to depend less on big game and more on relatively stationary food resources such as fish, small game, and wild plants.
A) 14,000
B) 6,000
C) 10,000
D) 3,000
Q2) Distinguish between the three major types of food production: horticulture, intensive agriculture, and pastoralism. Provide examples of modern cultures practicing each type of subsistence.
Q3) Anthropologists have concluded that the physical environment by itself has a __________, rather than a __________, effect on the major types of subsistence. A) restraining; determining B) definitive; determining C) definitive; restraining
D) positive; negative
Q4) What social characteristics are associated with foragers and complex foragers?
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Chapter 7: Economic Systems
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Sample Questions
Q1) Based on Hardin's arguments in "The Tragedy of the Commons," in which case would resources be best conserved in order to maximize yield?
A) with private ownership of land and resources
B) when there is a centralized political authority regulating land use
C) in societies with no concept of land ownership
D) when land is restricted to use by a single kin group
Q2) Which of these is a common task for young children?
A) tending animals
B) cooking food
C) clearing fields
D) making tools
Q3) What is the difference between market exchange (when money is not involved) and balanced reciprocity?
A) In market exchange, supply and demand determine the price.
B) In balanced reciprocity, supply and demand determine the price.
C) In market exchange, the person giving is of a higher social status than the person receiving.
D) In balanced reciprocity, the person giving is of higher social status than the person receiving.
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Social Stratification: Class, Ethnicity, and Racism
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Sample Questions
Q1) How have racial barriers changed in the United States over the years?
A) Some barriers have been lifted, but the "color line" has not yet disappeared.
B) Racial groups remain segregated by a caste-type system.
C) Racial discrimination has been overtaken by gender discrimination.
D) Racial barriers have been essentially eliminated.
Q2) Egalitarian societies are least likely to be found among __________.
A) agriculturalists
B) food collectors
C) fishing societies
D) pastoralists
Q3) Who is an Aryan?
A) anyone who speaks one of the Indo-European languages
B) blond-haired, blue-eyed, white-skinned people
C) an imaginary category of socially advantaged people
D) a member of the Nazi party
Q4) The origins of ethnic stereotypes and prejudices usually follow from __________.
A) historical and political events
B) religious decree
C) public consensus
D) scientific evidence
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Chapter 9: Sex and Gender
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Sample Questions
Q1) Variation in gender contribution to primary subsistence relates directly to the type of __________.
A) food-getting
B) warfare
C) social stratification
D) gender roles
Q2) One sex difference that appears very early in American children, as well as in children in all societies for which systematic data is available, is greater __________.
A) aggressiveness in boys
B) sociability in girls
C) responsibility in boys
D) aggressiveness in girls
Q3) Societies that frown on sexual expression by young children __________.
A) also punish premarital and extramarital sex
B) do not condone premarital sexual relations but allow extramarital relations
C) allow premarital and extramarital sexual relations
D) condone some premarital sexual expression but not extramarital sex
Q4) What evidence exists to support the notion that homosexuality is less tolerated in societies that value increasing their population?
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Chapter 10: Marriage and the Family
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which theory suggests that the incest taboo was created to ensure that individuals would marry members of other families, thereby creating ties that held communities together?
A) White and Lévi-Strauss's cooperation theory
B) Westermarck's childhood-familiarity theory
C) Malinowski's family-disruption theory
D) Freud's psychoanalytic theory
Q2) Even in the United States-an urbanized society with relatively few marriage restrictions-people tend to marry within their __________.
A) class and geographic area
B) geographic area and educational level
C) educational level and profession
D) profession and class
Q3) If some form of male-female marriage is nearly universal, it is reasonable to believe that it is in some way adaptive. Discuss the various theories for why marriage is nearly universal, and explain which idea you feel offers the strongest explanation.
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Chapter 11: Marital Residence and Kinship
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Sample Questions
Q1) Matrilineal descent affiliates individuals with __________.
A) kin of both sexes related to them through women
B) only male kin related to them through both men and women
C) only female kin related to them through both men and women
D) kin of both sexes related to them through men
Q2) Whether the couple lives with the husband's or wife's kin can have important consequences for the __________.
A) status of the husband or wife
B) economic stability of the family
C) educational potential for the children
D) relationship with elderly parents
Q3) Because of its ego-centered nature, which of the following is least likely to serve as a permanent or persistent group?
A) kindred
B) patrilineage
C) matrilineage
D) ambilineal descent group
Q4) Explain the differences between a lineage and a clan, and give examples of societies that use each descent system.
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Chapter 12: Associations and Interest Groups
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Q1) Which type of association has most often been involved with independence movements throughout the world?
A) multiethnic
B) rotating credit
C) military
D) age-set
Q2) Discuss the reasons that may explain why voluntary associations exist.
Q3) Associations are different types of groups based on __________.
A) neither kinship nor territory
B) kinship, but not territory
C) both kinship and common territory
D) a common territory, but not kinship
Q4) What particular characteristic of the Mae Enga of Papua New Guinea has gathered a lot of anthropological attention?
A) the active hostility toward women that runs through their culture
B) their tradition of performing manhood ceremonies for infants
C) the frequency and acceptance of homosexual relationships among men
D) their territorial disputes and history of head-hunting
Q5) Compare and contrast ethnic associations with multiethnic associations.
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Chapter 13: Political Life: Social Order and Disorder
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Q1) In states with more collective action, rulers __________.
A) finance public works projects
B) are chosen by election
C) live very luxuriously
D) rally their citizens for war
Q2) When no regular, effective means of resolving a conflict are available, __________.
A) violence is commonly used to settle a dispute
B) ordeals are arranged for the opposing parties
C) wars are the common result
D) men must pick sides and battle until the dispute is resolved
Q3) What is the consequence of the spread of state societies for the number of politically autonomous cultures found around the world?
Q4) Pre-colonial American societies had examples of both chiefdoms and states. Explain how you would distinguish between the levels of political organization, and give an example of each from the Americas.
Q5) Compare and contrast the political life of bands and tribal organizations.
Q6) What factors are associated with a culture's degree of individual political participation?
Page 15
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Chapter 14: Religion and Magic
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Q1) What type of religious ritual did Erika Bourguignon find present in 90 percent of the world's societies?
A) altered state of consciousness
B) fasting
C) sacrifices of food or money
D) prayer
Q2) What factor seems to predict whether or not a culture believes that actions in life will determine one's fate after death?
A) a period of delay between labor input and return of food
B) a complex stratified society in which leadership is caste-based
C) childrearing practices that focus on obedience and punishment
D) a low rate of political involvement by members of the society
Q3) What are the two largest world religions?
A) Christianity and Islam
B) Christianity and Judaism
C) Islam and Hinduism
D) Hinduism and Judaism
Q4) Analyze the different explanations put forth to explain the universality of religion.
Q5) Outline the ways in which people interact with the supernatural.
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Chapter 15: The Arts
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Sample Questions
Q1) Across cultures, masks seem to portray facial expressions in the same way. Threatening faces tend to be more __________, and nonthreatening ones are more
A) angular; rounded
B) hairy; angular
C) bumpy; hairy
D) rounded; bumpy
Q2) Which of the following is found by anthropologists to be a common reason for body decoration?
A) marker of social position
B) economic gain
C) to remember important items
D) camouflage
Q3) Which of the following is associated with a high degree of female participation in food-getting?
A) polyphonic music
B) chromatic artistic style
C) patterns of light and color
D) artistic specialization
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Page 17
Chapter 16: Practicing and Applying Anthropology
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Q1) Which of the following statements is true regarding implementing planned change in a community?
A) The benefits of programs are often obvious, but figuring out how to bring about the change is more difficult.
B) It is often obvious how to bring about change, but determining what type of change is needed is more difficult.
C) The local people are generally far more involved in implementing change than anthropologists or other interest groups.
D) Anthropologists and other interest groups are generally far more involved in implementing change than the local people.
Q2) Which of the following was one of the strategies used by Gerald Murray's successful reforestation project in Haiti?
A) providing tree species that could be interspersed with other crops
B) giving farmers seedlings for big, slow-to-mature tree species
C) having farmers plant seedlings in a large communal lot
D) telling farmers that the government owned the trees
Q3) How has the role of anthropologists as collaborators or advocates changed over the years? Give specific examples.
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Chapter 17: Health and Illness
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Q1) Which of these is a goal of ethnomedicine?
A) discovering the health-related beliefs, knowledge, and practices of a cultural group
B) reducing the cost of health care to minority populations
C) understanding the risk factors and treatment strategies for infectious disease
D) developing new vaccines and medical strategies based on tribal medicine
Q2) Compare and contrast the methods used by physicians and shamans.
Q3) Medical anthropology, and anthropology in general, are developing in the direction of a __________.
A) biocultural synthesis
B) postmodern paradigm
C) traditionalist movement
D) ideological revival
Q4) There is increasing evidence that the __________ of treatment may be as important as the __________ of treatment.
A) form; content
B) delivery; form
C) evidence; delivery
D) content; evidence
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Page 19
Chapter 18: Global Problems
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Q1) What did Mary Kay Gilliland discover in her ethnographic work in Croatia?
A) There was little concern for ethnic differences, and mixed marriages were common.
B) Croat nationalism had already been a subtle presence for a few decades.
C) Social inequalities between Croats and Serbs had been growing for years.
D) Yugoslavia was willing to allow Croatia to secede peacefully, with some conditions.
Q2) Which of these crimes do you expect to be most accurately reported to authorities?
A) homicide
B) child abuse
C) wife beating
D) husband abuse
Q3) According to several national studies conducted since 1975, physical violence and serious assaults on __________ decreased, while serious assaults on __________ did not.
A) children and wives; husbands
B) wives and husbands; children
C) husbands; children and wives
D) children; wives and husbands
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