Q&A Hero

Q: If you are trying to understand human behavior rather than explaining and predicting it, which approach to mass communication research would you take? A) A media effects approach to research B) A cultural approach to research C) An agenda-setting approach to research D) A content analysis approach to research E) None of the above options is correct.

Q: Describe one way in which your own generation's attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors differ from those of your parents.

Q: An example of Carey's description of communication as culture might be seen in ______. A) people gathering in meeting houses to talk about issues like free speech B) the way a message goes simply from sender to receiver C) the attempts to repair and transform society through adjusted narratives and symbols following the Civil Rights protests of the 1950s and 1960s D) how culture disconnects from the communication of a period in time E) All of the options are correct.

Q: What do we mean when we say that a culture has a polychronic time orientation, and what is an example of a culture that fits this description?

Q: Media historian James Carey defined communication as ______. A) "an exchange of verbal or nonverbal symbols between individuals or groups" B) "a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed" C) "the gathering of a middle class to critically discuss the world around them" D) "a strict set of rules governing how different social classes interact" E) All of the options are correct.

Q: Briefly describe the approach to power distance found in the United States.

Q: In your own words, what is the difference between a masculine and a feminine culture?

Q: In what way did Habermas think mass media could be an enemy of democracy? A) Media power could be used to increase consumerism. B) The powerful could use the media to manipulate the public into supporting the status quo. C) The media could be used to procure mass loyalty among the populace. D) Citizens would not engage in critical examination of the power held by those who ruled. E) All of the options are correct.

Q: Habermas formed his ideas about the public sphere while examining which aspect of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English and French society? A) Aristocrats, royalty, and religious leaders' discussions of important issues B) The way newspapers manipulated the lower and middle classes C) How the middle class began to gather in places like coffeehouses to critically discuss public life D) The idea that communication and culture could be viewed as the same thing E) None of the above options is correct.

Q: What term do we use to describe the degree to which members of a culture adapt their behaviors in order to reduce uncertainty and risk?

Q: Define and give an example of a collectivist culture.

Q: When mass media researchers say they are studying political economy, they are most likely looking at which of the following? A) The ways political candidates make decisions about reaching an audience B) The ways economists become political candidates C) The way ownership of a television network influences the kinds of information in the network news D) The way ordinary people engage in political activism or conversations about politics E) None of the above options is correct.

Q: Provide an example of a high-context culture.

Q: Which of the following is a focus of cultural studies approaches to media studies? A) Textual analysis B) Audience studies C) Political economy studies D) Debate in the public sphere E) All of the options are correct.

Q: Contrast the differences between high- and low-context cultures.

Q: While social science research can be characterized as trying to establish a cause-and-effect relationship, cultural studies ______. A) does exactly the same thing, but calls it something different B) looks at how propaganda might affect a group of people C) only examines how the media affect the world D) only focuses on how society shapes mass media E) forms more general perspectives about how the mass media interact with the world

Q: Briefly describe one way in which mediated interaction is changing the way we experience the diverse world around us.

Q: The close reading and interpretation of the meaning of cultural forms is called ______. A) content analysis B) agenda-setting C) textual analysis D) the cultivation effect E) uses and gratifications

Q: Which of the following is characteristic of a cultural studies approach to mass media research? A) The belief that audiences are primarily passive and easily persuaded B) An attempt to understand how people use media to serve their own ends C) The belief that media don't tell us what to think but what to think about D) A focus on how people make meaning, understand reality, and order their experiences E) An interest in measuring and coding the content of particular media texts

Q: ______ is the theory that people believe others are more affected by media messages than they are themselves. A) Cultivation effect B) Agenda-setting C) Third-person effect D) Textual analysis E) Spiral of silence

Q: _________ is the framework through which you interpret the world and the people in it.

Q: Define the term culture.

Q: ___________ theory suggests that interaction between members of different social groups generates a possibility for more positive attitudes to emerge. A) Uncertainty reduction B) Social interaction C) Social penetration D) Intergroup contact

Q: Which of the following is a theory that contends that people who believe they hold minority opinions on controversial issues tend to keep silent for fear of social isolation? A) Cultivation effect B) Agenda-setting C) Social learning D) Textual analysis E) Spiral of silence

Q: The cultivation effect (also known as "mean world" syndrome) argues that ______. A) the more television people watch, the meaner they become B) people who watch more television believe they are more likely to become victims of crime or violence than they actually are C) people who consider television watching an "uncultured" activity are more likely to believe most people are violent D) people who watch violent television will become more violent E) None of the options is correct.

Q: The major research in the area of cultivation effect grew from the attempts of ______ to make generalizations about the impact of televised violence. A) social learning theorists B) George Gerbner and his colleagues C) Walter Lippman D) Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann E) None of the above options is correct.

Q: Alan believes that school administrators are overly critical and controlling. Consequently, when the Dean of Students asks to meet with him to discuss what she can do to help him succeed in his classes, he assumes her goal is to coerce him into dropping out of his classes. We might describe Alan's perception as A) behavioral confirmation. B) behavioral attribution. C) behavioral affirmation. D) behavioral intervention.

Q: ____________ is a belief that one's own culture is superior to others' with the tendency to view other cultures through the lens of one's own. A) Patriotism B) Ethnocentrism C) Bias D) Xenophobia

Q: What branch of the discipline (of communication) focuses on the ways in which communication within and between groups affects relationships? A) intercultural communication B) intersocial communication C) interpersonal communication D) intergroup communication

Q: If someone has never been the victim of a violent crime and lives in an area that has very low rates of violent crime, yet still feels he or she is at a high level or risk for such crimes after watching a lot of Law & Order, this might be an example of ______. A) the cultivation effect B) agenda-setting C) political economy D) textual analysis E) audience studies

Q: Which line of research helps to explain why Midwesterners started to rank shark attacks as a problem after the 1975 release of the movieJaws and its subsequent press coverage? A) Cultivation effect B) Agenda-setting C) Spiral of silence D) Textual analysis E) Social learning theory

Q: Which line of research has generally demonstrated that the mass media don't tell people what to think as much as they tell people what to think about? A) Cultivation effect B) Agenda-setting C) Social learning theory D) Spiral of silence E) Audience studies

Q: Andrew met his roommate Danny when they both joined the Independent Filmmakers Club as freshmen, and they have a large group of mutual friends through that group. More recently, Danny has joined a fraternity and has been inviting Andrew to join him at the frat's parties and other events. Andrew has accepted a few invitations but feels awkward at the fraternity events because he just doesn't identify with the other people who attend. We would describe the filmmakers' club as Andrew's __________ and the fraternity as a(n) _____________. A) ingroup; outgroup B) outgroup; ingroup C) a-group; b-group D) social group; antisocial group

Q: The theory that holds that we each have a sense of ourselves as a unique individual but that we also define ourselves based on our group memberships is called A) cultural collectivist theory. B) uncertainty reduction theory. C) social identity theory. D) social information processing theory.

Q: The assignment of behavioral and cultural traits to men and women that is determined by the way a particular culture defines notions of masculinity and femininity is referred to as A) sex. B) gender. C) sexism. D) sexual orientation.

Q: Which of the following is not one of the four steps identified as part of the social learning theory process? A) Retention B) Motivation C) Attention D) Motor reproduction E) Cultivation

Q: What method is a researcher using if he or she watches a season of a television program and counts each time an act of violence is shown? A) Content analysis B) Experiment C) Textual analysis D) Survey E) Focus group

Q: Which kind of research involves systematically coding and measuring media content? A) Experiments B) Focus group interviews C) Surveys D) Content analysis E) Political economy

Q: Palestinians use the term al nachba, which translates into English as "the catastrophe" or "the disaster," to refer to the creation of the Israeli state. Their linguistic choice represents _____ and suggests they are a _____ culture. A) discrimination; racist B) emotion; passionate C) hyperbole; collectivist D) understatement; individualist

Q: Jim's dad always tells him things like "The early bird gets the worm," and "We're burning daylight" in order to remind him that time is finite and that he should get up early in the morning if he wants to be successful in life. Jim's dad is instilling which of the following time orientations? A) definitive-time B) indefinite-time C) monochronic time D) polychronic time

Q: If data showed that heavy consumers of violent videos engage in more violent behavior than do light consumers, a social scientist would likely conclude that ______. A) watching violent videos causes violent behavior B) violent personality traits cause people to choose violent videos C) watching videos has strong effects on the audience D) viewing violent videos and violent behavior are correlated E) All of the options are correct.

Q: _______ is the degree to which a culture adapts its behaviors in order to reduce ambiguity and risk. A) Uncertainty avoidance B) Certainty accommodation C) Adaptability D) Flexibility

Q: Which kind of research method reveals correlations between two variables? A) Content analysis B) Experiment C) Political economy D) Focus group interviews E) Survey

Q: Liz prefers working on her own rather than in groups but will tolerate group work if each member's role or job is clearly defined, each person is responsible for his or her own work, and each person will be held accountable by his or her supervisor for the quality of the work he or she does in the group. Liz's perspective seems to reflect which cultural perspective? A) collectivist B) individualist C) antisocial D) democratic

Q: What type of study looks at changes in a population over time? A) Content analysis study B) Longitudinal study C) Agenda-setting study D) Experiment study E) Textual analysis study

Q: A mass media effects researcher might choose a survey approach if he or she has a desire to ______. A) try to control variables using a control group and an experiment group B) demonstrate a clear cause-effect relationship C) observe people in a laboratory, or tightly controlled, situation D) observe people using mass media in their own homes E) collect information that applies to a large population

Q: Which of the following is not one of the steps in the scientific method listed in your textbook? A) Identifying the research problem B) Determining an appropriate research method or design C) Collecting information or relevant data D) Reviewing existing research or theories related to your problem E) Presenting the proposed research problem to companies for funding

Q: Which of the following is not a legitimate technique for gathering quality research data? A) Surveys B) Content analysis C) Textual analysis D) Online question of the day polls E) Laboratory experiments

Q: A mass media effects researcher might choose an experiment approach if he or she has ______. A) a desire to get results that reflect some truth about a large population B) a desire to find out if two variables are related in some undetermined way C) a desire to try to show a cause-effect relationship between two variables D) a desire to study a large population E) the ability to study a large population and see how it changes over time

Q: In experiments, subjects are picked for each group through ______, which simply means that each subject has an equal chance of being placed in either group. A) random assignment B) hypotheses C) control groups D) scientific method E) surveys

Q: Which kind of research method employs a control group for comparison? A) Focus group interviews B) Content analysis C) Political economy D) Experiment E) Survey

Q: Which of the following is not a common characteristic of private or proprietary mass media research? A) It is more theoretical than applied. B) It is generally conducted for a business, a corporation, or even a political campaign. C) It relies on the scientific method to reach conclusions. D) It tends to try to find answers to meet a real-life problem or need. E) It could help create more effective advertising.

Q: People from which type of culture perceive themselves first and foremost as members of a group? A) individualist B) collectivist C) low-context D) high-context

Q: The question "Why do we use the media?" is often asked under the ______ model. A) uses and gratifications B) selective exposure and retention C) hypodermic-needle D) marketing research E) propaganda analysis

Q: The United States is classified as which of the following type of culture? A) collectivist B) high-context C) conforming D) low-context

Q: People often choose to expose themselves only to media outlets that express their views. What is this called? A) The uses and gratifications model B) Selective exposure and retention C) The hypodermic-needle model D) The marketing research model E) The propaganda analysis model

Q: The hypodermic-needle research model might be considered the opposite of which research model? A) The agenda-setting model B) The minimal-effects model C) The uses and gratifications model D) The survey model E) The textual analysis model

Q: Naoko's American friends sometimes get frustrated with her because she prefers to use subtle clues to communicate that she disagrees or is uncomfortable in a particular conversation. What her friends may not realize is that her communication pattern reflects the ___________ Japanese culture in which Naoko was raised. A) indirect B) shy C) high-context D) low-context

Q: Bill grew up in a small rural town where he and most of his classmates shared similar ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds. However, since he has gone away to college, he has noticed that he is surrounded by people from many different backgrounds. We would describe Bill's college environment as more _____ than the town where he grew up. A) cultural B) diverse C) ethnic D) urban

Q: The 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds made millions of listeners believe that Martians were invading Earth; however, most listeners didn't believe that the story was real. This outcome ultimately helped lay the groundwork for which research model? A) The hypodermic-needle model B) The minimal-effects model C) The uses and gratifications model D) The survey model E) The textual analysis model

Q: _________ is the communication between people from different cultures who have different worldviews. A) Intracultural communication B) Intercultural communication C) Cultural communication D) Diversity communication

Q: Call-in, online, or person-in-the-street polls that the news media use to address a "question of the day" are known as ______. A) propaganda analysis B) the uses and gratifications model C) the scientific method D) pseudo-polls E) random assignment

Q: "A learned system of thought and behavior that belongs to and typifies a relatively large group of people; a composite of shared beliefs, values, and practices" represents which of the following terms? A) society B) religion C) culture D) group-think

Q: Researchers' negative definition of the kind of propaganda used by various governments during World War I was ______. A) "the opinions of various political groups and candidates for political office" B) "the control of military communication through the use of secret codes" C) "the use of reliable and truthful information in an honest discussion of national policy" D) "partisan appeal based on half-truths and devious manipulation of communication channels" E) "the public's ability to set the agenda of those holding office or other form of power through communication"

Q: The scientific study of mass media got started because of interest in ______. A) French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville B) how media messages were used to inspire public support for World War I C) knowing which forms of advertising were most effective D) finding out how the public feels about political and social issues E) how violent video images might inspire violent behavior

Q: Jrgen Habermas's theory of the public sphere was about the need for global cooperation with public projects. A) True B) False

Q: Pulling together what you learned in Chapters 1, 2, and 5, what advice would you give to someone who wants to improve his or her intercultural communication competence?

Q: Your friend Jasmine has signed up to study abroad in Japan. Based on what you've learned about high- and low-context cultures, individualist and collectivist orientation, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, time orientation, and masculine and feminine cultures, what information would you share to prepare her for the cultural differences she should expect?

Q: Scenario: When Monica arrived in Nepal for her Peace Corps assignment, she realized she had forgotten the medication she takes for her painful migraine headaches. Luckily, she was able to get a new prescription sent to a local pharmacy. Unfortunately, when she went to pick up the medication on a weekday afternoon, the pharmacy was closed and no hours were posted on the window. Frustrated, she went to a caf next door complaining, "They don't know anything about customer servicehe doesn't even keep regular business hours!" A short time later, the pharmacist greeted her with the filled prescriptionthe server at the caf had phoned him at home and he rushed over to get her the medication. Question: How does what you learned about individualist/collectivist cultures and time orientation inform your understanding of this scenario? Was ethnocentrism or discrimination a factor? What does intergroup contact theory suggest might be the outcome, for Monica, of this intercultural exchange?

Q: Philosophers such as Jrgen Habermas believed that critical public debate beyond the control of aristocrats, royalty, and religious elites led to support for causes like free speech. A) True B) False

Q: The idea of the public sphere, defined as a space for critical public debate, was first advanced by American media critic Walter Lippmann. A) True B) False

Q: Describe and illustrate social identity theory using yourself as an example. How do the groups you identify with affect the way you perceive yourself and others? Can you identify ways in which your perception and behavior may change depending on which group you are with at a given moment?

Q: One key difference between content analysis and textual analysis is the greater emphasis on counting, measurement, and reliability in content analysis. A) True B) False

Q: Textual analysis is able to demonstrate the effects of the media on audiences. A) True B) False

Q: Based on what you learned throughout this chapter, why do you think intercultural communication competence is considered more important today than it was a generation or two ago?

Q: The cultivation effect theory suggests that heavy viewing of television leads individuals to perceive the world in ways that are more consistent with television's portrayals of the world. A) True B) False

Q: Synthesizing what you know about perception, what connections would you draw between concepts like ethnocentrism, discrimination, cultural myopia, stereotyping, prejudice, selective perception, fundamental attribution error, behavioral affirmation, behavioral confirmation, and self-fulfilling prophecies?

Q: Reflecting on your own experiences, explain and illustrate how interacting with others from different ethnic, racial, religious, or cultural backgrounds has helped you to understand your own culture more clearly and be a more competent intercultural communicator.

Q: Agenda-setting theory refers to the media's ability to change public opinion on controversial issues. A) True B) False

Q: Citing specific examples to support your answer, explain why it is important to develop intercultural communication skills.