Test Bank For Window on Humanity: A Concise Introduction
to Anthropology, 10th Edition Conrad Kottak A+
Chapter 1 - What Is Anthropology?
1) This chapter begins with a commonly heard opinion: "People are pretty much the
same all over the world." Why is this assumption often wrong? How might your
consideration of this understanding affect how you would design an anthropological
study?
2) What is culture? How do anthropologists define and study culture?
3) What does holism refer to? Why is the concept central to anthropology? How does
this concept relate to the "four-field" approach within the discipline? Have you
encountered this concept in any of your other classes?
4) This chapter provides an example of human adaptation to high altitude to illustrate
the various forms of cultural and biological adaptation. Can you think of another
example that illustrates the broad capacity of humans to adapt both biologically and
culturally?
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5) To what does biocultural perspective refer? If you are planning to major in the
biological sciences or planning a career as a medical doctor or clinical researcher, how
might a minor in anthropology complement your education? If you are thinking of
majoring in the humanities, how might a minor in anthropology complement your
education?
6) This chapter considers differences and similarities between anthropology and other
academic fields such as sociology. What about history?
7) Anthropology is the study of
A) the psychological stages of human development.
B) myths in industrial societies.
C) the evolution of religion.
D) long-term psychological adaptation.
E) humans around the world and through time.
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8) Anthropology as a holistic science refers to the study of the whole of the human
condition: the past, the present, and the future of_________blank.
A) math, physics, and astronomy
B) faith and religion across the world
C) biology, society, language, and culture
D) geography and cartography
E) ancient civilizations and archaeological remains
9) As humans organize their lives and adapt to different environments, our abilities to
learn, think symbolically, use language, and employ tools and other products
A) are shared with other animals capable of organized group life—such as baboons,
wolves, and even ants.
B) rest on certain features of human biology that make culture itself a biological
phenomenon.
C) rest on certain features of human biology that make culture, which is not itself
biological, possible.
D) prove that only fully developed adults have the capacity for culture; children lack the
capacity for culture until they mature.
E) have made some human groups more cultured than others.
10) Which of the following statements about culture is false?
A) Culture is passed on genetically to future generations.
B) Culture guides the beliefs and behavior of the people exposed to it.
C) Cultural forces consistently mold and shape human biology and behavior.
D) Culture is a key aspect of human adaptability and success.
E) Culture is passed on from generation to generation.
11) What is the process by which children learn a particular cultural tradition?
A) biological adaptation
B) ethnology
C) enculturation
D) ethnography
E) acculturation
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12) This chapter's description of how humans cope with low oxygen pressure in high
altitudes illustrates
A) how in matters of life or death, biology is ultimately more important than culture.
B) how human plasticity has decreased ever since we embraced a sedentary lifestyle
some 10,000 years ago.
C) how biological adaptations are effective only when they are genetic.
D) human capacities for cultural and biological adaptation, the latter involving both
genetic and physiological adaptations.
E) the need for anthropologists to pay more attention to human adaptation in extreme
environments.
13) The presence of more efficient respiratory systems to extract oxygen from the air
among human populations living at high elevations is an example of which form of
adaptation?
A) short-term physiological adaptation
B) long-term physiological adaptation
C) cultural adaptation
D) symbolic adaptation
E) genetic adaptation
14) Over time, humans have become increasingly dependent on which of the following
in order to cope with the range of environments they have occupied in time and space?
A) biological means of adaptation, mostly thanks to advanced medical research
B) social and cultural means of adaptation
C) a holistic and comparative approach to problem-solving
D) technological means of adaptation, such as the creation of virtual worlds that allow
us to escape from day-to-day reality
E) social institutions, such as the state, that coordinate collective action
15) Today's global economy and communications link all contemporary people, directly
or indirectly, in the modern world system. People must now cope with forces generated
by progressively larger systems—the region, the nation, and the world. For
anthropologists studying contemporary forms of adaptation, why might this be a
challenge?
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