The goddess Ishtar was found in:
a. Mesopotamia
b. Egypt
c. Greece
d. India
An anthropologist visits a remote tribal community and finds that they are wearing
tennis shoes and using canned goods even though much of their original way of life
remains intact. We would say that this community has been:
a. acculturated
b. assimilated
c. enculturated
d. missionized
A five-pointed star is a symbol that is called a:
a. pentacle
b. pentaquile
c. sauvastika
d. acrostic
In contrast with tribal beliefs, Euro-American witchcraft beliefs are characterized by:
a. witches were usually female
b. the power of witches was derived from a pact with the Devil
c. witchcraft was a crime against God and witches could be publicly executed
d. all of the above
The lwa of Vodou closely resemble the orisha of the Yoruba.
Infibulation means:
a. scarring
b. piercing
c. tattooing
d. stretching
Witchcraft beliefs among the Azande:
a. provides an explanation for unfortunate events
b. provides stereotyped behavioral patterns in crisis situations
c. eliminates deviant behavior from the society
d. all of the above
A technological ritual is one that is involved with:
a. controlling an aspect of nature such as bringing rain
b. moving people into new social categories or statuses
c. curing illness and death
d. causing the death of an individual
Important features of magic are that magic:
a. creates hypotheses and theories
b. comes to testable conclusions
c. deals only with empirical observations
d. assumes a causal relationship between things that look similar
Navaho healing rituals commonly include:
a. creating a sand painting
b. taking hallucinogenic drugs
c. spirit possession
d. sacrificing sheep
An example of a legend would be:
a. the voyage of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower
b. the story of Little Red Riding Hood
c. the story of Noah and the ark
d. all of the above
A ritual that focuses on the religious experience of the individual, such as possession, is
called a(n):
a. salvation ritual
b. ideological ritual
c. therapy ritual
d. revitalization ritual
The term transmigration refers to:
a. the attainment of new souls through visions
b. the movement of souls from one person into another
c. the soul being reborn into the body of an animal
d. the soul moving from one afterlife to another
The Law of Similarity states that:
a. magic depends on the apparent association between things
b. things that were once in contact continue to be connected
c. things that are alike are the same
d. none of the above
Rituals that are performed according to a set temporal cycle are called:
a. periodic rituals
b. calendrical rituals
c. time sensitive rituals
d. annual rituals
The story “Raven Steals the Light” tells us about the origin of the:
a. earth
b. sun and moon
c. people
d. salmon
In Japan, a distinction can be made between ancestors and those who died in more
recent memory. The latter are referred to as:
a. the departed
b. ghouls
c. kindred
d. the near gods
An example of a UFO religion is:
a. Heaven’s Gate
b. Unification Church
c. Branch Davidians
d. Wicca
The term syncretism refers to:
a. the process whereby a culture accepts culture traits from a dominant culture
b. a condition whereby a dominated culture has changed so much because of outside
influences that it ceases to have its own distinct identity
d. a fusing of traits from two cultures to form something new and yet, permitting the
retention of the old by subsuming the old into a new form
c. what occurs when an idea moves from one culture to another and stimulates the
invention of a new trait
Examples of rites of passage in American society would not include a:
a. wedding ceremony
b. funeral
c. high school graduation
d. Easter sunrise service
Burials differ in different societies in many ways. Among these is:
a. the location of the grave
b. the position the body is placed in
c. objects placed in the grave with the body
d. all of the above
The Zande poison oracle is an example of:
a. noninspirational deliberate divination
b. noninspirational fortuitous divination
c. inspirational deliberate divination
d. inspirational fortuitous divination
mile Durkheim did not consider magic to be part of religion because:
a. religion involves the whole community but magic focuses on an individual
b. magic is not performed by religious specialists
c. magic does not involve gods and spirits
d. magic does not involve the performance of rituals
The story “Raven Steals the Light” is an example of a:
a. flood story
b. hero story
c. trickster story
d. war story
The Beng of West Africa believe that during the first several years of a baby’s life:
a. the baby’s soul is transitioning from the afterlife to this world
b. animals must be sacrificed so that one of the animal souls becomes the baby’s
c. the egungun dancers must drum the baby’s soul into its body
d. the baby has no soul and is therefore not talked to
The origins of Astrology appear to have been in:
a. Egypt
b. India
c. Babylonia
d. Iran
The Law of Contact (Contagion) states that:
a. magic depends on the apparent association between things
b. things which are alike are the same
c. things that were once in contact continue to be connected
d. none of the above
The stories of Star Wars and Harry Potter most closely resemble:
a. monomyths
b. creation stories
c. trickster stories
d. apocalyptic stories
Among the Azande, people accused of being witches are usually people who:
a. are unknown enemies living in nearby villages
b. have been initiated as witches by joining a witching society
c. are known to the victims with whom there have particular social relationships
d. hold high office, such as chief
A belief in spirit beings is termed:
a. animatism
b. animism
c. agnosticism
d. anthropocentrism
Which of the following is true about Zande witchcraft beliefs?
a. witches normally depend upon magic rituals to attain their evil ends
b. witchcraft is a substance found within the body of the witch
c. some witches can use their power for beneficial ends
d. all of the above
American mortuary customs are characterized by:
a. discomfort on the part of those attending the funeral
b. restrained expressions of grief
c. restoration of the body to lifelike appearance for purposes of display
d. all of the above
An example of an ethnography is:
a. Goodall’s study of chimpanzee behavior
b. Herskovits’s study of economic anthropology
c. Johanson’s study of the fossil hominids from Hadar
d. Malinowski’s study of the Trobriand Islanders
In some cultures certain biologically-based experiences, such as migraines, are
interpreted as visions.
The apparent connection between things that are no longer connected as a basis of
magic defines homeopathic magic.
An Azande is a witch because of the inheritance of mangu or witchcraft substance.
By acting out the mating behavior of animals, Australian Aborigines believe that they
are affecting the reproductive cycle of the animal. Such increase rituals are a form of
homeopathic magic.
Traits that diffuse from one culture to another are usually altered to fit into the cultural
system of the receiving culture.
The ancient Maya used several calendar cycles simultaneously. There were two main
cycles, one of 365 days and one of 185 days.
Among the Yup”ik the souls of the seal moves to the bladder. The bladders of all of the
seals killed during the year are inflated and returned to the sea in an annual festival.
mile Durkheim used a psychoanalytic approach to the analysis of myth and focused on
the impact of myth on social structure.
The distinction between a soul and a ghost is not always a clear one.
Edward Tylor did not include magic in his definition of religion.
The soul is the noncorporeal, spiritual component of an individual.
The image of Lord Pakel on the carving in Temple of the Inscriptions is evidence of
contact by astronauts from other worlds.
Any mental state that is different from one’s usual mental state, including day dreaming,
is an altered state of consciousness.
The Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) in Mexico was a time when ghosts and evil
spirits returned to take revenge on the living.
Robin Horton suggests that the behavior of the gods provides a model for humans.
In the Bunhongo Creation Story, Bumba vomits up the world. This is an example of the
emergence myth.