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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does AI stand for?
(a) Antecedent Integrity.
(b) Altruistic Investment.
(c) Authentic Intelligence.
(d) Anomalous Involvement.

2. What is difficult to explain about honeybees, according to Dawkins' theory?
(a) The large number of eggs laid by the queen.
(b) The large number of queens produced in each generation.
(c) The large number of extra male bees.
(d) The large number of extra female bees.

3. In Dawkins' game theory analysis of a colony of birds and ticks, what were grudger birds?
(a) Birds that refuse to take ticks off birds that won't help others.
(b) Birds that refuse to take ticks off other birds.
(c) Birds that refuse to have ticks taken off of their heads.
(d) Birds that can survive in symbiosis with ticks.

4. In Dawkins' discussion, why do baby birds scream?
(a) To show how hungry they are.
(b) To scold sibling birds.
(c) To warn away aggressors.
(d) To attract love from the parent.

5. To what does Dawkins attribute changes to female mice as the population rises?
(a) Natural selection of individuals.
(b) Group selection.
(c) Random variation in individuals.
(d) Random variation within groups.

6. From a gene's point of view, what does Dawkins say an organism is equally related to?
(a) A father and a son.
(b) A cousin and a grandparent.
(c) A baby brother and a baby son.
(d) A baby brother and a parent's sibling.

7. What does Dawkins speculate might be a reason a female animal could be tricked into raising a child that is not her own?
(a) The animal might identify specific genes it has in common with the child.
(b) The animal might misinterpret how related it is to the child.
(c) The animal might gain practice for future offspring.
(d) The animal might make alliances for self-protection.

8. What does Dawkins mean by a "selfish gene?"
(a) A portion of DNA, copied in mutliple organisms, that modifies behaviors in the organisms that would tend otherwise to be altruistic.
(b) A portion of DNA, copied in mutliple organisms, that programs behavior in the individual for self-survival.
(c) A portion of DNA, copied in multiple organisms, "trying" to survive in ways that will continue to copy and propigate the gene.
(d) A portion of DNA, copied in mutliple organisms, that "tries" to become the dominant gene by preventing other genes from replicating.

9. What does Wynne-Edwards believe about birth rates?
(a) Birth rates will always increase unless environmental factors intervene.
(b) Individuals might purposefully reduce birth rates for the good of the species.
(c) Birth rates are controlled by a combination of species and individual needs.
(d) Species might regulate birth rates for individuals.

10. In Dawkins' example, why might a child try to get extra food, to the detriment of brothers and sisters?
(a) The child is hungrier than its siblings.
(b) The child has special needs that it must communicate to its parents.
(c) The child has no concern for its siblings' survival.
(d) The child is more related to itself than its siblings.

11. Do gulls recognize their own eggs and chicks?
(a) Gulls recognize neither their chicks nor their eggs.
(b) Gulls recognize their chicks but not their eggs.
(c) Gulls recognize their chicks and eggs.
(d) Gulls recognize their eggs but not their chicks.

12. In the natural world, which gender does Dawkins identify as more likely to select the other for breeding?
(a) Males tend to select females for breeding.
(b) Females tend to select males for breeding.
(c) Species are split about halfway on which gender selects the other for breeding.
(d) Species tend to have both selective females and selective males, which are individuals that select another for breeding.

13. How does the author suggest that bird calls might help a bird that is trying to fly up into the trees?
(a) The call might be hard to pinpoint and therefore distract predators.
(b) The call might frighten away other birds in the tree the bird is flying to.
(c) The call might cause other birds to call and hide the noise of the bird's wings.
(d) The call might cause other birds to fly and confuse any predators.

14. What factors are part of Dawkins' net benefit score?
(a) Benefit to the organism, risk to the other, and relatedness to the other.
(b) Benefit to the other, relatedness to the other, and risk to the organism.
(c) Risk to the organism, risk to the other, an relatedness to the other.
(d) Benefit to the organism, risk to the organism, and relatedness to the other.

15. What does the study of egg clutch sizes that Dawkins cites show?
(a) That there are detriments and benefits to having a lot of eggs.
(b) That there are only detriments to having a lot of eggs.
(c) That there are only benefits to having a lot of eggs.
(d) That having a lot of eggs is, in the end, exactly the same as having few eggs.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Dawkins, is there a genetic reason to favor one child over others?

2. In Dawkins' discussion, what is the detriment of raising offspring, if there is something wrong with it?

3. What does Dawkins cite Medawar's study to help explain?

4. How does a mother protecting a child promote the selfish gene theory?

5. Why might mates favor offspring over their mate, according to Dawkins?

(see the answer keys)

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