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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How do nurturists see the evolution of culture?
(a) As result of language.
(b) As a result of environment.
(c) As a result of genetics.
(d) As a complex interplay of environment and language.

2. How does Wilson describe the difference between gifted and less-gifted artists' brains?
(a) Gifted artists use a larger are of their brains.
(b) Gifted artists have a larger language center.
(c) Less-gifted artists have smaller capacity for empathy.
(d) Gifted artists have more connections between brain areas.

3. What are effective ethical codes based on?
(a) Scientific laws.
(b) Religion.
(c) Objective knowledge.
(d) Inherited custom.

4. How many billion people live in absolute poverty, at the time of Wilson's writing?
(a) One and a half.
(b) Two.
(c) One half.
(d) One.

5. Where do science and the arts both originate, according to Wilson?
(a) In language.
(b) In religion.
(c) In the genes.
(d) In the imagination.

6. Wilson defines culture in terms of what?
(a) Religion.
(b) Environment.
(c) Language.
(d) Genes.

7. How many children per parent would families need to have for the world's population to reach 12.5 billion by 2050?
(a) 2.0.
(b) 2.4.
(c) 2.1.
(d) 2.2.

8. How does Transcendentalism justify war, in Edmund Wilson's account?
(a) Each side poses as protecting an individual's rights.
(b) Each side describes their cause as sacred.
(c) Each side relies on unifying logic.
(d) Each side refers to nature for their authority to fight.

9. What do the arts need science for?
(a) To test artistic theories.
(b) To stimulate interpretation.
(c) To fulfill artistic prophecies.
(d) To demonstrate the truth of artistic visions.

10. What does Wilson call sociology?
(a) The study of simple society.
(b) The study of society.
(c) The study of complex societies.
(d) The study of conflict between societies.

11. What beneficial uses can incest have in cultures, in Durham's account?
(a) It provides evidence of aristocracy.
(b) It produces heroes and giants.
(c) It tests the laws.
(d) It produces scapegoats and criminals.

12. How do widely distributed cultural traits affect genes?
(a) They allow the genes that predispose them to evolve.
(b) They limit the expression of genes responsible for less-widely distributed cultural traits.
(c) They prevent the spread of other cultural traits and other genes.
(d) They bolster the genes that predispose them.

13. What consequence does Wilson describe to technological advancement?
(a) Economic inequality.
(b) Racial discrimination.
(c) Unprecedented access to knowledge.
(d) Environmental damage.

14. What are social scientists lacking, according to Wilson?
(a) Purpose and drive.
(b) Funding.
(c) Relationships with the humanities.
(d) Unity and vision.

15. What do modern technologies give humans the ability to choose?
(a) The genetic superiority of a race.
(b) The color of children's skin.
(c) The shape of their children's heads.
(d) The direction of human evolution.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is critical to the development of culture, in Edmund Wilson's account?

2. How many disorders are caused by genes?

3. What is the social cost of violating the incest taboo?

4. What does Edmund Wilson say is the purpose of the social science?

5. How does postmodern influence portray existence?

(see the answer keys)

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