Core 6              Final Exam Study Guide                Thursday 4/30/2009 at 10 a.m. in the Shen

 

Format:  50 multiple-choice questions, 2 points each.  We will use those lovely Scantron forms.  Number Two pencils will be provided, but if you bring your own it will save some time in getting started.

 

Instructions:  Please sit with your discussion section and leave one seat empty between you and your neighbor.  Please turn off cell phones and text messaging devices.  When you’re done, please turn in all papers to your professor.

 

_11.  Crossing the Threshold to being Human

 

The questions overlap from Fr. Stang’s lecture before midterm break. 

 

o What are the anatomical and embryonic evidences that modern humans have common ancestry with other animals?

o Yolks sacs, gill slits, tails, wrist bones, spine, etc.

o Brain size as a percentage of body weight for humans and human primate ancestors

o Which modern species is most similar to humans?  Why?

o What is the relationship in shape of jaws and type of teeth between humans and apes?

 

Lexicon: box-shaped, arc-shaped, fangs, S-shaped spine, eight wrist bones, ball-and-socket, biped, quadruped, angle of spine into skull, embryo, gill slits, knee joint, pelvis, “Lucy”, Australopithecus

 

_12.  Emergence from Africa

 

o What are the archeological ages, and how are they classified?

o What “human” attributes did Neandertals possess?

o What was the hunting style of Neandertals?

o What is the evidence that Neandertals may be a different species than H. sapiens?

o What are the differences between “Out of Africa I” and “Out of Africa II”?

 

Lexicon: Neolithic, Paleolithic, Neandertal, altruism, Stone Ages, Out of Africa I, Out of Africa II, Multiregional hypothesis, tool use, DNA studies

 

_13.  Brain Evolution and Cognitive Development

 

o What is the single most important way to develop thinking in childhood?

o What type of thinking ability is a person capable of at each of Piaget’s stages?

o What does the Principle of Proper Mass mean for the evolution of complex behaviors?

o What is the relationship between brain evolution and emergence of human language?

o  What is the difference between an individual’s attained level of development and that person’s potential level of development that might be reached with guidance?

 

Lexicon: Principle of Proper Mass, cognitive development, Piaget’s stages (know each one), accommodation, zone of proximal development

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_14.  Evolution of Social Systems

 

o How does cooperation among members of a species evolve?

o How can kin selection lead to the evolution of altruism?

o What are the only modern species that have self-awareness as exhibited by the “mirror test”?

o What kind of social structure is dominant in different primate societies?

 

Lexicon: altruism, sharing, kin selection, inclusive fitness, natural selection, monogamy, polygamy, self-awareness, “mirror test”, monkeys, chimps, bonobos

 

_15.  Humans as a Selecting Force

 

  • From the standpoint of natural selection, how does insecticide use impact a population of insect pests?  How about if the insecticide kills most but not all of the pests?
  • How does selection, both natural and artificial, affect the evolution of a population?
  • What is carrying capacity, and what happens if a population exceeds it?
  • There is broad applicability of the concept of natural selection – this supports the notion that biological evolution is unifying theory.
  • Among other things, threats to biodiversity come from habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, global warming, over-exploitation, disease…

 

Lexicon: carrying capacity, natural selection, threats to biodiversity, hot spots

 

_16.  From Silent Spring to Silent Night

 

o Testosterone converts to estrogen when the herbicide Atrazine turns on the enzyme Aromatase (yikes!)

o The herbicide Atrazine correlates to what kind of environmental damage?

o Scientific research is likely to be reliable when it’s supported by both laboratory and field studies

o Why does the manufacturer of Atrazine no longer fund Dr. Hayes’ research?

o Atrazine has been shown to cause defects in amphibians, but are there any human health issues that are linked to it?

 

Lexicon: Nothing more specific than the in points above.

 


 

_17.  Towards a Sustainable World

 

o What is the observed relationship between increasing food supply and population?

o Trees can be sustainable (potentially renewable) resources under what conditions?

o Why does gasoline cost more in Western Europe than in the U.S.?

o Solutions to resource depletion: reduce use (conservation), wise management, seek alternatives, …

 

Lexicon:  carrying capacity, sustainability, resource depletion, population growth

 

_18.  Conservation Psychology

 

o The questions are straightforward definitions or applications of some of the terms below.  In my opinion they are common-sense concepts of human nature.  For the purposes of this exam you just need to remember the technical term that applies to each concept.

 

Lexicon:  mismatch hypothesis, confirmation bias, the bystander effect, avoidance, diffusion of responsibility, proximal cognition, precautionary principle

 

_19.  Managing Planet Earth

 

o There is only one question from this lecture and is an application of the Prisoner’s Dilemma as applied to to businesses.

 

Lexicon: Prisoner’s Dilemma, game theory, and (this not a term, but a concept) --- incentives to make individual or corporate goals agree with the common long-term good

 

_20.  Case Studies of Resource Management

 

o What is groundwater “mining”?

o What are the factors that cause and exacerbate photochemical smog?

o Why can’t acid rain be dealt with by state regulation?

o What were the events leading to the passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act?

 

Lexicon: aquifer, recharge, resources: renewable, non-renewable, potentially renewable; acid rain, photochemical smog, prevailing winds, Cuyahoga River, auto exhaust, sunlight, temperature inversions