Basic Knowledge 2 Bank

Below are all the possible questions that you could be asked for Basic Knowledge Check #2. You will take the Check on Moodle, which will randomly give you 20 of the following questions. Please note that the order of the answers might be variable, and in all cases there may be more than one right answer, so you should select all that are correct.

1. Which of these statements about elite (world-class) athletes is true?

   1. The R577x Polymorphism on ACTN3 is an allele that makes you into an elite athlete by improving your muscle efficiency.

   2. all elite athletes are the product of unusual genetics and hard work

   3. elite athletes who produce more testosterone have an inherent advantage over those who produce less testosterone.

   4. male elite athletes have higher levels of testosterone than males who are not elite athletes.

2. Look at the bar chart below, which shows sex differences in the use of certain types of drugs by sex and from 2002-

• 1. 2005. Based on this bar chart, what can we accurately say about the difference in drug use by sex? males are more likely to abuse psychotheraputics than females between the ages of 18 and 25

  2. males are more likely to abuse psychotheraputics than females between the ages of 12 and 17

  3. although males are more likely to abuse psychotheraputics at some ages, and females are more likely to abuse psychotheraputics at other ages, by and large psychotheraputics abuse increases from 12 to 25 and decreases after 25 in both sexes.

  4. males and females are categorically different in their abuse of psychotheraputics (that is, there is little overlap in their patterns of abuse)

3. Although the 18th century naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach correctly argued that physical differences between populations reflected their adaptations to specific environments -- which he recognized as evidence that no one race was substantially inferior or superior to any other -- his "degenerative hypothesis", which has since proven to be incorrect, was far more popular than his views on equality. Which of these is an accurate description of Blumenbach's degenerative hypothesis?

• 1. Blumenbach believed that human populations around the world differed in their experiences of macular degeneration, an important part of their adaptation to the environment.

  2. Blumenbach believed all human races had degenerated from the original people described in the Bible and were therefore flawed.

  3. Blumenbach believed African and Asian populations to be inherently degenerate, an older word meaning criminal or prone to criminal behavior.

  4. Blumenbach believed humans had developed in the ideal conditions of Europe, so all other races were flawed versions of the original European race because they lived in less perfect climates.

4. Discordant variation is

• 1. when different traits respond to different selective forces, so that traits don't "track" each other

  2. when traits "track", so in a population most traits are found together, or are all absent

  3. not a good description of human variation across the globe

  4. far less common than concordant variation in humans

5. What is the difference between "human biodiversity" and "race"?

• 1. human biodiversity refers to all of the physical differences between individuals and populations, while race is a social category into which we fit people, based on physical and cultural differences

  2. human biodiversity is difficult to measure and quantify, while race is easily identified, even in different cultural contexts

  3. human biodiversity is just another term for race. They are identical.

  4. human biodiversity is a socially-defined category related to a variety of physical and ethnic characteristics, while race refers to the clear physical differences between regional populations

6. Although the dominant Euro-American culture in the U.S. recognizes only two genders, many cultures recognize others. Some anthropological terms for these genders are:

• 1. Homosexuality

  2. Third gender

  3. Berdache

  4. Two-spirit

7. The way a person expresses or acts out their gender, either in line with society's expectations or not, is their:

• 1. Gender orientation

  2. Gender identity

  3. Sexual orientation

  4. Gender performance

8. When someone expresses their gender in a way that other members of their culture do not expect, this is called:

• 1. gender non-conforming

  2. gender-normative

  3. homosexuality

  4. heterosexuality

9. A person's gender identity is:

• 1. a person's sexual orientation

  2. a person's culturally-assigned gender role

  3. a person's biological status, based on chromosomes or secondary sexual traits

  4. a person's perception of themselves as a man, woman, or other gender

  5. The map below shows the distribution of yellow-brown hair in Australian Aboriginal groups. This distribution is best described as: Clinal

  6. Discordant

  7. Categorical

  8. Meiotic

10. Which of these is true about housing segregation in the United States?

• 1. housing segregation is mostly found in the South

  2. housing segregation was common in previous generations but not today

  3. housing segregation limits educational opportunities, since lower-income neighborhoods have more poorly funded schools

  4. many anthropologists (and other social scientists) consider housing segregation to be the underlying cause of many racial disparities in the country.

11. Which of these are true statements about intersex people?

• 1. people can be intersex if they have XX, XY, XXY, XYY, XXX, or XO chromosomes

  2. people can be intersex if they have androgen insensitivity, 5-alpha-reductase deficiency, or adrenal hyperplasia

  3. intersex people show that gene expression is complex and influenced by the environment, including for traits related to sex

  4. intersex people are individuals who do not have XX or XY sex chromosomes

• 1. Consider the scatter plot below which shows the amount of grey matter in the brain (x-axis) vs. the ratio of grey to white matter (y-axis) in a sample of 46 right-handed people. Red dots represent males, while blue dots represent females. (Source: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004989.html). What can we accurately say about sex differences in the brain's grey matter based on the scatter plot? men (as a category) have more grey matter than women (as a category)

  2. females (as a category) have more grey matter than males (as a category)

  3. males, on average, have more grey matter, but there is a lot of overlap between the sexes

  4. males are more intelligent than females

1. School segregation in the United States...

   1. is one result of housing segregation.

   2. has decreased significantly in the last generation.

   3. has increased significantly in the last generation

   4. is unimportant, since segregated schools offer equal educational opportunities.

2. Sex is different from gender because:

• 1. Sex is a person's biological status (their chromosomes or secondary sexual characteristics) while gender is a social category that we use to make sense of those differences in a cultural context.

  2. Gender is a person's biological status (their chromosomes or secondary sexual characteristics) while sex is a social category that we use to make sense of those differences in a cultural context.

  3. When discussing sex, we use the nouns "woman", "man", "boy", "girl". When discussing gender we use the nouns "male" or "female".

  4. Sex is an expression of a person's social role or performance, while gender is an expression of their sexual attractions to others

3. When a person has sexual features that are not easily categorized, that person is:

• 1. unsexed

  2. intersexed

  3. ungendered

  4. asexual or agendered

4. A person's sexual orientation:

• 1. tied to a person's gender, so people who identify as women are sexually attracted to people who identify as men.

  2. is the sex of those to whom the person is sexually attracted, whether that's same-sex or different-sex individuals, both, or none.

  3. has both environmental and biological components, so that sexual orientation may be viewed as rigid and categorical or fluid and changeable, depending on the culture and context.

  4. is tied to sex, so people with XY chromosomes are attracted to people with XX chromosomes, regardless of gender identification.

5. The distribution of skin colors in the map below is best described as:

• 1. Clinal

  2. Discordant

  3. Categorical

  4. Mendelian

6. The map below shows that the darkest skin colors are found near the equator. This supports the theory that:

• 1. Dark skin is an adaptation for environments with high UV radiation exposure

  2. Light skin is an adaptation for environments with low UV radiation exposure

  3. Melanin production is important for protecting our body's folic acid supply

  4. Low melanin production protects us from Vitamin D poisoning

7. Which of these are true statements about the differences between men's and women's sports?

• 1. there is little overlap in the performance of men and women, in terms of running or swimming times.

  2. men's top scores are still about 10% faster than women's top scores in most running and swimming events, although the gaps have dropped since the mid-20th century

  3. the social importance (salience) of sex and gender is as important as physical differences between the sexes in explaining why we separate men and women for sport.

  4. because of physical differences between the sexes, it would not be possible for men and women to compete against each other in any sports, even on the amateur level, without men winning almost every time.

8. Which of these statements is true about the role of testosterone in sports?

• 1. the normal range of testosterone in the blood for men and women elite (world-class) athletes is the same as the normal range of testosterone in the blood for non-athletes

  2. the role of testosterone in sports performance is complex, but high blood testosterone levels don't automatically give an athlete an advantage in competition

  3. high-testosterone women athletes have an automatic advantage over women athletes with low levels of testosterone in their blood

  4. In a normal population, males and females have different levels of testosterone in their blood, and the range of variation between males and females does not overlap. However, elite (world-class) male athletes are more likely to have levels of testosterone that fall within the normal female range.

  5. Consider the bar and whisker plot below, which presents data about human stature (height) in inches for a large sample of adults in the United States. Based on this chart, which of the following statement(s) about sex differences in height is/are true? males, on average, are taller than females

  6. a person who is shorter than 60 inches is most likely female

  7. a person who is taller than 75 inches is most likely male

  8. 65 inches in height is within the normal range for both males and females

9. In 1992, Shan Zhang became the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in a mixed-sex (male and female) shooting competition, setting a new Olympic and world record in the process. After her victory, the Olympics stopped holding mixed-sex competitions. Men and women compete separately. An anthropologist would say this is an example of:

• 1. the physical differences between males and females which keep female athletes from being successful in direct competition with males.

  2. the social importance (salience) of gender and traditional gender roles, which makes it socially or culturally uncomfortable for men and women to compete against each other in sport, especially if women might win.

  3. the importance of physical sexual differences between males and females in determining an athlete's ability to compete at the elite level.

  4. men and women are physically identical in their ability to compete in elite sports.