Biological Anthropology Questions

Why is it that scores on IQ tests do not demonstrate racial differences in intelligenceA) THe assumption that traits essential to racial identity are discrete and nonoverlapping is falseB) Difference between group scores on IQ tests may be due to cultural knowledge rather than intelligenceC) Social class and educational background are more accurate predictors of IQ scoresD) All of the above

The slow, gradual transformation of a single species over time is called A) CladogensisB) EvolutionC) AnagenesisD) Arrhythmia

The genetic information about particular biological traits encoded in an organism's DNA is called the A) GenotypeB) InfrabarC) PhenotypeD) Ultrabar

The process by which one species gradually transforms itself into a new species over time is calledA) CladogenesisB) Phenotypic transformationC) Phyletic gradualismD) Punctuated equilibrium

In modern terms, Mendel's principle of segregation holds thatA) Plants are able to pass genetic information from one generation to the other without sexual reproduction'B) There are two chromosomes for each physical traitC) An individual receives one chromosome of each pair of chromosomes from each parentD) The genes controlling related traits are next to each other on chromosomes

According to the text, if humanity cannot be divided into a series of genetically distinct units, thenA) The concept of race is biologically meaninglessB) Human races are based on very specific genetic variationsC) Microraces are the only biological possibilityD) The concept of race must be revised

a well-known example of a balanced polymorphism isA) Acclimatization responseB) Body shape in cold climatesC) Red hair colorD) Sickle-cell anemia

The theory of punctuated equilibrium is based on the observation thatA) Brief periods of intense speciation alternate with long periods of stasisB) New species appear in the fossil record alongside their unchanged ancestorsC) Evolutionary change does not seem to occur at a constant paceD) All of the above

In Mendelian genetics, those genetic characteristics that are expressed in an organism are said to beA) DominantB) GeneticC) HomozygousD) Recessive

Darwin's theory that the "fitter" survive and reproduce more offspring, who then inherit the traits that made their parents "fitter" is called A) Mixed reproductionB) Survival of the fittestC) HeredityD) Natural selection

Natural selection acts on A) MutationsB) The needs of an speciesC) Randomly produced variationD) The sex cells

In Darwinian terms, who are the fit?A) The most powerfulB) Those who surviveC) Those who reproduce and replace themselvesD) Those who cooperate with others

To say that anthropology is a field-based discipline means that A) Information about particular social groups comes through direct contact with themB) Anthropology is based on experience with other ways of lifeC) The experience of being in the field is central to modern anthropologyD) All of the above is true

A system of biological classification is called aA) Great chain of beingB) GenusC) TaxonomyD) Plenitude

According to the text, culture consists ofA) Sets of learned behaviors and ideas that human beings acquire as members of societyB) Those elements of the human experience that require education and good taste such as fine art, classical music and balletC) Sets of innate instincts that enables human beings to function in a complex worldD) Those sets of behaviors and ideas that enable human beings to appreciate differences between one society and another

The branch of anthropology that is concerned with discovering what makes human beings different from other living organism and what human being share with other member of the animal kingdom is calledA) Applied anthropologyB) ArchaeologyC) Biological anthropologyD) Cultural anthropology

Anthropologists place their observation about human culture and society in a temporal framework. This consideration of change over time relies on theories ofA) HolismB) EthnologyC) EvolutionD) Developmental anthropology

A single hierarchy of all organisms, each differing slightly from the ones above it and below it was known asA) The great Chain of BeingB) Bionial nomenclatureC) EssentialismD) Catastrophism

An anthropologist is sitting in the town square in a Bolivian village watching a group of women who are chatting. One wanders over and asks the anthropologist if she would like to join them in shopping for thread for their looms and then help to string the looms. She agrees, and they go off together. This form of research is calledA) Participant-observationB) Working with informantsC) Cultural sharingD) Reciprocal research

A study that examines how economics, politics, religion, and kinship shape one another in a specific society is calledA) DetailedB) CulturalC) HolisticD) Comparative