final exam communications chapter 1-3

1. Communication has been a subject of systematic study for a. at least 2,500 years. b. approximately 1,500 years. c. the last 500 years. d. only the last 50 years.

A

According to Cicero's classifications of speaking style, the style that was logical, clear, and restrained and worked to convince the audience of the speaker's good character, good sense, and trustworthiness was a. the plain style. b. the middle style. c. the vigorous style. d. All of the above

A

According to Francis Bacon, the tendency to use language imprecisely was called a. the idol of the marketplace. b. the syllogism. c. the syntactic fallacy. d. general semantics.

A

According to cognitive response theory a. receivers accept messages not because of what a speaker says but because of their own responses to the speaker. b. emotional material should be avoided during communication because it interferes with comprehension. c. most people's responses to messages are intuitive, based more on feeling than on thought. d. people cannot be taught listening skills.

A

According to the social constructionist perspective we can improve communication by a. recognizing that we create reality by talking about it and should take responsibility for our talk. b. learning to see things from the receivers' point of view. c. encoding messages as clearly as possible. d. describing and understanding destructive patterns.

A

In which period were Cicero and Quintilian major figures? a. classical b. medieval/renaissance c. modern d. contemporary

A

Of the following definitions, the one that is broadest is a. communication is the discriminatory response of an organism to a stimulus. b. communication has as its central interest those behavioral situations in which a source transmits a message to a receiver with conscious intent to affect the latter's behaviors. c. communication is a process whereby people assign meanings to stimuli in order to make sense of the world. d. communication is the transmission of information, ideas, emotions, skills, etc., by the use of symbols.

A

One of the most popular mnemonic systems called for speakers to visualize their speeches as a a. villa with main ideas in each room. b. map of Athens with main ideas on different streets. c. tree with main ideas on each branch. d. a zoo with main ideas associated with different animals.

A

Ordering ideas in an effective way is called a. arrangement. b. style. c. invention. d. memory.

A

People who see definitions as constructions rather than discoveries believe a. several different definitions may be equally valid. b. the test of a good definition is its absolute truth. c. a good definition accurately records and describes something that already exists. d. there is only one valid definition for each phenomenon.

A

Rhetoricians who took a psychological/epistemological approach focused on a. understanding the thought processes of receivers as they listened to persuasive messages. b. developing critical standards for evaluating drama, poetry and oratory. c. recovering the insights of the Greek rhetoricians. d. improving verbal and nonverbal delivery.

A

Scott wants to capture the attention of his audience. He should a. adapt the message to audience goals, needs, and plans. b. avoid intense or novel stimuli c. make sure he uses abstract words. d. speak very slowly, in a monotone.

A

Sue has very strong ideas about what a professor should look like. She is surprised when she meets Dr. Smith, because Smith does not look like a professor should. Smith violates one of Sue's a. person prototypes b. personal constructs c. scripts d. None of the above

A

The canons of rhetoric were written in which period? a. classical b. medieval c. modern d. contemporary

A

The formal study of communication began in a. 5th century Sicily. b. 6th century Athens. c. 7th century Rome. d. 20th century America.

A

The method that most encourages cognitive responses is a. role-playing or use of an activity in which receivers take an active part. b. use of carefully organized lecture material. c. use of multiple channels to convey a single message. d. use of charts and statistics.

A

The psychological perspective is generally associated with a. a laws approach to research. b. a rules approach to research. c. a systems approach to research. d. an ethnographic approach to research.

A

When Della tutors Nathan, she makes sure to use analogies that relate new material to familiar material that Nathan already understands. In doing so she is a. enhancing interpretation by increasing comprehension. b. increasing involuntary attention. c. offering an incentive to increase acceptance of message content. d. using repetition to increase retention.

A

When an audience is swayed not by the logic of a speaker's message but by their high regard for the speaker's character, they are being influenced by which method of proof? a. ethos b. pathos c. logos d. mnemonics

A

When we translate the flickering lights and shadows we see in a TV shot as a recognizable object, we are imposing a. structure. b. stability. c. meaning. d. a prototype.

A

Which is an example of triggering? a. You forgot to take your medicine until you hear someone mentioning taking vitamins; a trigger is a stimulus that helps you retrieve information. b. You hear news so shocking you completely forget your noon meeting; a trigger is surprising information that blocks out memory. c. A friend criticizes you in public; a trigger is a harsh criticism. d. Your prejudice keeps you from processing information fairly; a trigger is a bias or prejudice that keeps someone from being fair.

A

Which of the following is NOT true of the psychological perspective? a. The psychological perspective puts a lot of emphasis on the social context in which communication occurs. b. The psychological perspective focuses on what goes on in the minds of communicators. . c. The psychological perspective assumes people must share mental sets in order to communicate effectively. d. The psychological perspective assumes communication can breakdown.

A

Which of the following is a description (rather than an inference or an evaluation)? a. When I asked Barry the question, he shifted his gaze and didn't make eye contact. b. Barry is very annoying; you can't have a decent conversation with him. c. Barry is lying to me. d. All of the above

A

Which of the following research questions takes a systems approach? a. How do successful couples organize or structure their behavior and how do they evolve or adapt themselves to change? b. Is there a cause and effect relationship between credibility and persuasion? c. What implicit rules do first year students follow as they acclimate to college? d. All of the above

A

Which of the following skills was Simonides noted for? a. memory b. system of logic c. use of pathos d. high ethical standards

A

The first stage of the listening process is to

Attend to the message

Who believed that people communicate through natural and conventional signs?

Augustine

According to a laws approach to research a. humans choose to follow the lines of action given by their cultures; research should describe the norms and roles they follow. b. human behavior is governed by invariant cause and effect relationships; research should discover these relationships. c. research should describe patterns of behavior rather than looking for either social norms or causal relationships. d. All of the above

B

During the contemporary period, communication scientists a. revised the canons of rhetoric. b. used statistical methods to study audience variables. c. took an essentially humanistic stand toward communication. d. viewed communication as an art that could not be studied objectively.

B

Ethos is a. the study of persuasive communication. b. the use of personal character to influence an audience. c. the ability to arouse an audience's emotions. d. the use of logic and argumentation during persuasion.

B

If a student tries to persuade fellow students to donate money to charity by showing them pictures of starving children in order to arouse their pity, the student is using which method of proof? a. ethos b. pathos c. logos d. mnemonics

B

In which period were letter writing and preaching the core communication activities studied by rhetoricians? a. classical b. medieval c. modern d. contemporary

B

Mindless processing is a. inaccurate and faulty processing. b. information processing that relies heavily on familiar schemata. c. processing that focuses on unusual or novel events. d. careful, critical thinking.

B

One of the characteristics that Sue always looks for in others is honesty. For Sue, honesty is an example of a. a person prototype. b. a personal construct. c. a script. d. cognitive complexity.

B

The classical period in the history of rhetoric lasted a. from the 10th century BC to the 5th century BC. b. from the 5th century BC to the 4th century AD. c. from 400 AD to 1,000 AD. d. from 1,000 AD to 1600 AD.

B

The psychological perspective a. sees communication as a shared cultural product. b. focuses on individual communicators as they transmit and receive messages. c. sees communication as a system of interlocking moves. d. says that accurate communication is impossible.

B

The three functions of models are a. primary, secondary, tertiary. b. explanation, prediction, control. c. psychological, sociological, philosophical. d. encoding, decoding, transmitting.

B

When people who study communication focus their attention on spoken symbolic interaction, their primary interest is in which of the following? a. The unintentional behaviors that accompany speaking. b. The way people use words to create common meaning. c. The unspoken body language that people use. d. All of the ways organisms (including non-human organisms) create meaning.

B

When we recognize a moving object as a single entity rather than as a series of separate entities, we are imposing a. structure b. stability c. meaning

B

Which of the following elements are part of the social constructionist perspective? a. act, interact, payoff, pattern b. symbolic codes, cognitive customs, cultural traditions c. sender/receiver, message, channel, encoding/decoding d. ends, keys, instrumentalities, norms

B

Which of the following is a criticism of the social constructionist perspective? a. It implies that senders can transfer messages. b. It places too much emphasis on the social self and not enough on the individual self. c. It holds that both personality and culture are irrelevant. d. It is too political.

B

Which of the following is true of memory? a. False memories are very rare; well-adjusted people do not have false memories. b. Memory can be affected by stress. c. Memory can be improved if retroactive inhibition occurs. d. All of the above

B

Which of the following statements is true about chronically accessible constructs? a. Chronically accessible constructs are constructs that are seldom used and have only a minor effect on the way we interpret what we hear. b. When we say that a personal construct is chronically accessible, we mean it is a construct a person uses frequently to judge a wide range of people. c. Chronically accessible constructs seldom bias perception because they are within our awareness and easy to monitor. d. Chronically accessible constructs are found in only about 10% of the population; they are very rare.

B

Which of these statements is true of listening? a. Listening is a social cognitive process. b. Americans are, on the whole, very effective listeners. c. Listening is an active, not a passive, process. d. All of the above are true

B

__________ is the process of selecting proper words to convey a message. a. Arrangement b. Style c. Invention d. Memory

B

What do you need to be aware of before you make your final evaluation of a message?

Biases

1. By looking at how broad or narrow we want communication to be addresses the issue of ____________.

Breadth

A perception check is a. a method teachers use to reward good listeners in the classroom. b. any factor that gets in the way of good listening and decreases our ability to interpret correctly. c. a response that allows you to state your interpretation and ask your partner whether or not that interpretation is correct. d. a cognitive bias that makes us listen only to information we already agree with.

C

A schema is a. a form of listening wherein people offer comfort and support to one another. b. a kind of bias found in the thought processes of lazy processors. c. an internal representation of an object, quality, or action. d. people with exceptionally accurate perceptual abilities.

C

Bellestristic rhetoric flourished in which period? a. classical b. medieval c. modern d. contemporary

C

Emily wants to persuade an audience to accept her proposal. To increase acceptance, she should do all of the following EXCEPT a. offer incentives for acceptance. b. encourage positive cognitive responses. c. challenge and criticize cherished beliefs the audience currently holds. d. provide interactive, hands-on experience.

C

In ancient Greece, the study of communication was known as a. paidagogos. b. academics. c. rhetoric. d. pathos

C

In order to make sure that audiences understand and accept their messages, it is a good idea for speakers to a. add random bits of information in unexpected places within a message. b. use extreme vocal variety so that audiences have to readjust their listening as the message goes on. c. relate any new information to old information the audience already has. d. use challenging vocabulary that makes the speaker seem smarter than the audience.

C

In which period were Bacon and Campbell major figures? a. classical b. medieval/renaissance c. modern d. contemporary

C

Of the following definitions, the one that implies that communication is intentional is a. communication is a process of acting on information. b. communication is the discriminatory response of an organism to a stimulus. c. communication has as its central interest those behavioral situations in which a source transmits a message to a receiver with conscious intent to affect the latter's behaviors. d. speech communication is a process through which people make sense of the world.

C

Pathos is a. the study of persuasive communication. b. the use of personal character to influence an audience. c. the ability to arouse an audience's emotions. d. the use of logic and argumentation during persuasion.

C

People who take a pragmatic perspective to communication a. are interested in exploring the individual psychology of communicators. b. focus on the cultural background of communicators. c. are interested in interaction rather than personality. d. are interested in uncovering the hidden power relations that often exist in mediated texts.

C

Person prototypes are: a. the characteristics we habitually notice in others. b. representations of sequences of action. c. idealized representations of categories of people. d. people we ignore and treat as "nonpersons."

C

Sue has given campus tours to prospective students for so long that she knows exactly what to do next. Her knowledge of the sequence of actions involved in giving a tour is an example of a. a person prototype. b. a personal construct. c. a script. d. None of the above

C

The canons of rhetoric include a. logos, pathos, ethos. b. peripatos, agora, paidagogos. c. invention, arrangement, style, memory, delivery. d. Simonides, Corax, Tisias.

C

The perspective that places the most emphasis on behavioral patterns is a. psychological perspective. b. social constructionist perspective. c. pragmatic perspective. d. semiotic perspective.

C

The process of deciding on the subject matter of a speech and developing arguments is called a. arrangement. b. style. c. invention. d. memory.

C

The scientific method emphasizes which method of attaining knowledge? a. armchair introspection b. faith in Divine revelation c. careful objective measurement d. study of traditional manuscripts

C

When we say a construct is primed, we mean that a. we associate the construct with past rewards. b. we associate the construct with past punishments. c. because the construct has been mentioned recently, we are sensitive to it. d. we learned the construct very early in life, often in the first 5 years, so it is important.

C

Which of the following elements are part of the psychological perspective? a. Act, interact, payoff, pattern b. Symbolic codes, cognitive customs, cultural traditions c. Sender/receiver, message, channel, encoding/decoding d. Ends, keys, instrumentalities, norms

C

Which of the following research questions takes a rules approach? a. How do successful couples organize or structure their behavior and how do they evolve or adapt themselves to change? b. Is there a cause and effect relationship between credibility and persuasion? c. What implicit norms do first year students follow as they acclimate to college? d. All of the above

C

The rise of rhetoric and a well known model of communication can be traced to which period?

Classical Period

The emphasis on the importance of understanding the experiences and motivations of individual receivers can be identified in which period?

Contemporary Period

This perspective is considered to be overtly political in nature.

Cultural Studies Perspective

In a social constructionist model, people exist within, and perceive themselves and others through, the communicative practices of their ____.

Cultures

A mental set consists of a. a psychological test of communication style. b. all the people a person communicates with. c. a set of patterned interactions. d. a person's beliefs, attitudes, values, and feelings.

D

According to the pragmatic perspective we can improve communication by a. recognizing that because we create reality by talking about it, we should take responsibility for our talk. b. learning to see things from the receivers' point of view. c. encoding messages as clearly as possible. d. describing and understanding destructive patterns.

D

During the interpretive step in the listening process, people do all of the following EXCEPT a. give stimuli structure, stability, and meaning. b. use schemata to fill in missing details. c. rely on mental guidelines such as personal prototypes and scripts. d. see the world exactly as it is presented to them.

D

In order to improve attention it is a good idea to do all of the following EXCEPT a. have a clear purpose in mind when entering a listening situation. b. acknowledge how easy it is to become distracted. c. pay attention to how something is said as well as to what is said. d. avoid listening to content you know will bore or annoy you

D

In which period did communication study expanded to include interpersonal and group as well as public communication? a. classical b. medieval c. modern d. contemporary

D

Logos is a. the study of persuasive communication. b. the use of personal character to influence an audience. c. the ability to arouse an audience's emotions. d. the use of logic and argumentation during persuasion.

D

Of the following definitions, the one that is sender-based is: a. communication is the discriminatory response of an organism to a stimulus. b. communication is a process whereby people assign meanings to stimuli in order to make sense of the world. c. communication is an effort after meaning, whereby people orient themselves to their environments. d. communication has as its central interest those behavioral situations in which a source transmits a message to a receiver with conscious intent to affect the latter's behavior.

D

People who take a cultural studies perspective to communication a. are interested in exploring the individual psychology of communicators. b. focus on the cultural background of communicators. c. are interested in interaction rather than personality. d. are interested in uncovering the hidden power relations that often exist in mediated texts.

D

The canons of rhetoric were a. one of the seven wonders of the Ancient World. b. judges who awarded prizes for rhetoric at annual competitions in Athens. c. Greek legislators who took part in forensic argumentation. d. one of the earliest models of communication.

D

The gap between Americans' listening ability and their performance is due to a. the low value Americans place on listening. b. the fact that teachers often don't challenge students to listen carefully. c. the fact that parents often discourage listening. d. All of the above

D

The story that opens chapter three (the story about scientists attending a convention) illustrates that a. most people attend to and interpret events objectively. b. scientists are better observers than ordinary people. c. the perceptual responses of scientists are less accurate than those of artists. d. perception is a subjective process.

D

Which of the following kinds of information will be difficult to store and retrieve? a. Information that is tied to an external trigger. b. Information that the audience has actively rehearsed. c. Information that is related to the self-concept. d. None of the above

D

Which of the following should be AVOIDED if you want to improve listening? a. Perception checks b. Paraphrasing c. Active listening d. None of the above

D

Which of the following ways of understanding a city is an example of a model? a. a street map of the city b. an organizational chart of the city government c. a scale model of the city d. All are examples of models

D

Which of the perspectives would be most likely to generate the following research question: In what ways do the situation comedies of the Golden Age of Television support the subservience of women? a. Psychological perspective b. Social constructivist perspective c. Pragmatic perspective d. Cultural studies perspective

D

What type of term expresses negative values and repels a listener?

Devil

Chris wants to ensure acceptance from the audience, therefore Chris should

Encourage favorable cognitive responses by involving receivers.

Dell Hymes developed which model for describing communication?

Ethnography of communication

If we wanted to gain insight of our class as a communication situation we would most likely use the ________.

Ethnography of communication

Sue decided to watch the political debate on television. Sue was intent on judging the quality of the candidate's information in their messages. Sue exemplified which part of the listening process?

Evaluation

In a pragmatic model, communication is seen as a game of sequential, interlocking moves between _______________ partners.

Interdependent

Before class, Alice decided to read the chapter and take notes in order to familiarize herself with the topic. Alice is trying to improve which part of the listening process?

Interpretation

Canons of rhetoric?

Invention, Style, Memory, Arrangement

A ____________ is an abstract representation of a process, a description of its structure or function.

Model

The four paths of rhetoric including the classical approach, psychological/epistemological approach, belletristic approach, and elocutionary approach can be traced to the ____

Modern Period

Did Aristotle support the work of the sophists?

NO

Johnny is speaking with Roberta and he states, "I am very upset with my grade on the midterm and want to drop the class." Roberta responds with, "So, you want to drop the class because you are upset with your midterm grade?" Roberta's response is an example of

Paraphrasing

The vigorous style was based on ________

Pathos, which was eloquent and emotional.

Marshall has an idealized representation of his favorite instructor and is trying to find other instructors to place in this category. Which type of Cognitive Schemata is Marshall using?

Person Prototypes

Aristotle was a student of which Greek philosopher?

Plato

When you follow certain behaviors while eating at a restaurant or greeting someone you are following

Script

When people share common ways of thinking about communication and common styles of talk, they have formed a ________

Speech Community

In the psychological process, two individuals exchange meanings through the transmission and reception of communication.

Stimuli

Arbitrary and conventionalized representations to transmit meaning is known as the ability to use _________ .

Symbols

Rhetoricians who took a belletristic view were interested in

The problems of style and eloquence.

Francis Bacon's idea that "most of us are, by nature, careless thinkers often ruled by emotion," is an Idol of the__________.

Tribe