Peoples and Cultures of the World Test Questions
Course Introduction
Peoples and Cultures of the World explores the rich diversity of human societies across the globe, emphasizing the ways in which culture shapes identity, beliefs, behaviors, and social structures. Through case studies, ethnographic readings, and multimedia resources, students examine patterns of kinship, religion, language, economics, and political organization among a variety of communities. The course encourages critical thinking about cultural relativism, globalization, and the challenges and opportunities of cross-cultural interaction. This course equips students with a deeper understanding of the complexities of cultural expression and the dynamics of a rapidly changing world.
Recommended Textbook
Cultural Anthropology 14th Edition by Carol
R. Ember
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Chapter 1: What Is Anthropology
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Q1) How might anthropologists employ the holistic approach in the study of a particular religious custom?
A) They would consider the environmental and economic origins of the custom.
B) They would record the history of the custom as told by the community's elders.
C) They would employ the methods of participant observation to better understand the custom.
D) They would approach the custom with Western biases in mind.
Answer: A
Q2) What is the primary purpose of an ethnologist's fieldwork?
A) It provides the data needed to describe the typical behavior and thought of a group of people.
B) It allows researchers to become more sympathetic to their research subjects' concerns.
C) Fieldwork is a training period to prepare ethnologists for jobs as professors.
D) It is a rite of passage for anthropologists, as it is a traditional component of anthropological work.
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: Culture and Culture Change
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Q1) Which of the following illustrates an ideal cultural trait in U.S. society that does not correspond to practical reality?
A) People of all classes and races are equal before the law.
B) Most children will go off to college, marry, and start households of their own.
C) Workers take the weekend off to have a chance to relax.
D) Children call their mothers on Mother's Day.
Answer: A
Q2) How does the everyday usage of the term "culture" differ from its academic definition?
A) The common usage reflects a desirable quality that can be acquired.
B) The academic definition reflects traits that are only possessed by a segment of the population.
C) The common usage deals only with patterns that have been passed down for generations.
D) The academic definition is narrower than the common usage.
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: Culture and the Individual
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Q1) Whatever the reason for parental rejection, it is evident that children who are rejected __________.
A) tend to reject their own children
B) are affectionate toward other people's children
C) are likely to remain childless as adults
D) become overprotective parents
Answer: A
Q2) Which of the following factors is most likely to be associated with more nurturant children?
A) being tasked with babysitting
B) having a variety of chores
C) playing with dolls
D) having a large family
Answer: A
Q3) Which anthropological term may be used in place of socialization?
A) enculturation
B) assimilation
C) diffusion
D) education
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Understanding and Explaining Culture
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Q1) Participant-observation always involves fieldwork, but fieldwork might involve other methods such as __________.
A) conducting a census
B) digging an archaeological test pit
C) reading the historical record
D) writing new legislation
Q2) Why is making an operational definition so important in anthropological research?
A) It provides a way to measure variables and to compare results across studies.
B) It is a required part of a research proposal.
C) Anthropologists tend to study phenomena that have not yet been defined in Western cultures.
D) Anthropologists must work collaboratively, and this allows others to take up the study in the future.
Q3) How does the sampling universe vary based on the types of research in anthropology? Explain what a typical sampling universe would look like for within-culture comparisons, cross-cultural research, and historical research.
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Chapter 5: Communication and Language
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Q1) While English has 26 letters, it has __________ significant sounds.
A) about 40
B) only 15
C) around 100 D thousands of
Q2) Why is it so difficult to pinpoint the emergence of the earliest languages?
A) Written language only appeared about 5,000 years ago.
B) Modern apes have a rudimentary language, so it must date to at least the divergence of the human and ape lineages.
C) There are clear structural differences in the brains of people who speak and people who don't, but we have no fossilized evidence of brain structure.
D) Every culture reports that they have been able to speak since the beginning of time.
Q3) Nonhuman vocal systems are often referred to as __________ systems, because they do not combine different calls to produce new meanings.
A) closed
B) absolute
C) limited
D) restricted
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Chapter 6: Getting Food
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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) In which of these environments would you be least likely to find a pastoralist society?
A) mountains
B) savannas
C) prairies
D) steppes
Q3) How might we best describe the subsistence strategies of contemporary cultures?
A) Most people today are food producers.
B) Most people today are foragers, supplemented with small-scale animal husbandry.
C) There is a roughly equal balance between foraging and food-producing cultures.
D) Most people today are foragers.
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Chapter 7: Economic Systems
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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) What factor can predict whether a particular food item will be shared with others?
A) unpredictability
B) calorie content
C) abundance
D) taste
Q3) In a(n) __________ production system, most people produce their own food, but an aristocracy controls a portion of the production.
A) tributary
B) domestic
C) industrial
D) communal
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Chapter 8: Social Stratification: Class, Ethnicity, and Racism
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Q1) Racial classifications are __________ categories.
A) social
B) historical
C) economic
D) biological
Q2) What is the difference between power and prestige?
A) Power is the ability to make others do what they do not want to do, while prestige is being awarded particular respect or honor.
B) Prestige is the ability to make others do what they do not want to do, while power is being awarded particular respect or honor.
C) Power is having a higher economic status than others in your community, while prestige is having a more elite heritage.
D) Prestige is having a higher economic status than others in your community, while power is having a more elite heritage.
Q3) What developments are required to move an egalitarian society into a ranked society? Is it inevitable that societies would progress in this direction? Why or why not?
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Chapter 9: Sex and Gender
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Q1) Crafts such as making baskets, mats, and pottery are __________.
A) performed by women in noncommercial societies but by men when produced for trade
B) exclusively men's tasks
C) exclusively women's tasks
D) performed by men in noncommercial societies but by women when produced for trade
Q2) To whom does the term transgender apply?
A) people who do not feel their assigned gender fits them well
B) anyone who is attracted to members of the same sex
C) men who dress in feminine clothing
D) women who take on aggressive, high-power jobs
Q3) How do the Chipewyan women combine hunting with the restrictions of child care?
A) They avoid hunting moose after their fourth or fifth month of pregnancy.
B) Only unmarried women hunt.
C) They hunt only small animals, like birds and rabbits, while breast-feeding.
D) Only post-menopausal women join in the hunts.
Q4) Evaluate the four theories put forth in the text explaining the cross-cultural gender division in labor. Which of these theories do you feel has the strongest position? Explain your answer.
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Chapter 10: Marriage and the Family
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Q1) What is a common element in ceremonies marking the onset of marriage?
A) feasting
B) fortune-telling
C) meditation
D) isolation
Q2) Some polygynous societies try to reduce competition by practicing sororal polygyny, which is when the co-wives are __________.
A) sisters
B) good friends
C) of similar temperament
D) of very different ages
Q3) Bride price occurs all over the world but is particularly common in __________.
A) Africa
B) East Asia
C) Europe D_ South America
Q4) Most societies __________.
A) disapprove of marriages between first cousins
B) encourage marriages between parallel cousins
C) encourage marriages between first cousins
D) encourage marriages between cross-cousins
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Chapter 11: Marital Residence and Kinship
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Q1) Lineages are usually designated by __________.
A) the name of the common ancestor
B) the totem animal representing the group
C) the surname of the current head of household
D) a new name representing a new nuclear family unit
Q2) Many anthropologists suggest that neolocal residence is related to the presence of __________.
A) a commercial economy
B) overpopulation
C) an egalitarian social structure
D) food collecting
Q3) In societies with unilineal descent, __________.
A) some very close biological relatives are excluded from one's kin group
B) all individuals who reside together are considered kin
C) the kin group rarely acts as a unit
D) no biological relatives are excluded from the kin group
Q4) Explain the differences between a lineage and a clan, and give examples of societies that use each descent system.
Q5) Compare and contrast matrilocal and patrilocal residence, giving specific examples where appropriate.
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Chapter 12: Associations and Interest Groups
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Q1) Upon receiving a master's degree, it could be said that a student had gained a(n) __________ quality.
A) achieved
B) ascribed
C) partial
D) universal
Q2) What is the primary exception to the rule that, in American society, membership in an association is voluntary?
A) military draft
B) college recruitment
C) sorority rush
D) job interviews
Q3) What happened to the rotating credit association, described by Nici Nelson, that was started up by women living in a Nairobi slum?
A) The members became wealthy enough to open their own bank accounts.
B) The men joined the association and forced the founding women out.
C) The organization grew and developed into a formal bank.
D) The members lost their money and the association disbanded.
Q4) Discuss the reasons that may explain why voluntary associations exist.
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Chapter 13: Political Life: Social Order and Disorder
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Q1) Most recent foragers had band organizations. What does this fact tell us about the political organization of our ancestors?
A) It does not tell us much, because modern foragers live in marginal environments and, therefore, may not represent the ancestral pattern.
B) It is evidence that all societies had band organizations before the origin of agriculture.
C) It suggests that band organizations quickly transform into state-level organizations.
D) It indicates that modern foraging societies maintain their traditional lifeways despite being incorporated into larger political entities.
Q2) Which type of society is particularly likely to make use of avoidance as a conflict resolution technique?
A) foragers
B) city dwellers
C) ranked societies
D) nomadic pastoralists
Q3) What factors are associated with a culture's degree of individual political participation?
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Chapter 14: Religion and Magic
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Q1) What is the difference between taboo and mana?
A) Things containing taboo cannot be touched.
B) Things containing taboo can 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.
Q2) Which practice in Christianity represents the common ritual of eating a sacred meal?
A) communion
B) praying the rosary
C) baptism
D) penance
Q3) Many anthropologists believe that religions are adaptive because they reduce the anxieties and uncertainties that afflict all peoples. With which scholar does this perspective best align?
A) Bronislaw Malinowski
B) Carl Jung
C) Émile Durkheim
D) Abraham Maslow
Q4) Outline the ways in which people interact with the supernatural.
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Chapter 15: The Arts
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Q1) Who proposed that hero myths resemble initiation rituals?
A) Joseph Campbell
B) Edward Tylor
C) Claude Lévi-Strauss
D) Sigmund Freud
Q2) How did many Native American groups supplement their incomes after being placed on reservations?
A) They sold arts and crafts.
B) They became storytellers.
C) They taught their language to Westerners.
D) They sold off their land.
Q3) Popular music is highly dependent on __________ for its spread and acceptance.
A) immigration
B) downloads
C) music videos
D) economics
Q4) What evidence is there for ethnocentric attitudes in our viewing of the art of other cultures? What can we learn from this about our definition of art?
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Chapter 16: Practicing and Applying Anthropology
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Q1) The Aswan dam projects were successful due to the work of __________.
A) archaeologists
B) environmental anthropologists
C) forensic anthropologists
D) business anthropologists
Q2) Which of these cannot be detected by forensic anthropologists?
A) skin color
B) age
C) sex
D) size
Q3) Recovering and recording the archaeological record before programs of planned change disturb or destroy it is called __________.
A) cultural resource management (CRM)
B) cultural repository excavation (CRE)
C) archaeological excavation management (AEM)
D) archaeological resource management (ARM)
Q4) Forensic anthropology is relatively well-known to the general public. Why does solving crimes and identifying human remains require a background in anthropology? What does anthropology bring to law enforcement?
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Chapter 17: Health and Illness
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Q1) In addition to increasing the incidence of disease, what does post-colonial life do to indigenous communities?
A) It leads to greater substance abuse, violence, and depression.
B) It provides better access to good diet and health care.
C) It improves scientific education and literacy rates.
D) It reduces access to biomedical treatment.
Q2) In the Hokkien medical system of Taiwan, what is a suitable treatment for blood loss?
A) "hot" remedies, such as baths and soups
B) "cold" remedies, such as iced drinks
C) ensuring a balance between phlegm and bile
D) ensuring a balance between yin and yang
Q3) Which humoral medical system contained six humors, in addition to a balance between yin and yang?
A) Chinese
B) Japanese
C) Ayurvedic
D) Greek
Q4) Compare and contrast the methods used by physicians and shamans.
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Chapter 18: Global Problems
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Q1) Societies that have violent methods of conflict resolution within communities, such as physical punishment of criminals, high frequency of warfare, and cruelty toward enemies are more likely to have which form of violence?
A) wife beating
B) child abuse
C) homicide
D) husband abuse
Q2) Cross-culturally, how does father absence impact the likelihood of juvenile delinquency and, later, physical violence?
A) Father absence increases the likelihood of juvenile delinquency.
B) There is a link in societies with nuclear households, but not those with polygynous households.
C) Father absence reduces the likelihood of juvenile delinquency.
D) There is no link between father absence and juvenile delinquency.
Q3) Social problems are mostly __________.
A) of human making
B) a result of economic greed
C) a result of divine intervention
D) bad luck
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