CHAPTER 1
WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. In the textbook, "anthropology" is defined as the study of ________.
a) human nature, human society, human language, and the human past
b) the remains of earlier societies and peoples
c) the ways of life of contemporary peoples
d) the physical and mental capacities of human beings
2. The authors define "holism" as ________.
a) trying to study everything possible about a group of people
b) integrating what is known about human beings and their activities
c) studying human biology and culture at the same time
d) fitting together economics, political science, religious studies, and biology
3. To say that anthropology is comparative means that ________.
a) each anthropologist studies many different societies during his or her career
b) anthropological generalizations draw on evidence from the widest possible range of societies
c) anthropologists use data from many different academic disciplines
d) there is no one way for the anthropologist to do research
4. ________ is NOT listed in the text as an element of the anthropological perspective.
a) Holism
b) Comparison
c) Evolution
d) Culturalism
5. A ________ study examines how economics, politics, religion, and kinship shape one another in a specific
society.
a) detailed
b) cultural
c) holistic
d) comparative
6. An anthropologist studying a social group observes that people shake hands when greeting one another and
concludes that handshaking is universal among humans. This study is faulty because it was not ________.
a) holistic
b) evolutionary
c) ethnocentric
d) comparative
7. When we say that anthropology is a field-based discipline, we mean that ________.
a) information about particular social groups comes through direct contact with them
b) anthropologists working in universities intersperse teaching and other tasks with field research
c) research connects anthropologists directly with the lived experiences of other people and to the material
evidence that people have left
Anthropology, Second Canadian Edition
, d) All of the above
8. According to the text, culture consists of ________.
a) sets of learned behaviours and ideas that humans acquire as members of society
b) elements of human experience that require education and good taste, such as fine art, classical music, and
literature
c) sets of innate behaviours that enable humans to function in a complex world
d) those practices that distinguish one group of humans from another
9. North Americans typically do not eat insects because they have learned to label insects as inedible. This
explanation is based on ________.
a) culture
b) biology
c) ethnocentrism
d) genetic programming
10. When we state that humans are biocultural organisms, we mean that ________.
a) human biology makes culture possible, and human culture makes human biological survival possible
b) biology is more important than culture for humans
c) human culture predates our biological organism
d) humans evolved independently of our ability to create culture
11. Traditionally, North American anthropology has been divided into ________ subfields.
a) two
b) three
c) four
d) five
12. According to the text, ________ is NOT a major subfield of North American anthropology.
a) Archaeology
b) Cultural anthropology
c) Biological anthropology
d) Physiological anthropology
13. The following statement is NOT associated with the traditional North American model of anthropology:
________.
a) This configuration reflects anthropology's commitment to holism.
b) This configuration is associated with anthropology's successful fight against 19th century scientific racism.
c) This configuration constitutes a protected "trading zone" within which fresh concepts and knowledge from a
variety of research traditions are brought together.
d) This model is widespread in Europe and other parts of the world.
14. Social groupings that allegedly reflect biological differences are called ________.
a) populations
b) cultures
c) races
d) ethnicities
15. Nineteenth-century attempts to group all humans into unambiguous categories called "races" were based on
Anthropology, Second Canadian Edition
WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. In the textbook, "anthropology" is defined as the study of ________.
a) human nature, human society, human language, and the human past
b) the remains of earlier societies and peoples
c) the ways of life of contemporary peoples
d) the physical and mental capacities of human beings
2. The authors define "holism" as ________.
a) trying to study everything possible about a group of people
b) integrating what is known about human beings and their activities
c) studying human biology and culture at the same time
d) fitting together economics, political science, religious studies, and biology
3. To say that anthropology is comparative means that ________.
a) each anthropologist studies many different societies during his or her career
b) anthropological generalizations draw on evidence from the widest possible range of societies
c) anthropologists use data from many different academic disciplines
d) there is no one way for the anthropologist to do research
4. ________ is NOT listed in the text as an element of the anthropological perspective.
a) Holism
b) Comparison
c) Evolution
d) Culturalism
5. A ________ study examines how economics, politics, religion, and kinship shape one another in a specific
society.
a) detailed
b) cultural
c) holistic
d) comparative
6. An anthropologist studying a social group observes that people shake hands when greeting one another and
concludes that handshaking is universal among humans. This study is faulty because it was not ________.
a) holistic
b) evolutionary
c) ethnocentric
d) comparative
7. When we say that anthropology is a field-based discipline, we mean that ________.
a) information about particular social groups comes through direct contact with them
b) anthropologists working in universities intersperse teaching and other tasks with field research
c) research connects anthropologists directly with the lived experiences of other people and to the material
evidence that people have left
Anthropology, Second Canadian Edition
, d) All of the above
8. According to the text, culture consists of ________.
a) sets of learned behaviours and ideas that humans acquire as members of society
b) elements of human experience that require education and good taste, such as fine art, classical music, and
literature
c) sets of innate behaviours that enable humans to function in a complex world
d) those practices that distinguish one group of humans from another
9. North Americans typically do not eat insects because they have learned to label insects as inedible. This
explanation is based on ________.
a) culture
b) biology
c) ethnocentrism
d) genetic programming
10. When we state that humans are biocultural organisms, we mean that ________.
a) human biology makes culture possible, and human culture makes human biological survival possible
b) biology is more important than culture for humans
c) human culture predates our biological organism
d) humans evolved independently of our ability to create culture
11. Traditionally, North American anthropology has been divided into ________ subfields.
a) two
b) three
c) four
d) five
12. According to the text, ________ is NOT a major subfield of North American anthropology.
a) Archaeology
b) Cultural anthropology
c) Biological anthropology
d) Physiological anthropology
13. The following statement is NOT associated with the traditional North American model of anthropology:
________.
a) This configuration reflects anthropology's commitment to holism.
b) This configuration is associated with anthropology's successful fight against 19th century scientific racism.
c) This configuration constitutes a protected "trading zone" within which fresh concepts and knowledge from a
variety of research traditions are brought together.
d) This model is widespread in Europe and other parts of the world.
14. Social groupings that allegedly reflect biological differences are called ________.
a) populations
b) cultures
c) races
d) ethnicities
15. Nineteenth-century attempts to group all humans into unambiguous categories called "races" were based on
Anthropology, Second Canadian Edition
