Midterm take-home test - International Institute of Anthropology

ANT 1010. Spring 2005. SLCC, Redwood Campus. Midterm test due Feb 28.
Lepenski Vir, Serbia.
Mesolithic culture in the
Balkans.
Culture and Human Experience
ANT 1010, SLCC, Spring 2005
Please return your test by Monday, Feb 28, 2005.
Midterm take-home test
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1.Anthropology has been called the most human of the sciences because
a. it has developed a systemic, cross-cultural approach to understanding human
behavior.
b. it takes human beings as its subject matter (“the study of humankind”).
c. it develops hypotheses and theories about the organization of language, values,
and art in culture.
d. it tackles culture as a human experience or system of meaning in which the
anthropologist must involve himself/herself in order to develop adequate explanations of
what is being observed.
e. all of these
2.The branch of anthropology that studies past human cultures, some of which have left no
written records is known as
a. cultural anthropology.
b. geologic anthropology.
c. archaeology.
d. linguistic anthropology.
e. ethnography.
3.Archaeologist “A” has a research project involving the analysis of an old campsite of a people
who relied primarily on foraging for wild foods about 500,000 years ago. Archaeologist “B” is

studying a medieval Danish village and comparing evidence of how the common people lived with
historical records that were written primarily from the point of view of wealthy merchants and
royalty. Archaeologist “A” is studying _____________.
a. Arctic
b. prehistoric
c. future
d. historical
e. culture-bound
4.Archaeologists studying the Classic period of Mayan civilization before about 1960 made
culture-bond assumptions that the Classic Maya
a. were more developed than present population in their forms of agriculture.
b. were food foragers.
c. practiced the same slash-and-burn cultivation that people do today, and therefore
could not have lived in large permanent settlements.
d. lived in large, permanent settlements based on slash-and-burn cultivation.
e. were industrialists with space-age technology.
5.Cross-cultural research that allows the anthropologist to develop theories that help explain why
certain important differences or similarities occur between groups is known as
a. ethnography.
b. biography.
c. ethnology.
d. ethnohistory.
e. ethnoarchaeology.
6. In-depth descriptive studies of specific cultures are called
a. ethnologies.
b. ethnobotanies.
c. biologies.
d. ethnographies.
e. anthropologies.
7. Doing fieldwork in a particular culture means that ethnographers
a. stay in their country of origin and interview immigrants from the country they wish to
study.
b. go to the country and live life as if they were natives.
c. live in the country but try to maintain a balance between participation and observation.
d. all of these
e. none of these
8. Using the traditional ethnographic method, an anthropologist working in rural Peru found that
people
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a. frequently worked together on each others’ land.
b. never worked together on each others’ land.
c. said they frequently worked together on each others’ land, but actually did so rarely.
d. said they never worked together on each others’ land, but actually did so frequently.
e. refused to answer the sociologist’s questionnaire, but responded to the more informal
tactics of the anthropologist.
9. The anthropologists who focus on humans as biological organisms, tracing their evolutionary
development and looking at biological variations within the species, past and present are
known as
a. archaeologists.
b. linguistic anthropologists.
c. biologists.
d. physical anthropologists.
e. forensic anthropologists.
10. Which of the following is not one of the four branches of anthropology?
a. archaeology
b. linguistics
c. biology
d. ethnology
e. physical anthropology
11. Cultural anthropology is the systematic study of the standards by which societies operate.
These standards
a. are biologically inherited.
b. operate only when people are unconscious.
c. can be studies only by sociologists.
d. are learned and constitute “culture.”
e. are inherited and are studied by physical anthropologists.
12. A “culture-bound” theory is
a. a prediction that is bound to be fulfilled in a particular culture.
b. a theory developed by a cultural anthropologist rather than a physical anthropologist.
c. a theory developed by a sociologist rather than a cultural anthropologist.
d. a theory based on assumptions common to a particular culture rather than deriving
from comparisons of many different cultures.
e. a theory based on comparison of cultures.
13. Historians, who usually study the past through written sources, are limited chronologically to
a. the past 500 years.
b. the past 1,000 years.
c. the past 5,000 years.
d. the past 10,000 years.
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e. the past 500,000 years.
14.The branch of cultural anthropology that studies human languages is called
a. linguistic anthropology.
b. ethnology.
c. ethnography.
d. ethnolinguistics.
e. ethnography of speaking.
15. Which of the following research projects would NOT belong to the province of linguistic
anthropology?
a. Learning about a culture by finding out which objects or events are associated with a
large vocabulary.
b. Reconstructing the evolution of the big toe to find out at what time humans began to
walk upright.
c. Comparing languages to see which ones can be traced back to a single unifying
language.
d. Describing how, in a particular language, sounds are combined to form words, and
how words are combined to form sentences.
e. all of these (that is, a linguistic anthropologist would not be interested in any of the
above research projects)
16. Which of the following is not goal of science?
a. to discover the universal principles that govern the workings of the visible world.
b. to develop explanations of the world that are testable and correctable.
c. to eliminate the need to use the imagination.
d. all of these are goals of science.
e. only a and b
17. Which of the following exemplifies the concept of a “hypothesis”? The light bulb failed
to light because
a. the filament was broken.
b. the power to the building was off.
c. it was not screwed in tightly.
d. it was poorly made.
e. all of these
18. A(n) _______________ is a closely examined and critically checked out explanation of
observed reality.
a. attractive hunch
b. dogma
c. doctrine
d. indisputable opinion
e. theory
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19. Anthropologists doing fieldwork typically involve themselves in many different
experiences. They try to investigate not just one aspect of culture (such as the political
system) but how all aspects relate to each other (for example, how the political system fits
with economic institutions, religious beliefs, etc.). This approach is called the
_______________ perspective.
a. holistic
b. ethnological
c. sociocultural
d. sociological
e. culture-bound
20. Questionnaire surveys
a. enable anthropologists to discover unexpected patterns of behavior.
b. are never used by anthropologists.
c. are used by anthropologists to supplement information gained by some other means.
d. are used only by sociologists.
e. get at real (vs. ideal) patterns of behavior.
21. What kind of information do questionnaires usually tap?
a. factual rather than intuitive reality
b. what people think about reality, which is not necessarily what they do
c. the preconceived expectations of outsiders rather than reality as experienced by those
who are being studied
d. all of these
e. b and c
22. In what way does anthropology provide basic skills for survival in the modern world?
a. It teaches us how to hunt game if we are ever lost in the wilderness.
b. It makes us less provincial.
c. It enables us to see that we are part of a global community rather than the center of the
universe.
d. It gives us a greater sensitivity to cultural differences.
e. all of these except a
23. The term that refers to worldwide interconnectedness, signified by global movements of
natural resources, trade goods, human labor, finance capital, information, and infectious
diseases is known as
a. nationalization.
b. internationalization.
c. pandemonium.
d. globalization.
e. holism.
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24. Which of the following characteristics distinguishes primates from other mammals?
a. a large complex brain in which the area devoted to smell is quite large
b. the development of more teeth of a highly specialized nature
c. increased visual acuity because of stereoscopic and color vision
d. the development of a specific breeding season and increased number of offspring
e. All of the above
25. The transition to bipedalism probably occurred in a context where primates spent
a lot of time in the trees but ventured out periodically onto the open savanna to exploit the food
resources there. This transition occurred because bipedalism conferred the advantage of
a. being able to climb trees more effectively.
b. being able to run faster on the ground.
c. freeing hands for a variety of purposes..
d. being able to scan for danger more effectively.
e. All of the above.
26. The earliest known tool tradition
a. is called Oldowan.
b. begins about 2.5 million years ago.
c. marks the beginning of the Paleolithic.
d. All of the above
e. None of the above
27. These people were the first to develop an extensive art and decorative tradition
a. Homo habilis
b. Homo erectus
c. Neanderthal
d. Upper Paleolithic
e. fully modern Homo sapiens
28. The primates most closely related to humans are the
a. baboons and macaques.
b. chimpanzees and bonobos.
c. lorises and lemurs.
d. orang-utan and tarsiers.
e. none of the above.
29. The area of the brain which enlarged dramatically in primates is the
a. cerebellum.
b. cerebral hemispheres.
c. medulla.
d. notochord.
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e. All of the above
30. Remains found in southern Africa suggest that _______________ may have learned to use
fire by 1 million years ago.
a. A. afarensis
b. H. sapiens
c. H. habilis
d. Ardipithecus ramidus
e. H. erectus
31. The “out of Africa” hypothesis refers to
a. the molecular evidence that all modern humans derive from a common African
ancestor.
b. the belief that humans did not evolve, but were created by God.
c. the fossil evidence that Neanderthal was wiped out by modern humans.
d. the primate evidence suggesting that humans are descended from modern chimpanzees.
e. none of the above.
32. Present evidence suggests that humans evolved from small, African apes between
________ and ________ million years ago.
a. 10/15
b. 1/4
c. 12/20
d. 8/5
e. 50/100
33. Chimps are capable of which of the following behaviors?
a. pick up and prepare objects in anticipation of future use at some other location.
b. communicate at the level of 8 year old human.
c. read at the level of a human 5 year old.
d. use objects as tools to solve problems.
e. a and d.
34. Humans are unique in their biological capacity to produce a rich array of
_______________ to the environment.
a. cultural adaptations.
a. physiological adaptations.
b. natural selection.
c. environmental accommodations.
35. All _______________, as systems of communication using sounds that are put together in
meaningful ways according to a set of rules, are organized on the same basic plan
a. languages
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. symbols
c. signals
d. phonetics
e. core vocabulary
36. In Pavlov’s classical study of conditioning, a dog that salivated to the taste of meat was
taught to salivate to the sound of a bell by having the two stimuli paired. After this
training, the ringing of a bell constituted a _______________ for the dog because the
meaning, “meat,” was implicit in the immediate experience of bell ringing; for the dog
it had a natural or self-evident meaning.
a. symbol
b. signal
c. language
d. grammar
e. Paralanguage
37. Which of the following statements about signals and symbols is INCORRECT?
a. Both signals and symbols are forms of communication.
b. Both signals and symbols can be learned.
c. Signals are in response to aspects of the immediate environment such as Pavlov’s dog
salivating at the sound of a bell or a human’s eye dilating at the sight of something
pleasurable.
d. Symbols are arbitrary and can be used independent of a particular environment, such
as the word “Roman” when no Rome or Romans are present, or “holy water” when a ritual
ceremony has been performed over river water.
e. All of the above are correct.
38. The modern scientific study of all aspects of language is
a. kinetics.
b. phonology.
c. linguistics.
d. grammar.
e. glottochronology.
39. The systemic study of the production, transmission, and reception of speech sounds is
a. linguistics.
b. morphology.
c. frame substitution.
d. phonetics.
e. syntax.
40. The study of abstract rules that guide the sound patterns of a language is called
a. phonetics.
b. phonology.
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c. syntax.
d. morphology.
e. frame substitution.
41. The smallest class of sound that makes a difference in meaning is a(n)
a. allophone.
b. morpheme.
c. allomorph.
d. phoneme.
e. free morpheme.
42. Consider the English word “dog.” Which of the following is a morpheme?
a. “d”
b. “dog”
c. “o”
d. “g”
e. All of the above
43. The method called frame substitution enables the linguist to establish the rules or
principles by which language users construct phrases and sentences, i.e., the
_______________ of the language.
a. morphology
b. form classes
c. core vocabulary
d. sociolinguistics
e. syntax
44. The entire formal structure of a language consisting of all observations about its
meaningful units of sounds and the rules or principles of making phrases and sentences is
called its
a. syntax.
b. form classes.
c. morphology.
d. phonology.
e. grammar.
45. Which of the following statements about kinesics is CORRECT?
a. Kinesics refers to the system of extralinguistic noises that accompany spoken
language.
b. Kinesics research has demonstrated that gender signals communicated through posture
are biologically based rather than learned.
c. Cross-cultural research indicates that the body language used when people are
greeting each other is similar all over the world.
d. All cultures have the same gestures for “yes” and “no.”
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e. All of the above are correct.
46. Paralanguage is to speech as _______________ is to position of the body.
a. kinesics
b. ethnolinguistics
c. form class
d. phonetics
e. displacement
47. Two people say to you, “You sure look nice today.” Although they are saying the same
words, you can tell that one person is being complimentary and the other sarcastic by their
__________________
a. vocalizations.
b. vocal characteristics.
c. voice qualities.
d. voice segregates.
e. vocal qualifiers.
48. _______________ linguistics is concerned with the study of relationships between earlier
and later forms of a language, antecedents (in older languages) of developments in modern
languages, and relationships among older languages.
a. Extrab.
Descriptive
c. Sociod.
Historical
e. Para-
49. In contrast with historical linguistics, descriptive linguistics
a. attempts to explain the features of a particular language at one time in its history.
b. looks at languages as separate systems without considering how they might be related
to each other.
c. attempts to construct a language’s historical development.
d. investigates relationships between earlier and later forms of the same language.
e. a and b only
50. A language family is a group of languages
a. that all have the same core vocabulary.
b. that are subordinate to a dominant language.
c. that all have the same syntax.
d. that use the same number of sounds.
e. that are descended from a single ancestral language.
51. Which of the following statements about the English language is CORRECT?
a. English belongs to the Indo-European language family.
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. English belongs to the Germanic language subgroup.
c. English is one of the many languages which diverged from an ancient unified
language called Proto-Indo-European.
d. None of the above are correct.
e. All of the above are correct.
52. The development of different languages from a single ancestral language is called
a. descriptive linguistics.
b. historical linguistics.
c. language subgroups.
d. linguistic divergence.
e. linguistic nationalism.
53. If the core vocabulary of two languages is compared by glottochronologists, it is thought
possible to determine
a. if the two languages perceive reality in the same way.
b. if the two languages use the same syntax.
c. if they share the same allophones.
d. if they have a similar technology
e. how long ago the languages separated from each other.
54. Although language may be studied as an independent system, it is also important to look at
language in terms of what it tells us about society and culture. Whatever its phonemes, syntax,
and history, language is a dynamic, adaptive system which facilitates the speakers’ survival and
gives clues about what is significant in their lives. When we focus on the relationship between
language and the society and culture of those who speak it, we are doing
a. Ethnolinguistics.
b. descriptive linguistics.
c. historical linguistics.
d. glottochronology.
e. frame substitution.
55. Most of the alphabets in use today descended from the
a. Egyptians.
b. Greeks.
c. Phoenicians.
d. Romans.
e. Anglo Saxons.
TRUE/FALSE
56. While ethnography is the in-depth study of a single culture, ethnology is the
comparative study of culture.
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T
F
57. The interpretation of material remains in conjunction with skeletal remains allows for
a complete bio-cultural reconstruction of human life in the past.
T
F
58. Culture is preserved and transmitted by language.
T
F
59. Imagination and skepticism are not used by scientists.
T
F
60. “Truth” in science can be said to be a matter of varying degrees of probability.
T
F
61. Anthropologists can contribute to America’s survival in the modern world by
providing knowledge of other cultures that can help America function as part of an
interdependent global community.
T
F
62. Studies of human adaptation focus on the capacity of humans to adapt, or adjust to
their material environment, biologically and culturally.
T
F
63. Humans do not merely adapt to the environment through biological change, but also shape
the environment to suit their own needs and desires. T F
64. Some recent genetic studies indicate that Africa is not the sole source of DNA in modern
humans. T F
MATCHING
65. Match the anthropologist with what he or she did.
______ Clyde Snow
______ William Haviland
______ Laura Nader
a. instituted the Cross Cultural Survey in Yale’s
Institute of Human Relations.
b. confronted ethical problems in the study of U.S.
energy issues
c. advised the Roosevelt and Truman
administrations
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______ Philleo Nash
______ George Peter Murdock
______ Suzanne Leclerc Madlala
d. conducted HIV/AIDS research in Africa
e. used forensic anthropology to investigate South
American “disappearances”
f. wrote a popular introductory textbook
66. Match the tern with its characteristics
______ Homo habilis
______ Homo erectus
______ Australopithecus
______ Ardipithecus
______ Homo sapiens
a. learned to use fire
b. first biped
c. first stone tool maker
d. spread to Australia and the Americas
e. a human-ape ancestor
67. Match the term to its definition.
______ allomorphs
______ phonemes
______ form classes
______ kinesics
______ glottochronology
a. the smallest classes of sound that make a
difference in meaning
b. method of dating divergence within language
families
c. variations of a morpheme
d. posture, facial expressions, and body motion
e. the parts of speech that work the same way in
any sentence
SHORT ANSWER
68. How can we distinguish a hypothesis from a guess?
69. Discuss the concept of globalization and its impact on human communities all over
the world.
70. From the study of both ancient and modern primates, anthropologists have worked out
a list of anatomical characteristics common to them all. Identify those characteristics.
71. Discuss when and how human culture evolved
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72. Explain the process of evolution
73. What is the difference between a signal and a symbol?
74. What is phonetics?
75. Compare kinesics with paralanguage
76. What is linguistic divergence and how is it used in glottochronology?
77. Give an example of how the analysis of vocabulary can tell us what is important in a
culture.
78. What does kinship terminology reveal about a culture?
79. Discuss the point of view that language mirrors or reflects, rather than determines,
cultural reality. Provide examples to support that view.
80. How is language linked to gender? Use examples from the text and add some of your
own.
ESSAY
Why do you need traditions?
Text, text and poster or poster with extended text
EXTRA CREDITS
SHORT ANSWERS
1. What was “the protein problem” and how did it impact biped evolution?
2. How do past definitions of culture compare with more recent definitions?
3. Provide examples to support the statement, “What is adaptive in one context may be
seriously maladaptive in another.”
ESSAY TOPICS
1. Cultural anthropology and humanities
2. Cultural anthropology and globalization
3. Cultural anthropology and religion
4. Cultural anthropology and enculturation
Problems:
1. How does studying cultural anthropology relate to humanities, globalization, religion,
and/or enculturation?
2. How does cultural anthropology change our view on the world?
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