Question 1

What kind of religion is based on the idea that each human has a double, which is active during sleep?

Accepted Answer

A)  animatism 
B)  totemism 
C)  animism 
D)  mana 
E)  polytheism

Question 2

Rituals serve the social function of creating temporary or permanent solidarity among people-forming a social community. We see this also in practices known as

Accepted Answer

A)  mana. 
B)  liminality. 
C)  animism. 
D)  totemism. 
E)  fundamentalism.

Question 3

What are the similarities and differences between shamanistic and communal religions? How do these compare with Olympian religions and monotheism? What kinds of general evolutionary trends are discernible in religious worship?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are the similarities and differences between...

Question 4

Max Weber argued that the spread of capitalism was closely linked to the ethics and values of Catholicism.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 5

________ magic is based on the belief that whatever is done to an object will affect a person who once had contact with it.

Accepted Answer

A)  Contagious 
B)  Imitative 
C)  Serial 
D)  Sequential 
E)  Simultaneous

Question 6

Which of the following was NOT a reason that the Indian sacred cow is adaptive in Harris's studies?

Accepted Answer

A)  Zebu cattle require less food per animal than do beef cattle. 
B)  Wandering cattle indirectly provide fertilizer for agricultural fields. 
C)  Zebu cattle are frequently slaughtered and their meat distributed on ceremonial occasions. 
D)  Cattle dung provides a cheap source of heating and cooking energy. 
E)  Harris demonstrated that the Indian sacred cows are not adaptive.

Question 7

A syncretism is a mixture of cultural influences from a series of different cultural traditions.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

Émile Durkheim, an early scholar of religion, stressed what he termed religious effervescence. Anthropologists too have stressed the collective, social, shared, and enacted nature of religion, the emotions it generates, and the meanings it embodies.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 9

To Kottak, the widespread U.S. belief that recreation and religion are separate domains is both ethnocentric and false. Further, it may be taking the "fun" out of religion.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 10

Much religious and ritual behavior is adaptive. Can you think of cases in which it is not? What does it mean for religion to be maladaptive?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Much religious and ritual behavior is adaptive....

Question 11

By participating in a ritual, participants signal that they accept the common social and ethical order prescribed by their religion.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 12

Christianity is the world's largest religion, with some 2.1 billion adherents, followed by Islam, which has approximately 1.3 billion practitioners. Islam is the fastest-growing religion. This chapter's "Appreciating Diversity" segment examines how Islam has spread by adapting successfully to many national and cultural differences, including the presence of other religions that were already established in the areas to which Islam has spread. An important result of this process is that

Accepted Answer

A)  Islam is far from homogeneous-the faith reflects the increasingly diverse areas in which it is practiced. 
B)  unlike Christianity, Islam has the capacity to transform local culture profoundly. 
C)  Islam is growing at the expense of other beliefs and practices. 
D)  the separation of religion and state is disappearing in most places in the world. 
E)  the West is losing the culture war.

Question 13

Shamans are full-time religious practitioners generally found in state-level societies.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 14

Bronislaw Malinowski found that the Trobriand Islanders used magic when sailing, a hazardous activity. He proposed that

Accepted Answer

A)  people turn to magic to instill psychological stress on their competitors, especially when the fish supply is very low. 
B)  magic actually reduced the fishing results for the Trobriand Islanders, but at least they did not feel directly responsible, since then they could blame it on bad luck. 
C)  magic was a surprisingly effective stand-in for proper fishing skills and experience, because it made people confident in their capacities. 
D)  because people can't control matters such as wind, weather, and the fish supply, they turn to magic. 
E)  magic emboldened people to take more risks.

Question 15

Contrast ritual behavior with ordinary behavior. Give examples of religious and secular rituals. What are the main differences between such kinds of rituals?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Contrast ritual behavior with ordinary behavior. Give...

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT a problem with defining religion?

Accepted Answer

A)  There are both sacred and secular rituals. 
B)  Distinctions between supernatural and natural are not consistently made in a society, making it difficult to tell what is a religion and what isn't. 
C)  Behaviors considered appropriate for religious occasions vary between cultures. 
D)  Only one religion can be considered true, so all others must be classified as myth. 
E)  Defining religion with reference to supernatural powers makes it difficult to classify ritual-like behavior in secular contexts.

Question 17

How do you explain the universality of religion?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How do you explain the universality of...

Question 18

Protestant values such as asceticism and entrepreneurship as a result of the belief that success on earth could lead to salvation, and a fervent individualism due to the belief that only individuals could be saved lead, in the right conditions, to the rise of capitalism. Who made this argument?

Accepted Answer

A)  Claude Lévi-Strauss in his famous book The Savage Mind (1962, 1966) 
B)  Robert Bellah 
C)  Anthony F. C. Wallace in his attempt to show religion's relevance in understanding historical change 
D)  Sir Edward Burnett Tylor 
E)  Max Weber in his influential book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1904, 1958)

Question 19

Antimodernism describes the rejection of the modern in favor of what is perceived to be an earlier, purer, better way of life. Fundamentalism describes antimodernist movements in various religions. Ironically,

Accepted Answer

A)  fundamentalist movements have both benefited from and promoted the use of technology for international networking. 
B)  fundamentalists never lead a better way of life, precisely because they reject the benefits of modern life. 
C)  religious fundamentalism is itself a modern phenomenon, based on a strong feeling among its adherents of alienation from the perceived secularism of the surrounding modern culture. 
D)  fundamentalist sentiments depend on recognition of the modern culture. 
E)  religious fundamentalism is an extremely old phenomenon that actually spurred the rise of modernism.

Question 20

According to this chapter's "Focus on Globalization" section, Evangelical Protestantism is most explosive in "Global South" countries. Which of the following regions is NOT part of the Global South?

Accepted Answer

A)  Middle East and North Africa 
B)  sub-Saharan Africa 
C)  Japan 
D)  Latin America 
E)  Brazil

Exam 12: Religion

What kind of religion is based on the idea that each human has a double, which is active during sleep?

Rituals serve the social function of creating temporary or permanent solidarity among people-forming a social community. We see this also in practices known as

What are the similarities and differences between shamanistic and communal religions? How do these compare with Olympian religions and monotheism? What kinds of general evolutionary trends are discernible in religious worship?

Max Weber argued that the spread of capitalism was closely linked to the ethics and values of Catholicism.

________ magic is based on the belief that whatever is done to an object will affect a person who once had contact with it.

Which of the following was NOT a reason that the Indian sacred cow is adaptive in Harris's studies?

A syncretism is a mixture of cultural influences from a series of different cultural traditions.

Émile Durkheim, an early scholar of religion, stressed what he termed religious effervescence. Anthropologists too have stressed the collective, social, shared, and enacted nature of religion, the emotions it generates, and the meanings it embodies.

To Kottak, the widespread U.S. belief that recreation and religion are separate domains is both ethnocentric and false. Further, it may be taking the "fun" out of religion.

Much religious and ritual behavior is adaptive. Can you think of cases in which it is not? What does it mean for religion to be maladaptive?

By participating in a ritual, participants signal that they accept the common social and ethical order prescribed by their religion.

Shamans are full-time religious practitioners generally found in state-level societies.

Bronislaw Malinowski found that the Trobriand Islanders used magic when sailing, a hazardous activity. He proposed that

Contrast ritual behavior with ordinary behavior. Give examples of religious and secular rituals. What are the main differences between such kinds of rituals?

Which of the following is NOT a problem with defining religion?

How do you explain the universality of religion?

Protestant values such as asceticism and entrepreneurship as a result of the belief that success on earth could lead to salvation, and a fervent individualism due to the belief that only individuals could be saved lead, in the right conditions, to the rise of capitalism. Who made this argument?

Antimodernism describes the rejection of the modern in favor of what is perceived to be an earlier, purer, better way of life. Fundamentalism describes antimodernist movements in various religions. Ironically,

According to this chapter's "Focus on Globalization" section, Evangelical Protestantism is most explosive in "Global South" countries. Which of the following regions is NOT part of the Global South?