Multiple Choice Questions
1. Anthropology is literally the study of __________.
A) history
B) fossils
C) humans
D) religion
Answer: C
Learning Objective: 1.1 Explain the general definition and purpose of anthropology.
Topic: What Is Anthropology?
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
2. Which type of culture was the traditional focus for anthropologists?
A) non-Western cultures
B) extinct cultures
C) Western cultures
D) post-industrialized cultures
Answer: A
Learning Objective: 1.2 Describe the scope of anthropology.
Topic: The Scope of Anthropology
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
3. The anthropological curiosity is primarily interested in __________.
A) abnormal characteristics within a population
B) differences in individual behavior
C) behavioral changes over time
D) typical characteristics of populations
Answer: D
Learning Objective: 1.4 Explain anthropology’s distinctive curiosity.
Topic: Anthropological Curiosity
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
4. What are the two broad classifications of subject matter within anthropology?
A) contemporary and ancient
B) biological and cultural
C) Western and non-Western
D) theoretical and practical
Answer: B
Learning Objective: 1.5 Differentiate among the five major fields of anthropology.
Topic: Fields of Anthropology
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
,5. Which of the following can encompass any of the four main subfields of anthropology?
A) biological anthropology
B) anthropological linguistics
C) archaeology
D) applied anthropology
Answer: D
Learning Objective: 1.5 Differentiate among the five major fields of anthropology.
Topic: Fields of Anthropology
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
6. Prosimians, monkeys, apes, and humans are all members of the order __________.
A) Primates
B) Humans
C) Homo sapiens
D) Mammals
Answer: A
Learning Objective: 1.5 Differentiate among the five major fields of anthropology.
Topic: Fields of Anthropology
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
7. What is culture?
A) the religion, language, and values of a population
B) advanced knowledge of literature and fine arts
C) the customary ways that a particular population or society thinks and behaves
D) traditional beliefs that have been unchanged over generations
Answer: C
Learning Objective: 1.5 Differentiate among the five major fields of anthropology.
Topic: Fields of Anthropology
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
8. The study of how languages change through time and how they may be related is called
__________.
A) historical linguistics
B) sociolinguistics
C) ethnolinguistics
D) structural linguistics
Answer: A
Learning Objective: 1.5 Differentiate among the five major fields of anthropology.
Topic: Fields of Anthropology
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
9. A __________ might study speech patterns in varying social contexts.
, A) anthropological linguist
B) sociolinguist
C) historical linguist
D) ethnologist
Answer: B
Learning Objective: 1.5 Differentiate among the five major fields of anthropology.
Topic: Fields of Anthropology
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
10. A cultural anthropologist who spends a year or so living with, talking to, and observing people
whose customs he or she is studying is known as a(n) __________.
A) ethnographer
B) linguistic anthropologist
C) archaeologist
D) ethnohistorian
Answer: A
Learning Objective: 1.5 Differentiate among the five major fields of anthropology.
Topic: Fields of Anthropology
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy
11. The goal of applied anthropology is to __________.
A) understand human evolution
B) make anthropological knowledge useful
C) limit anthropology to an academic setting
D) focus solely on Western cultures
Answer: B
Learning Objective: 1.5 Differentiate among the five major fields of anthropology.
Topic: Fields of Anthropology
Skill Level: Remember the Facts
Difficulty Level: Easy