The Idea of Culture MCQs

The Idea of Culture MCQs

Answer these 30 The Idea of Culture MCQs and assess your grip on the subject of The Idea of Culture.
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1: Which statement describes a characteristic of a symbol?

A.   It is something absent from many cultures.

B.   Symbols are unrelated to languages.

C.   A symbol is invented, and changed, by humans.

D.   Symbols were replaced by characters in the industrial revolution.

2: Anthropologists develop theories of human behavior in order to ______.

A.   Avoid conflicting explanations of cultural phenomenon

B.   Connect cultural practices to practices found in other species

C.   Set propositions about which aspect of culture are critical to understand

D.   Create programs to engineer ideal human arrangements

3: ______ is the context in which human actions can be understood.

A.   Enculturation

B.   Culture

C.   Society

D.   Adaptation

4: Children in Mali classify some kinds of termites as food, while Americans consider termites pests. This difference can be explained by the fact that ______.

A.   Mali homes are probably not made from wood, so they are not affected by termites.

B.   Different cultures have different models for classifying elements of their environment.

C.   There are different child-rearing practices in Mali and America.

D.   Food production in Mali is scarcer than in America.

5: Culture and personality theories of human behavior emphasize that ______.

A.   A culture is best understood through examining practices of child rearing

B.   Human behavior is largely a function of genetics

C.   Every group is likely to have a charismatic leader in charge

D.   Personality is a function of resource availability

6: Which of the following best describes why anthropologists believe humans have developed culture?

A.   Culture is a defense mechanism against the threats of the natural world

B.   Culture is a way of codifying and making sense of reality.

C.   Culture is a way of isolating one’s group from others.

D.   Anthropologists don’t have a consensus on what function culture serves.

7: Which of the following statements best reflects how ecological functionalists have interpreted the Hindu taboo against eating beef?

A.   Cows are thought to carry disease.

B.   Their dung is an essential source of cooking fuel.

C.   Indian cows have little edible meat on them.

D.   Most Indians don’t like the taste of beef.

8: ______ are the key mechanism for how humans fill their world with meaning.

A.   Innovations

B.   Symbols

C.   Books

D.   Hand signs

9: Anthropologists who study the relationship between environment and society are called ______.

A.   Functionalists

B.   Ecological functionalists

C.   Environmentalists

D.   Ethnographers

10: An idea that members of a culture have about the way things ought to be done is called a ______.

A.   Norm

B.   Value

C.   Symbol

D.   Innovation

A.   Suburban living

B.   Elite status

C.   Farming and gardening

D.   Exotic, imported culture

12: What is the difference between cultural adaptation and biological adaptation?

A.   Biological adaptation is unique to humans, but cultural adaptation is share among all living things.

B.   Cultural adaptation is a faster process than biological adaptation.

C.   Biological adaptation is an evolutionary process, while cultural adaptation is not.

D.   Cultural adaptation cannot be transferred through culture, while biological adaptation can.

13: What is an innovation?

A.   A new object, or way of behaving or thinking

B.   A means of conveying information from one culture to another

C.   The same as a norm or value

D.   The movement of an idea from one culture to another

14: Some cultures change, while some cultures remain the same, according to theories of cultural change.

A.   True

B.   False

15: Transculturation is the process of innovations from one culture transforming when they are adopted by a new culture.

A.   True

B.   False

16: A change in the biological structure or lifeways of an individual or population by which it becomes better fitted to survive and reproduce in its environment is known as_____

A.   Adjustment

B.   Adaption

C.   Adoption

D.   Both b and c

17: Anthropological Theory is a set of propositions about_____

A.   Which aspects of culture are critical

B.   How aspects of culture should be studied

C.   What the goal of studying aspects of culture should be

D.   All of these

18: Cognitive Anthropolgy is a theoretical approach that defines culture in terms of the rules and meanings underlying behavior rather than human behavior itself.

A.   True

B.   False

19: _____ are the adherents of an anthropological perspective that focuses on culture as the principal force in shaping the typical personality of a society as well as on the role of personality in the maintenance of cultural institutions.

A.   Culture Theorists

B.   Personality Theorists

C.   Culture and Personality Theorists

D.   None of these

20: The movement of objects and ideas from one culture to another is known as_____

A.   Transfusion

B.   Diffusion

C.   Transfer

D.   Both b and c

21: Ecological Functionalists are the anthropologists who focus on the relationship between environment and _____

A.   Individuals

B.   Culture

C.   Society

D.   All of these

22: Enculturation is the process of learning to be a member of a particular cultural group.

A.   True

B.   False

23: ____ is a theoretical approach that focuses on the ways in which members of a culture classify their world and holds that anthropology should be the study of cultural systems of classification.

A.   Cognitive Anthropology

B.   Enculturation

C.   Ethnoscience

D.   Interpretive Anthropology

24: Functionalists are adherents of the anthropological theory that holds specific cultural institutions function to_____

A.   Support the structure of society

B.   Serve the needs of individuals in society

C.   Change the structure of society

D.   Both a and b

25: Habitus refer to the often taken-for-granted ways of acting that are acquired through_____

A.   Individual Experience

B.   Social Experience

C.   Both

D.   None

26: Innovation is a new _____ that is qualitatively different from previously existing forms.

A.   Object

B.   Way of thinking

C.   Way of behaving

D.   All of these

27: A theoretical approach that emphasizes culture as a system of meaning and proposes that the aim of cultural anthropology is to interpret the meanings that cultural acts have for their participants is known as_____

A.   Interpretive Anthropology

B.   Structural Anthropology

C.   Cognitive Anthropology

D.   None of these

28: Neo-Marxists are anthropologists who apply the insights of _____ to the analysis of society and who treat the ideas of these thinkers as starting points for analysis rather than doctrine that must be followed.

A.   Marx

B.   Weber

C.   Marx and weber

D.   None of these

29: The ideas members of a culture share about the way things ought to be done refers to_____

A.   Culture

B.   Norms

C.   Beliefs

D.   Values

30: The idea that society can be fruitfully compared to a living organism in which various parts work together to create a properly functioning whole is known as_____

A.   Human Analogy

B.   Organic Analogy

C.   Living Analogy

D.   None of these

31: Plasticity is the ability of humans to change their behavior in response to a wide range of _____ demands.

A.   Societal

B.   Human

C.   Environmental

D.   All of these

32: A theoretical perspective that holds all cultures reflect similar deep, underlying patterns and that anthropologists should attempt to decipher these patterns is known as_____

A.   Interpretive Anthropology

B.   Structural Anthropology

C.   Cognitive Anthropology

D.   None of these

33: Subculture is a system of_____ and customs that are significantly different from those of a larger, dominant culture within the same society.

A.   Perceptions

B.   Values

C.   Beliefs

D.   All of these

34: Something that stands for something else is known as_____

A.   Sign

B.   Symbol

C.   Meaning

D.   All of these

35: Values are culturally defined ideas of what is _____

A.   True

B.   Right

C.   Beautiful

D.   All of these

36: The transformation of adopted cultural traits, resulting in new cultural forms is known as_____

A.   Transculturation

B.   Multiculturation

C.   Enculturation

D.   All of these