Anthropology 101 Test Questions with Complete Solutions (1)

Anthropology 101 Test Questions with Complete Solutions (1) Myth - Answer-A story, usually invoking the supernatural, to account for some aspect of the world. Science - Answer-The method of inquiry that attempts to explain phenomena through observation and the development and testing of hypotheses. Creation Myth - Answer-A myth that explains the origin of the world and its inhabitants. Evolution - Answer-Change over time with reference to biological species. Also, changes within cultural systems. Scientific Method - Answer-The process by which phenomena are explained through observation and the development and testing of hypotheses. Hypothesis - Answer-In the scientific method, a testable explanation of a phenomenon. Compare with theory. Induction - Answer-A step in the scientific method. The process of developing a general explanation (called a hypothesis) from specific observations. Compare with deduction. Deduction - Answer-A step in the scientific method. After developing a general explanation (a hypothesis) from specific observations through the process of induction, deduction is the step of suggesting those things that must be true (new data) if the hypothesis is valid. Theory - Answer-A hypothesis that has been tested repeatedly and has been well supported by evidence and experimental testing is elevated to the status of theory. Anthropolgy - Answer-The holistic and integrative study of the human species. It includes the study of human biology, human physical evolution, human cultural evolution, and human adaptation. Species - Answer-A group of organisms that can produce fertile offspring among themselves but not with any other group. A closed genetic population, usually physically distinguishable from other populations and with a unique gene pool. Holistic - Answer-A study that views its subject as a whole made up of integrated parts. Cultural Anthropology - Answer-The branch of anthropology that focuses of cultural behavior. Archaeology, ethnography, and anthropological linguistics are included in this branch. Culture - Answer-A nongenetic means of adaption. Those things people invent or develop and then pass down, including political, social, technological, economic, and ideological systems. Anthropological Linguistics - Answer-The anthropological study of language. Archaeology - Answer-A branch of anthropology that focuses on cultural evolution through the study of the material remains of past societies. Physical (Biological) Anthropology - Answer-The branch of anthropology that focuses on humans as a biological species. Paleoanthropologist - Answer-A biological anthropologist specializing in the study of human fossil remains. Primatologist - Answer-An anthropologist who studies primates. Catastrophist - Answer-An adherent to the hypothesis of catastrophism - that the world was produced through a series of catastrophic events, usually including to Noah's flood. Compare to uniformitarianism. Uniformitarianism - Answer-The concept that biological and geological processes that affected the earth in the past are still in operation today, and vice-versa. Compare with catastrophist. Creationist - Answer-One who believes that a supernatural power was directly or indirectly responsible for the origin of the universe, the earth, and all living things. Taxonomy - Answer-A systematic classification based on similarities and differences among the things being classified. Strata - Answer-(Singular: Stratum) Layers; here, distinct and distinguishable layers of rock and soil. Stratigraphy - Answer-The arrangement of rocks and soil in layers. Adapted - Answer-The adjustment of an organism to a particular set of environmental conditions. Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics - Answer-The incorrect idea that traits acquired by adaption during an organism's lifetime could be passed to its offspring, once proposed as a mechanism for evolution. Natural Selection - Answer-Evolution based on the relative reproductive success of individuals within a species, the degree of success determined by the individual's adaptive fitness. Cultural Evolution - Answer-Changes in cultural patterns over time. Unilinear - Answer-The now-discredited notion that all cultures pass through the same sequence of change (Compare with multilinear.) Multilinear - Answer-The accepted notion that different cultures pass through any one of a number of possible sequences of change. (Compare with unilinear.) Scientific Creationism - Answer-The belief that scientific evidence exists supporting the religious claim that the universe is the product of divine creation. Intelligent Design - Answer-The idea that an intelligent designer played a role in some aspect of the evolution of life on earth, usually the origin of life itself. Generally, a thinly disguised version of scientific creationism. Plate Tectonics - Answer-The movement of the plates of the earth, caused by their interaction with the molten rock of the earth's interior. The cause of continental drifting. Pangea - Answer-The super-continent that included parts of all present-day landmasses, which began to break up about 138 mya. Laurasia - Answer-The former northern landmass made up of parts of present-day North America and Eurasia. Where primates first evolved 65 mya. Primate - Answer-A large-brained, arboreal mammal with stereoscopic vision and grasping hands and (often) feet. Arboreal - Answer-Adapted to life in the trees. Prosimian - Answer-A member of the group of primates with the most primitive features, that is, the most resemble the earliest primates. Savanna - Answer-A tropical grassland with trees scattered throughout. It is probably on the savanna that the hominid adaptation of bipedal locomotion first became adaptively significant. Bipedal - Answer-Having the ability to walk on two feet. Hominid - Answer-Any member of the taxonomic family Hominidae. Modern humans and our ancestors; the bipedal primate. Genetics - Answer-The study of the mechanism of inheritance and the physical results of that mechanism. Particulate - Answer-In the study of heredity, the idea that traits are controlled separately by individual particles rather than all together by a single agent. The genetic theory of heredity. Gene - Answer-Generally, the portion of the DNA molecule that codes for a specific protein. Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) - Answer-The molecule that contains the genetic code. Chromosome - Answer-A strand of DNA in the nucleus of a cell that carries genetic information passed down to subsequent generations. Genotype - Answer-The alleles possessed by an organism. Compare with phenotype. Genome - Answer-The total genetic endowment of an organism. Mutation - Answer-Any change in an organism's genetic material. Phenotype - Answer-Any physical or chemical trait that can be observed or measured. The expression of the genetic code. Compare with genotype. Population - Answer-Any reproductive unit withing a species; may be the species itself. Breeding Population - Answer-A population within a species with some degree of genetic isolation from other populations of that species. See deme. Allele Frequency - Answer-The percentage of times a certain allele appears in a population relative to the other possible alleles of the same gene. Sexual Selection - Answer-The form of selection in which mating partners are actively, rather than randomly, chosen by individuals within a population based on such things such as appearance, presence of a nest site, and successful competition with other potential mates. Gene Flow - Answer-The exchange of genes among populations of a species through interbreeding. Genetic Drift - Answer-The change in allele frequencies caused by random fluctuations withing a population over time. Gene Pool - Answer-All alleles withing a population. Fission - Answer-The division or splitting up, of a breeding population. Gradualism - Answer-The view in evolution that speciation is slow and steady with cumulative change. Compare with punctuated equilibrium Darwinian Gradualism - Answer-The same as gradualism. The view in evolution that speciation is slow and steady with cumulative change. Compare with punctuated equilibrium.