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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Chapter 5 begin by examining?

2. Is the first criterion uniquely human?

3. What is an optimal organism?

4. When do various physical illnesses and social disease arise?

5. What race was heavily built and physically powerful with a very large brain case?

Short Essay Questions

1. How is the first criterion not uniquely human?

2. What have paleopathology investigations demonstrated regarding pre-agricultural hunter-gatherer humans and the average agricultural human?

3. How does the author conclude this chapter?

4. What is an optimal organism?

5. What does the author say about death?

6. How does Chapter 5 begin?

7. What is one of the most instructive avenues of investigation on human sexual attraction?

8. What is the conventional wisdom regarding pre-agricultural hunter-gatherer societies? Is this correct?

9. What does the author say about the first proto-human hominids?

10. What does Charles Darwin realize about some traits possessed by many organisms?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

This book discusses menopause.

Part 1) What is menopause? How is it unique among humans? Why is it unique among humans?

Part 2) What are the benefits of menopause, according to the author? Is he able to back up his claims? Why or why not?

Part 3) Do you agree with the author's theory about menopause? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

One chapter is devoted to the peoples, languages, and cultures of New Guinea.

Part 1) Describe New Guinea and its culture. Why is there an entire chapter devoted to New Guinea?

Part 2) What can scientists learn about humans, in general, by studying the peoples, languages, and cultures of New Guinea?

Part 3) What aspects of New Guinea life and culture is unusual and vastly different from many other cultures around the world? How does this affect the use of the study of New Guinea as a study of humanity as a whole?

Essay Topic 3

A theory is presented that seeks to explain human tobacco, alcohol, and drug abuse as a form of deliberate handicap.

Part 1) How does the author try to prove that this abuse is a form of deliberate handicap? What is a deliberate handicap found in other animal species?

Part 2) Do you agree that that drug and substance abuse is a form of deliberate handicap? Why or why not?

Part 3) Do other animal species purposely cause harm to their bodies? Why or why not?

(see the answer keys)

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