Anthropology Key Term Questions
There is a wide variety of words that are common in anthropology class, if one is not keen they may get confused by some of them. The quiz below has a list of terms commonly used in anthropology and if you have been attentive in class you should be able to get the highest score. Give it a shot!
- 1.What component of cultural anthropology is comparative and focused on building upon our understanding of how cultural systems work?
- A.
Ethnography
- B.
Data collection
- C.
Ethnology
- D.
Fieldwork
- E.
Data entry
- 2.What is Ethnography?
- A.
The study of biological adaptability
- B.
The fieldwork aspect of cultural anthropology
- C.
The study of animal behaviour
- D.
The comparative component of cultural anthropology
- E.
The generalising aspect of cultural anthropology
- 3.What is cultural relativism?
- A.
It is a cultural universal, based upon the human capacity to use symbols
- B.
It is the argument that behaviour of a particular culture should not be judged by the standards of another culture
- C.
It is a cultural particular, based upon the interrelatedness of humans
- D.
Is it the opposite of participant observation
- E.
It is the same thing as ethnocentrism, but is applies only to family structure
- 4.Which of the following statements about culture is not true?
- A.
All human groups have culture
- B.
Culture is the main reason for human adaptability
- C.
Human groups differ in their capacities for culture
- D.
The capacity for culture is shared by all humans
- E.
Cultural learning is uniquely elaborated among humans
- 5.What is the term for the processes that are making nations and people increasingly interlinked and mutually dependent?
- A.
Acculturation
- B.
Diffusion
- C.
Globalisation
- D.
Enculturation
- E.
Independent invention
- 6.What term refers to the culturally sanctioned practice of marrying someone within a group to which one belongs?
- A.
Incest
- B.
Exogamy
- C.
Hypogamy
- D.
Endogamy
- E.
Endosperm
- 7.What is the term for the gift that the wife's group gives to the husband's family?
- A.
Polygamy
- B.
Brideweath
- C.
Dowry
- D.
Progeny Price
- E.
Bride Serive
- 8.How is exogamy adaptive?
- A.
It increases the number of individuals on whom one can rely in time of need
- B.
It increases the likelihood that disadvantageous alleles will find phenotypic expression and thus be eliminated from the population
- C.
It impedes peaceful relations among social groups and therefore promotes population expansion
- D.
It was an important causal factor in the origin of the state
- E.
It is not adaptive, it is just a cultural construction
- 9.An anthropologist doing fieldwork strives to achieve the role of:
- A.
Friend and teacher
- B.
Key informant
- C.
Privileged stranger
- D.
Participant observer
- E.
Incorporated tribe member
- 10.One major criticism of the unilineal evolutionists' models of cultural evolution is that the models:
- A.
Were based on incorrect data
- B.
Were developed by colonial governments
- C.
Were developed to support missionary work
- D.
Were based on very little ethnographic data
- E.
Miss interpreted cultural people as savages
- 11.Programmes of planned change often do not have the desired effect because of:
- A.
Failure to adequately supply technology
- B.
Failure to employ technical aid experts to assess the plan
- C.
Technical practices on the part of anthropologists
- D.
Failure to understand the impact of cultural issues on change
- E.
Disrupts cultural processes
- 12.The borrowing that takes place between cultures as a result of prolonged contact is termed:
- A.
Acculturation
- B.
Enculturation
- C.
Invention
- D.
Hegemony
- E.
Deffered exchange
- 13.Workers in the area of planned culture change have noted that the most important stimulant or motivator of change is:
- A.
Desire for economic gain
- B.
Appeals to nationalism
- C.
Competition
- D.
Cultural ethnocentrism
- E.
Population growth
- 14.The ideological domination by one cultural group over another through institutions, bureaucracy, education, and sometimes force, is termed:
- A.
Colonialism
- B.
Hegemony
- C.
Imperialism
- D.
Globalisation
- 15.The basic Aboriginal material inventory includes:
- A.
Bow, pottery, and fire
- B.
Blowgun, baskets, and fire
- C.
Digging stick, spear, and fire
- D.
Spear, bronze axe, and fire
- E.
Pottery, blade, and fire
- 16.Worldwide, the average number of people in foraging bands varies around:
- A.
5
- B.
50
- C.
100
- D.
500
- E.
70
- 17.Immediate return production systems contribute to social equality because:
- A.
Food storage encourages mobility and sharing
- B.
There is no particular advantage in long term control of a labor force
- C.
Daily food harvest and consumption foster higher population density and greater household autonomy
- D.
There is no basis for differences in social status based on age or sex
- 18.Amazonian subsistence production systems:
- A.
Maximize leisure, household autonomy, and labor equality between men and women
- B.
Increased garden work by women and supports non-food producing specialists
- C.
Involves continuous work from tropical dawn to dusk to satisfy all basic needs, but labor equitably shared by men and women
- D.
Causes men do the garden clearing, hunting and fishing, and thus put in significantly longer hours than women
- 19.Matrilocality in Amazonia may be functionally associated with
- A.
The inheritance of land through the female line
- B.
The importance of female task groups for such activities as manioc processing
- C.
Female-centered religious cults
- D.
A high rate of selective female infanticide
- 20.Patrilocality in Amazonia may be functionally associated with
- A.
The inheritance of land through the male line
- B.
Male-centered sacred sites
- C.
Revenge raiding
- D.
The importance of clans and lineages
- 21.Village exogamy and deferred exchange trading partnerships between men in potentially hostile villages:
- A.
Are an underlying cause of intervillage feuding and violent conflict
- B.
Are carried out for strictly utilitarian economic motives
- C.
Reduce the potential for intervillage conflict
- D.
Are regulated by the respective village headmen in order to enhance their political power
- E.
The potential for my wives to sustain the populace
- 22.According to Chagnon, Yanomamo men fight:
- A.
Because aggressive behaviour increases the reproductive success of individual men
- B.
Because of protein deficiencies
- C.
Because the recent introduction of bananas and plantains lead to a population explosion
- D.
Because of the universal innate human propensity for violence
- 23.Levi-Strauss argues that tribal peoples use mythical thought which:
- A.
Held that things which were once part of someone could still influence that person even after they were separated
- B.
Ignored contradictions, assuming that something could be two things at once
- C.
Used a limited set of signs ordered into structured relationships that help people understand reality while providing aesthetic satisfaction
- D.
Followed logical mental processes basically like our own
- 24.Brown's work on the "folk" classification of plants and animals in different languages led him to conclude that:
- A.
Increasing urbanization and political complexity has lead to a loss of detailed knowledge of plants and animals
- B.
Knowledge of nature steadily increases within a society as cultural scale increases
- C.
Abstract life form terms such as tree, grass, bush, and vine tend to disappear from a language as culture scale increases
- D.
Contrary to Levi-Strauss, the "science of the concrete" is more characteristic of folk classifications used by urbanized societies than by peoples in domestic-scale cultures 31.
- 25.According to Goldman, Pacific Island societies were aristocracies based on
- A.
Belief in the inherent superiority of a line of descent
- B.
Temporary leadership, selected according to pragmatic or utilitarian principles
- C.
Self-made leaders who must continually verify their positions by success in warfare
- D.
Leaders like Amazonian headmen who had to be generous and diplomatic
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