CULTURE CHAPTER 2 TEST *QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT ANSWERS*

Chapter 02: Culture MULTIPLE CHOICE 1. One key aspect in how we understand the idea of culture is that a. humans genetically inherit culture via natural biological processes. b. the process of learning culture is unique to humans. c. culture can only be learned through the teaching of cultural institutions. d. humans learn culture throughout their lives. 2. Culture is a system of knowledge, beliefs, patterns of behavior, artifacts, and a. institutions. c. languages. b. ideas. d. religions. 3. Sitting in your Anthropology class helps you learn about anthropology, but it also offers lessons in culture known as a. unconscious instruction. c. relativism. b. human learning. d. enculturation. 4. Humans learn culture from people and cultural institutions that surround them, but this occurs a. predominantly in early childhood. b. over their entire lives. c. primarily in specialized institutions such as schools and churches. d. generally from late childhood to early adolescence. 5. Family gatherings that honor particular moments in our lives—weddings, special holidays, and so forth—are often sources of tension when different family members want to “change things up.” As a facet of culture and how we learn it, this reminds us that culture is a shared experience and is a. static in that it remains identical, consistent, and uncontested over time. b. constantly contested, negotiated, and changing. c. genetically inherited. d. completely unique to humans. 6. Which of the following is one of the four elements that an anthropologist considers in attempting to understand the complex workings of a culture? a. symbols c. economics b. politics d. discourses 7. Ideas or rules about how people should behave in particular situations or toward certain other people are considered a. beliefs. c. norms. b. meanings. d. values. 8. Selecting a marriage partner is a complex process. In some societies, the choice of the partner is decided by the parents, but the characteristics of the partner that endear him or her to us are ours alone and would draw on our personal a. beliefs. c. values. b. social norms. d. sense of meaning. 9. Spatial comfort zones, such as standing too close to a member of another culture, are examples of which of the following? a. symbolic actions c. value actions b. spatial actions d. normative actions 10. For many people, getting married means one man and one woman, but for many others, cohabitation, same-sex marriage, or open relationships are the norm. As a mental map of reality, what might the married people think about the rest of us? a. Getting married is the proper way to live and anything else is just wrong. b. Getting married is the way I choose to live my life, but I’m accepting that others can do as they please. c. Getting married is the path to a good and beautiful life. d. Getting married is fundamental to all faiths everywhere and anything else distorts the significance of marriage. 11. An anthropologist studying female circumcision might be horrified by the practice, but must also be able to suspend personal judgment in order to understand the beliefs and practices of others within their own cultural context. This is understood as a. relative altruism. c. relative culturalism. b. cultural relativism. d. contextual relativism. 12. The text tells the story of how actor Richard Gere’s public kiss of an Indian movie star was seen as a serious broach of etiquette, something that he undoubtedly did not foresee at the time. Both Gere and those who criticized him can be seen as a. altruistic. c. relativistic. b. egocentric. d. ethnocentric. 13. Anthropologists seek to counter ethnocentrism by a. objectively, accurately, and sensitively representing the diversity of human life and culture. b. seeking to explain cultural difference as scientifically or biologically natural. c. spreading American norms and values to the populations they study. d. critiquing the norms and values of other cultures against the standards of their home cultures. ,,.............................................CONTINUED.......................................................