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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 4.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does the author say that human beings think of their own species?
(a) As able to rise above animal drives.
(b) As a goal that evolution has achieved.
(c) As exempt from the laws of natural selection.
(d) As more imporant than other species.

2. What does Dawkins compare point mutation to?
(a) A card getting shuffled into the wrong deck.
(b) A stray mark on a photocopy.
(c) A misspoken word.
(d) A misprint on a book.

3. According to Dawkins, how might a gene that normally does something selfish end in doing something unselfish?
(a) The selfish behavior gene cannot end in doing something unselfish.
(b) The gene might change its role because of negative response to the selfish behavior.
(c) The selfish behavior, combined with other genes' behaviors, might create an unselfish-seeming behavior.
(d) The selfish behavior might be modified by external influences.

4. What would molecules that started to manufacture energy using the sun eventually become?
(a) Single-celled organisms.
(b) Animals.
(c) Inorganic materials.
(d) Plants.

5. Does the author believe that genetically inherited traits cannot be changed?
(a) Yes, he believes genetically inherited traits cover all behavior and are unchangeable.
(b) No, he believes that genetically inherited traits are only vague predispositions that are easily and commonly changed.
(c) No, he does not believe genetically inherited traits are impossible to change.
(d) Yes, he believes that genetically inherited traits are unchangeable, but they don't govern all behavior.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Dawkins' metaphor about DNA, what does the bookshelf represent?

2. What example of the type of valued human behavior that perhaps influences people to believe in group selection does Dawkins give?

3. In the set of bees Dawkins mentions that deal with this disease, what does a second gene the bees have do?

4. What does Dawkins call the molecule that he imagines as the first molecule to make copies of itself?

5. What apparently selfish act of gulls does the author describe?

(see the answer key)

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