Integrated Social Sciences                                        Student I.D.________________

TU 120   Fall 2007                                                                 

Brian Kennedy                                                           Student Name_______________

bkennedy@gmu.edu

www.ajarnkennedy.com                                

 

Sample Exam

Section I:  36 points (3 points each) Identify or define any TWELVE of the following FIFTEEN concepts with one or two sentences ….

 

I – 1     What is the cross-cultural method of study in social sciences, and what question is it trying to solve?.

 

 

 

I – 2     What one key assumption in Sociology is the opposite of a key assumption in Economics?

 

 

 

I – 3     In statistics, it is important to remember that “Correlation is not Causation”.  Explain what this statement means.

 

 

 

I – 4     What is the difference between a dominant allele, and a recessive allele?

 

 

 

I – 5     Define what Sociobiology is.

 

 

 

I – 6     What are Neanderthals, and what happened to them?

 

 

 

Section

Points

I

 (of 36)

 

II

 (of 32)

 

III

 (of 32)

 

Total

 (100 pos)

 

I – 7     What is the code of Hammurabi?

 

 

 

 

I – 8     What was the Black Death?

 

 

 

 

I – 9     What was the Greek Polis?

 

I – 10   What does the doctrine of “cultural relativism” say about different cultures.

 

 

 

I – 11   Give the definition of “ethnocentrism”.

 

 

 

I –12    What are “mores” in cultures, and give an example of one that is different between the U.S. and Thailand.

 

 

 

I – 13   What is the Malthusian theory of Population and Agriculture

 

 

 

I – 14   What is the concept of an optimal population, and what do you think it is?  Also, what is the earth’s current population.

 

 

 

I – 15   What does the science of Human Ecology study?

 

 

 

Section II:  32 points (8 points each):  Answer any FOUR of the following FIVE questions.

 

II.1:  What is and “inter-disciplinary approach” to the social sciences, and why are many social science questions studied in an inter-disciplinary way?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II:2:  What differences between humans and other primates occurred fairly early in our history, that led to humans evolving in different ways?

 

 

 

 

 

 

II:3  Explain how either the Greek city-states or the Roman republic was governed differently then earlier societies in Egypt, Persia or Mesopotamia (the middle east).         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II:4  What are the five elements of culture as listed in the book, and given in the lecture (four out of five would be fine)    .  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II:5  “Educated women are less likely to have babies, and education is correlated with IQ”  what does this imply about the expected IQ of future generations of children, and why.  Do you believe it to be true or not?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Section III:  32 points, (8 points each) answer any FOUR of the following FIVE questions.

 

III – 1  What are Natural experiments in the social sciences?  Give one example of one, and what results it proved

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III – 2  What is the difference between “punctuated equilibrium” and “Gradual Change” in evolution.  What implications for our understanding of where humans came from can we make, if one theory or the other is correct.  (hint – who were our most recent ancestors, and how long ago)        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III – 3  How did the medieval village under serfdom differ from the primitive villages that first appeared with the invention of agriculture?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III – 4  Give an example of a new idea or ideology that has been introduced into Thailand in the last 30-40 years, that has (or is in the process of) changing Thai Society.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

III – 5  What is the law of diminishing returns, and if it is true for education, what does it imply would happen if Thailand doubled the amount of money it spends on education over the next ten years.  (in other words, what benefits would Thailand get from doubling education spending, if the law holds).