Chapter 10 Quiz: The Biology-Culture Feedback Loop
Instructions: Choose the best answer for each multiple-choice question. Short-answer questions should be answered in 2–4 sentences.
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following best describes the relationship between genes and environment in shaping attraction, according to the co-evolutionary model?
a) Genes determine attraction; environment modifies the expression of those genetic tendencies b) Environment is more important than genes for explaining variation in attraction c) Genes and environment interact constitutively — each shapes the conditions under which the other operates d) Genes establish fixed attraction templates that are culturally activated at puberty
Correct answer: c
2. Epigenetics refers to:
a) The study of genetic mutations caused by environmental toxins b) Heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve changes to the DNA sequence itself c) The relationship between personality traits and genetic inheritance d) The way genes influence neural development during adolescence
Correct answer: b
3. The concept of "niche construction" in evolutionary biology refers to:
a) The process by which animals select mates based on environmental resources b) The tendency for organisms to modify their own environment, which then alters selection pressures acting on them c) The way that cultural niches protect certain genetic variants from selection d) The construction of social hierarchies through sexual competition
Correct answer: b
4. Lisa Diamond's longitudinal study of sexual fluidity found:
a) That most women in her sample changed their sexual orientation due to social pressure b) That sexual orientation is essentially fixed and changes only in cases of trauma or deliberate therapy c) That a substantial minority of women showed genuine changes in attraction patterns over ten years, without deliberate choice d) That women's sexual fluidity is primarily driven by hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle
Correct answer: c
5. The Coolidge effect refers to:
a) The finding that testosterone levels drop when men enter committed relationships b) The tendency for sexual interest to be renewed by novelty even after satiation with a familiar partner c) The observation that attraction increases with repeated exposure to the same stimulus d) The claim that cultural monogamy norms suppress innate polygynous instincts
Correct answer: b
6. Robert Zajonc's "mere exposure effect" is most relevant to attraction research because it demonstrates:
a) That people prefer faces that are more symmetrical than average b) That familiarity reliably increases liking, suggesting that attraction is shaped by what we encounter c) That attraction is primarily a function of dopaminergic reward circuits d) That people choose partners who resemble their opposite-sex parent
Correct answer: b
7. Cordelia Fine's critique of "testosterone determinism" argues primarily that:
a) Testosterone has no effect on social behavior or attraction b) Testosterone effects on behavior are real but require a specific genetic background to operate c) The popular narrative that testosterone mechanically causes male-typical behaviors across contexts misrepresents what the evidence actually shows d) Testosterone research is systematically biased by female researchers who downplay hormone effects
Correct answer: c
8. Which of the following best illustrates the bidirectionality of the testosterone-behavior relationship?
a) High testosterone in adolescence predicts more risk-taking behavior in adulthood b) Winning a competitive interaction raises testosterone levels in the winner c) Testosterone supplements reliably increase sexual desire in both men and women d) Men with higher testosterone report more partners across the lifespan
Correct answer: b
9. Developmental plasticity in the context of desire refers to:
a) The tendency for sexual orientation to become fixed at puberty b) The capacity of the brain to be shaped by experience, including experiences relevant to attraction, across much of the lifespan c) The genetic basis for individual differences in openness to new attraction experiences d) The ability to consciously choose and change one's attraction patterns through effort
Correct answer: b
10. According to the chapter, which of the following is the most significant problem with the nature-versus-nurture framing of attraction?
a) It relies on outdated biological research that has been superseded by social neuroscience b) It treats biology and culture as separable, sequential forces rather than constitutively entangled systems c) It ignores the role of individual agency in shaping desire d) It is too abstract to generate testable hypotheses about attraction
Correct answer: b
11. Lisa Diamond distinguishes between two levels of sexual desire organization. Which of the following correctly describes this distinction?
a) A conscious level (deliberate partner choice) and an unconscious level (automatic attraction response) b) A dispositional orientation (relatively stable) and a context-sensitive system (more malleable and responsive to specific relationships) c) A biological level (hormonal) and a social level (learned from culture and peers) d) A fantasy level (what one imagines) and a behavioral level (what one actually does)
Correct answer: b
12. The chapter's discussion of Nadia's private journal entry is intended primarily to illustrate:
a) That bisexual women are more likely to feel confused about their orientation than gay or straight women b) The way that cultural expectations about heterosexual marriage can cause same-sex attracted individuals to suppress their desires c) How the nature-versus-nurture question plays out in a real person's reflective self-understanding, and why co-construction is not the same as inauthenticity d) That intellectualizing one's emotions is a defense mechanism against genuine self-knowledge
Correct answer: c
Short Answer
13. In your own words, explain what the co-evolutionary model of attraction holds, and give one concrete example of how it applies to a real attraction pattern.
Ideal response elements: bidirectionality of biology-culture influence; biology not determining fixed outputs but operating in developmental context; culture shaping what is familiar/narratively available/sanctioned; the example should correctly apply mutual influence rather than one-way causation.
14. A friend says: "I've always been attracted to tall people. That's just how I'm wired — it must be biological." Using concepts from this chapter, evaluate this claim. What would you need to know to assess how much of this preference is biological versus culturally shaped? Is the distinction useful?
Ideal response elements: evolutionary arguments for height preferences (health cues); cultural variation in height preferences across societies; mere exposure effect and media representation; the observation that "biological" and "cultural" are not mutually exclusive; honest acknowledgment of what we cannot know with certainty.