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Diffusion (College Board AP® Human Geography): Exam Questions

30 mins30 questions
11 mark

Cultural characteristics start in the hearth. They then may spread over time and space. This is known as 

  • Diffusion 

  • Globalization

  • Assimilation

  • Multiculturalism

  • Homogenisation

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21 mark

What does relocation diffusion need?

  • Close contact between individuals

  • People to adopt a new trait

  • Physical movement of people

  • Wealthy people to spread the trait first

  • The trait to spread in smaller locations first

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31 mark

McDonald’s is an ideal example of what type of diffusion?

  • Contagious diffusion

  • Stimulus diffusion

  • Hierarchical diffusion

  • Expansion diffusion

  • Reverse hierarchical diffusion

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41 mark

When traits spread from smaller to bigger locations, from lower to higher statuses, this is known as

  • Stimulus diffusion

  • Expansion diffusion

  • Contagious diffusion

  • Reverse hierarchical diffusion 

  • Hierarchical diffusion

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51 mark

Cultural ideas begin with people at the top of society and make their way down the societal food chain. Which type of diffusion does this refer to? 

  • Contagious diffusion

  • Relocation diffusion

  • Expansion diffusion

  • Hierarchical diffusion

  • Stimulus diffusion

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61 mark

When one group within a culture adopts traits from another, this is known as what?

  • Colonialism

  • Syncretism

  • Acculturation

  • Creolization

  • Imperialism

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71 mark

Which of the following is not an example of a Creole language?

  • Singlish

  • Pidgin English

  • Haitian Creole

  • Jamaican Patois

  • Reunionese

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81 mark

Which of the following could be an example of a modern cultural hearth?

  • Mesopotamia

  • Nile River Valley

  • Silicon Valley 

  • The Holy Land

  • Mecca

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91 mark

English is known as the world’s 

  • Easiest language

  • Creole language

  • Most spoken language

  • Lingua Franca

  • Language of business

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101 mark
Map showing trade routes, with brown lines for land routes and yellow lines for sea routes, across Europe, Africa, and Asia, including India and China.

What does the image refer to in terms of cultural diffusion? 

  • The postage route for printing press documents, after its creation in 1436, leading to mass transport of books and knowledge. 

  • Wires under the ocean to support the founding of the telephone network, boosting international communication

  • The first major route for the steam engine, making transport much easier. 

  • The common route for Roman missionaries to spread Christianity.

  • The opening of worldwide trade routes, for the exchange of goods, cultural practices, and language.

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111 mark

The expansion of political power and control over an area is known as 

  • Urbanization

  • Creolization

  • Imperialism

  • Trade

  • Diffusion 

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121 mark

Urban centres that are economic, political and cultural nodes, influence other locations around the world. These are known as 

  • Global cities

  • Urban centres

  • Megacities

  • Lingua Francas

  • Meting pots

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131 mark

Where in the world has English not spread as a Lingua Franca?

  • India

  • Europe

  • China

  • Japan

  • United States

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141 mark

Which of the following is a good example of cultural divergence?

  • The preservation of a traditional way of living, typically separated from society, such as the Amish

  • Mcdonaldisation, leading to the spreading of western dietary styles

  • The China town located in your city

  • The international unifying sport of soccer, which has a standard set of rules globally

  • The influential spread of film and music, from Hollywood to K-pop

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151 mark

Time-space convergence can be defined as

  • The idea that the world is shrinking, due to increased flows of ideas, technology, and knowledge.

  • The diminishment of travel time due to the improvements in transport and communication.

  • The way that different cultures become more distant over time.

  • The way that cultures start to become more similar because they share parts of culture with each other.

  • The improved connectedness of the world through transfers of knowledge, ideas and technology. 

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161 mark

A boundary that separates regional language variations is known as a

  • Isogloss

  • Hearth

  • Dialect

  • Origin

  • Border

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171 mark

Where do language families originate?

  • Isogloss

  • Lingua franca

  • Hearths

  • Origin

  • Diffusion

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181 mark

The Roman Empire was responsible for spreading which language across Europe?

  • Arabic

  • Spanish

  • French

  • Latin

  • English

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191 mark

Which of the following is not one of the causes of the diffusion of language families? 

  • Travel

  • Isogloss

  • Trade

  • Migration

  • Conquest

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201 mark

Which of the following reasons explains why ethnic religions spread by relocation diffusion?

  • Ethnic religions aren't spread by missionaries or conversion, but instead through migration, forced or voluntary. 

  • They isolate themselves from other religious groups.

  • Conversion is allowed, so diffusion occurs through proselytism

  • An ethnic religion became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

  • Military conquest helped these religions to spread

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211 mark

What is not an example of a language family?

  • Indo-European

  • Afro-Asiatic 

  • Sino-Tibet

  • Franco-Germanic

  • Tai-Kadai

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221 mark

Which of the following is an example of a dialect?

  • Southern American English

  • Scottish Gaelic

  • Catalan 

  • Korean

  • Hebrew

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231 mark
Map illustrating Anatolian migration routes in Europe and Asia from 6000 to 3000 B.C., with coloured arrows and a key indicating time periods.

Refer to the image above. The Indo-European language diffused through which of the following ways according to the map above? 

  • The agricultural theory, where farmers moved further away from the agricultural hearth in Anatolia (Türkiye).

  • The Kurgan hypothesis, where language diffused from the Pontic-Caspian Steppe through migration on horseback or with the invention of the wheel.

  • The globalization theory, as global communications, knowledge and transport expanded across the world. 

  • Time-space convergence theory, as travel time is reduced, language spreads faster.

  • Contagious diffusion is the spread from one person to another. 

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241 mark

Which of the following is not a universalizing religion? 

  • Christianity

  • Islam

  • Buddhism

  • Judaism

  • Sikhism

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251 mark

Converts are

  • Journeys taken for religious purposes 

  • People who have no religion or faith 

  • People who are convinced to change their religion or faith

  • People who express cultural traits as an ethnic group 

  • People who visit a place to promote a religion 

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261 mark

Syncretism is the 

  • Adoption of one societal culture by another, whilst still keeping traits of their original culture.

  • The existence of many cultures side by side in society, with respect, understanding and support. 

  • Adoption of one societal culture by another, and losing the original identity. 

  • Spreading of ideas.

  • Combination and blending of different ideas and practices within culture, to create a new system of beliefs and ideas. 

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271 mark

Which of the following is an example of assimilation? 

  • Louisiana Cajun culture 

  • The normalisation of the existence of different religions co-existing in one space. 

  • Native Americans were forced to adopt mainstream US culture and abandon traditional practices between the 18th and 20th centuries.

  • Learning a new language after moving to a new country.

  • The religion of Christianity originating in the Mediterranean and spreading all over the world.

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281 mark

Which of the following is not an example of acculturation?

  • Celebrating Christmas as a Hindu

  • Dietary combinations, like Tex-Mex

  • Combining language characteristics, like Spanglish

  • Speaking the host country’s language only

  • Adoption of dress styles, like Western jeans

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291 mark

Which of the following is not a cause of cultural convergence?

  • Colonization 

  • Telecommunications

  • Technology

  • Media

  • Immigration

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301 mark

Which of the following is not an example of syncretism?

  • Daoism

  • Coexistence of numerous nationalities

  • Shinto

  • Voodoo

  • Creole languages

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