Ch.5 Learning One’s Culture Test Bank 4th Edition

Test Bank

Chapter 5

In this revision of the test bank, I have updated all of the questions to reflect changes in Cultural Anthropology, 4e. There is also a new system for identifying the difficulty of the questions. In earlier editions, the questions were tagged in one of three ways: factual (recall of factual material), conceptual (understanding key concepts), and applied (application of sociological knowledge to a situation). In this revision, the questions are now tagged according to the six levels of learning that help organize the text. Think of these six levels as moving from lower-level to higher-level cognitive reasoning. The six levels are:

REMEMBER: a question involving recall of key terms or factual material

UNDERSTAND: a question testing comprehension of more complex ideas

APPLY: a question applying anthropological knowledge to some new situation

ANALYZE: a question requiring identifying elements of an argument and their interrelationship

EVALUATE: a question requiring critical assessment

CREATE: a question requiring the generation of new ideas

The ninety questions in this chapter’s test bank are divided into two types of questions. Multiple-choice questions span a broad range of skills (over one-third are “Remember” questions and the remainder are divided among four higher levels). Essay questions are the most demanding because they include the three highest levels of cognitive reasoning (from “Analyze” to “Create”) as well as lower levels.

Types of Questions

Easy to Difficult Level of Difficulty

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. The moral of the story of Agkon could be summarized as __________.

a. witchcraft always eventually leads to the downfall of the witch

b. the dead must be buried properly or terrible consequences will follow

c. family members need each other and must fulfill their obligations

d. revenge will lead to two deaths, not just one

2. Socialization is similar to __________, but concentrates on the social factors that a person must learn.

a. enculturation

b. assimilation

c. acculturation

d. social learning

3. __________ is the primary means by which humans adapt and survive.

a. Technology

b. Culture

c. Learning

d. Language

4. Enculturation begins __________.

a. after the social birth has taken place

b. at about 6 months

c. after about 9 months

d. as soon as a baby is born

5. Enculturation continues __________.

a. until about 12 years of age

b. until about 18 years of age

c. until everything needed has been learned

d. throughout life

6. Enculturation is so successful because __________.

a. it is so obvious to everyone that it must be

b. it is nonexplicit but constant

c. it so extremely explicit

d. it has been so well formalized over many generations

7. Practices of delayed social birth are generally found in societies where __________.

a. there is little understanding of medicine

b. ancestral spirits are important elements in religion

c. there has been, or still is, a high rate of infant mortality

d. there has been, or still is, a low rate of infant mortality

8. In impoverished communities in northeastern Brazil, infants who die are considered __________.

a. to be genetically inferior

b. to be uninterested in living

c. to be doomed from birth

d. to be the victims of their parents’ moral failure

9. In the Christian religion, baptism can be considered a type of __________ for the person baptized.

a. religious ceremony

b. contract with a deity

c. social birth

d. special occasion

10. In some Native American societies, names could change or be acquired over time and __________.

a. could be disposed of on a whim of the bearer

b. were attempts to gather supernatural protection or powers

c. were tied to the age of the person

d. always had to be different from any parental name

11. Attitudes toward children and child-rearing practices are generally consistent with __________ prevalent in the society.

a. core values

b. economic conditions

c. language groups

d. health concerns

12. Child-rearing practices reflect both cultural values and __________.

a. environmental constraints

b. children’s workload

c. the time parents have to spend with their children

d. social constraints

13. In many traditional societies, infants may be nursed __________.

a. for as long as three or four years

b. for as long as six or seven years

c. according to a very restrictive schedule

d. less than one year

14. Feeding on demand is __________.

a. mothers choosing when to feed their babies

b. babies being allowed to nurse whenever they want

c. babies making choices about what type of food to eat

d. mothers choosing what nutrients to provide for their babies

15. A study by Whiting and Child showed _________ of the societies documented to be more restrictive on nursing than middle-class Americans.

a. about half

b. sixteen

c. only one

d. only three

16. Weaning tends to take place later when __________ is/are not readily available.

a. medical advice

b. prenatal care

c. household help

d. replacement foods

17. Morelli’s 1992 study found that one-third of American infants __________.

a. are independent

b. sleep in the same room with their parents

c. refuse to nurse

d. sleep in a separate room from their parents

18. In Morelli’s 1992 study, Mayan parents stressed a desire to __________ in explaining why children continued to sleep with their mothers into the second year.

a. be kind to their children

b. foster a feeling of interdependence between their children and themselves

c. save on the costs of heating rooms at night

d. avoid staying awake while nursing children at night

19. There is a cross-cultural correlation between parents not allowing children to sleep with them and __________.

a. the importance of privacy

b. the amount of household space

c. a high value placed on independence

d. a high value placed on interpersonal relationships

20. By the age of 3, Efe children have been found to spend an average of __________ of their time a day in social contact with people who are not their mothers.

a. 10 percent

b. 50 percent

c. 70 percent

d. 90 percent

21. The Efe system of child rearing is a result of __________ as well as enmeshed, mutually dependent social and economic systems.

a. the requirement to engage in multiple tasks at the same time

b. a desire to make children self-reliant

c. the need to teach children to forage for themselves

d. a respect for the natural curiosity of children

22. Children in hunting and gathering societies often begin contributing to the family when they are __________.

a. quite young

b. 14 years of age

c. 21 years of age

d. elderly

23. Changes in attitudes toward children and childhood are consistent with __________.

a. socioeconomic values

b. a shrinking middle class

c. a growing middle class

d. children’s changing behavior

24. Although self-reliance and independence are stressed in modern, industrial nations, paradoxically children remain more reliant on their parents for a longer period of time because __________.

a. there are child labor laws

b. school is optional

c. they are not taught how to be self-sufficient until 18 years of age

d. they are biologically incapable of supporting themselves until 18 years of age

25. Much vocational training in nonindustrial countries takes place __________.

a. through children attending short cooperative programs

b. informally, by watching older siblings and adults

c. through primary school only

d. through apprenticeships

26. Children are raised to be cooperative or competitive with each other according to __________.

a. their personalities

b. their future jobs

c. the norm for adult interaction

d. whether they are from wealthy or poor families

27. Which of the following is a pervasive means to convey attitudes, values, and behaviors to children?

a. Punishment

b. Gender socialization

c. Personality development

d. Storytelling

28. A constraint placed on children is __________.

a. they must always be in the presence of an adult

b. they have fewer conversational rights than adults

c. they have no financial power of their own

d. they must find work at the age of 16

29. Folklore conveys important lessons about __________.

a. who is in charge

b. what types of clothing to wear during battle

c. philosophical and ethical principles

d. how to maintain one’s social status

301. Japanese caregivers often use explicit classification of behaviors that are acceptable or deviant in teaching __________.

a. drug and alcohol moderation

b. empathy with others

c. assertiveness

d. athletics

31. __________ is an important aspect of socialization for Japanese children.

a. Windungu

b. Learning to be independent

c. Politeness and attentiveness to others

d. Learning to put oneself first

32. Two factors, __________ and __________, contribute to social status and affect children to some degree in every society.

a. class; age

b. age; nationality

c. age; gender

d. age; dialect

33. The position or rank that one carries in a society is __________.

a. role

b. status

c. job

d. enculturation

34. Age is an important factor for children because __________.

a. they cannot understand their status

b. they are more constrained than adults in behaviors they are allowed

c. they must live at home

d. they must always be accompanied by an adult

35. Studies of American parent–child interactions have shown that __________.

a. children interrupt their parents when speaking more often than parents interrupt their children

b. parents interrupt their children when speaking more often than children interrupt their parents

c. boys are more often interrupted than girls

d. girls interrupt their fathers more often than their mothers

36. Which of the following is a way in which adults treat children differently according to gender?

a. Boys are allowed to play indoors more often than girls.

b. Girls receive more attention to their needs than do boys.

c. Girls spend more time playing at home than do boys.

d. Girls spend more time playing with their peers than do boys.

37. Boys might develop stronger muscles and motor behavior than girls because __________.

a. they are genetically superior

b. they are genetically inferior

c. they are held and touched more as babies

d. they are encouraged to be aggressive

38. __________ children are initiated into their gender identity.

a. From the time they can talk

b. From the age of 1 year onward

c. From birth

d. From the time they can play

39. Research on expressing aggression suggests a cross-cultural pattern of __________.

a. higher male aggression

b. cross-sex permissiveness of aggression

c. no particular gender relationship with the expression of aggression

d. higher aggression in male children does not correlate to higher status for males in the culture

40. A possible reason for higher aggression in boys cross-culturally is __________.

a. boys spend more time with peers their age than do girls

b. boys do not handle weaning as well as girls

c. girls are punished more severely for aggressiveness than boys

d. boys are more encouraged to engage in athletics

41. The habit of dressing baby boys in blue and baby girls in pink in American society is an example of __________.

a. stereotyping

b. enculturation

c. gender identification

d. none of these

42. One naming convention in English that differentiates male and female names is that __________.

a. male names usually contain more syllables

b. female names end in vowels much more commonly than male names

c. male names are often derived from objects and abstractions

d. male names are inherently masculine

43. Traditional Chinese and Taiwanese __________ names tend to carry positive meanings while __________ names carry negative meanings.

a. female; male

b. personal; surnames

c. male; female

d. surnames; personal

44. As her life progresses, a traditional Chinese woman’s names __________.

a. accumulate with prestige

b. change to reflect new statuses

c. take on good or bad references in her community

d. are dropped until they are all gone

45. Research by Ochs and Taylor found that dinnertime conversations in America follow a __________ pattern.

a. random

b. father-knows-best

c. mother-knows-best

d. mother-in-the-spotlight

46. __________ mark culturally significant transitions throughout the life cycle.

a. Rituals

b. Celebrations

c. Rites of passage

d. Tests

47. __________ are rituals that mark a person’s transition from childhood to adulthood.

a. Rites of intensification

b. Graduations

c. Rites of inversion

d. Initiation rites

48. Kpelle boys in Liberia undergo a four-year initiation period that includes __________.

a. correct behavior with peers

b. training in shooting rifles

c. correct behavior with superiors

d. walking on coals

49. The overt purpose of vision quests in Plains Native American societies was to __________.

a. acquire a guardian spirit

b. prove that the boy or girl could endure the wilderness

c. demonstrate that the survival skills needed to be an adult had been acquired

d. have the individual serve as a scout against enemy groups for a period of time

50. One type of initiation ritual that symbolizes segregation of the genders are those in which boys are taught __________.

a. to take on traditionally female behaviors

b. sacred songs that they must never reveal to anyone

c. recipes passed down for generations

d. the true meaning of life

51. In early societies, __________ were the only children sent to schools.

a. boys

b. girls

c. children of the elite

d. children of peasants

52. Formal training for adulthood began at the age of __________ for Aztec children from commoner families.

a. 3

b. 5

c. 7

d. 10

53. All Aztec children __________.

a. were given the same education

b. had to prove their intellectual ability in order to attend school

c. received formal schooling

d. were trained for some kind of manual labor

54. Aztec girls attending the calmecac were treated more leniently than were boys, and were taught __________.

a. math and science

b. languages and business

c. etiquette and embroidery

d. skills useful in warfare

55. In the developed world, only two countries, __________ and __________, have higher rates of female literacy than male literacy.

a. Switzerland; Russia

b. the United States; Malta

c. Canada; Japan

d. Great Britain; Belgium

56. In much of the developing world, girls’ enrollment in school has __________.

a. decreased

b. increased

c. become almost nonexistent

d. surpassed girls’ enrollment in the United States

57. The gender discrepancy in education in __________ is the highest of all countries in the Pacific region.

a. Papua New Guinea

b. Japan

c. New Zealand

d. Thailand

58. A cross-cultural study by Munroe and Munroe showed that within countries, __________ children were less likely to work cooperatively.

a. older

b. high-status

c. urban

d. rural

59. Most Maasai parents agree that schooling for girls __________.

a. is necessary

b. should stop at age 10

c. should start at age 10

d. will spoil them

60. Research on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon found that Native American children did not ask or answer questions in class because __________.

a. they found it difficult to be inside all day

b. they found the standard subjects taught uninteresting

c. their socialization prevented them from distinguishing themselves from their classmates

d. there were language barriers with the non-Native teachers

61. The Akwesasne Freedom School on the U.S.-Canadian border was created with all the goals below EXCEPT:

a. revitalization of the Mohawk culture

b. resistance to Western society

c. instilling traits like responsibility, independence, respect, and positive self-concept

d. maintenance of fluent Mohawk speakers

62. The Western model of education is based strongly on __________.

a. group learning

b. individual achievement

c. students’ supreme authority

d. homeschooling

63. __________ is the process of learning and incorporating attitudes, values, and behaviors so that they seem natural or part of one’s nature rather than learned cultural behavior.

a. Psychology

b. Naturalization

c. Personality formation

d. Selfhood

64. It is possible that the concept of personality __________.

a. precedes any kind of cultural training

b. is entirely the product of enculturation

c. is a Western construct

d. accounts for only the inner self

65. A subdiscipline within anthropology that studies the motivations for behavior and personality types prevalent in a given society is __________.

a. psychological anthropology

b. psychiatric anthropology

c. cultural anthropology

d. normative anthropology

66. A cross-cultural study by Munroe and Munroe showed that __________ children were the least likely to act cooperatively, even if it would have benefited them in task completion.

a. Zuni

b. Mexican

c. French

d. American

67. One’s inner feelings and concepts of self is called the ___________.

a. private self

b. public self

c. independent self

d. interdependent self

68. Emphasis on the __________ self tends to correlate with large-scale, affluent societies while emphasis on the __________ self tends to correlate with small-scale societies.

a. public; private

b. private; public

c. interdependent; private

d. interdependent; public

69. Concepts of individuals as connected to one another, related to other people, with a focus on group needs rather than individual inner feelings, opinions, and attitudes are referred to as the _______________.

a. private self

b. public self

c. independent self

d. interdependent self

70. Markus and Kitayama characterize the concept of the __________ self as a primarily Western notion.

a. interdependent

b. cognitive

c. dependent

d. independent

71. __________ are attitudes that people hold about themselves.

a. Self-concepts

b. Cultural notions

c. Personality traits

d. Interdependent views

72. The national character school of anthropological theory emerged from the work of __________.

a. Marvin Harris

b. Alfred Kroeber

c. Ruth Benedict

d. Marshall Shalins

73. Cognitive tests with Kpelle children show that __________ are culture-specific skills.

a. abstract conceptualization and decontextualized cognition

b. acquisition of multiple languages and vocabulary

c. self-actualization and striving

d. color sight and pattern recognition

74. Because they are __________, national character studies are no longer carried out in anthropology.

a. time and resource intensive

b. stereotypes

c. self-obvious

d. very large scale

75. Black Elk, an Oglala spiritual leader, might have been diagnosed by modern psychologists as __________.

a. suffering from depression

b. schizophrenic

c. as suffering from panic attacks and hallucinations

d. as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

76. An example of a culturally specific mental illness is latah, a disorder in which __________.

a. the sufferer is afraid of open spaces

b. the suffer usually acquires the disorder after a traumatic experience

c. the sufferer, always a woman, suffers uncontrollable hysteria after the death of a relative

d. the sufferer may become a homicidal cannibal

77. Some mental ailments, such as those considered to be anxiety and depression in industrialized societies, are treated successfully by __________ in Yoruba and Inuit societies.

a. medicinal herbs

b. confinement for a period of time

c. ritual practitioners

d. shunning

78. An example of a culture-specific disorder in the United States is __________.

a. schizophrenia

b. anorexia

c. anxiety

d. depression

79. Incidents of __________ sometimes occur epidemically after the death of a close relative.

a. pibloktoq

b. windigo

c. koro

d. amok

80. In South America, many traditional religious ceremonies involve the use of tryptamines, which are __________.

a. stimulants

b. depressants

c. powerful hallucinogens

d. sedatives

ESSAY QUESTIONS

81. Discuss the idea of social birth by comparing common American practices with those of the Zuni.

(ANALYZE)

82. How do different attitudes about nursing, weaning, and sleeping arrangements affect young children? How are differences in these practices compatible with the needs of the cultures that employ them?

(EVALUATE)

83. Give examples of informal and formal learning. At what ages are the two types of learning important? What types of information are transmitted by informal learning? Formal learning?

(UNDERSTAND)

84. Explain gender as an identity acquired through enculturation and socialization. What are some of the cross-cultural traits associated with male and female genders? What socialization practices might account for them?

(EVALUATE)

85. What is an initiation rite and what purpose does it serve? Give an example.

(UNDERSTAND)

86. Compare early ideas about national character studies to current ideas about the intersection of personality and culture. How have ideas about psychology and personality changed since the early days of anthropology?

(EVALUATE)

87. Using an example for each extreme, discuss enculturation and socialization as they apply to cooperation and competition.

(ANALYZE)

88. What has research with the Kpelle of Liberia revealed about the relationship between culture and cognition?

(UNDERSTAND)

89. How do people in Inuit and Yoruba societies respond to mental illness? What do they recognize as mental illness? How are these two things different from the understanding of mental illness in the United States?

(EVALUATE)

90. How is gender identity structured in the Western world? Give a few examples.

(CREATE)