Deck 1: Understanding and Evaluating Mass Communication Theory

Question 1

_______ are older forms of mass media such as newspapers, magazines, radio, movies, and most importantly television.

A) Large-scale social media
B) Fake media
C) Legacy media
D) Linear media

Answer 1

C

Question 2

________ is a state of mind in which audience members automatically take in and respond to message content without critical reflection.

A) Introspection
B) Routinization
C) Automaticity
D) Feedback

Answer 2

C

Question 3

When social media were initially developed, it was assumed that they would ________.

A) empower individuals
B) become a prime outlet for advertising
C) become a prime source for interesting videos
D) replace newspapers as the main source of people's news

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Humans think about their behavior, values, beliefs, and attitudes. In other words, they are ___________

A) impossible to study scientifically
B) deduced
C) reflexive
D) causal

Question 5

The type of mass communication theory that might be involved when studying how well the mainstream American press serve democratic principles is ______________ theory.

A) critical
B) postpositivist
C) interpretive
D) normative

Question 6

There are several reasons social science has difficulty providing definitive answers to questions of human behavior. Which of the following is among those listed in the text.

A) If causality does exist in human behavior, its roots may simply be too complex for identification through social science.
B) Humans are very often motivated by money.
C) Humans often respond to cultural forces rather than direct stimuli.
D) Causality simply does not exist in human beings.

Question 7

"I'm not affected by media," Sally often claims, "But those other people? They're easily influenced by slick media messages." Sally suffers from _________.

A) disassociation
B) first-person effect
C) second-person effect
D) third-person effect

Question 8

______________ theories are based on empirical research and adherence to the scientific method.

A) Critical
B) Post-positivist
C) Normative
D) Interpretive

Question 9

Questions of the place of values in theory and research are issues of_______.

A) axiology
B) epistemology
C) ontology
D) metatheory

Question 10

________ occurs when a given factor influences another, even by way of an intervening variable.

A) Connection
B) Science
C) Theory
D) Causality

Question 11

British cultural studies, which focuses on media and their role in promoting the interests of dominant elites at the expense of less powerful groups, is based on __________ notions of mass communication.

A) limited effects
B) conspiracy theory
C) mass society
D) Neo-Marxist

Question 12

Which was the first dominant perspective on mass media?

A) Media primacy theory
B) Mass society theory
C) Yellow journalism
D) Limited effects theory

Question 13

Interpretive theorists who set aside their values when investigating a text are said to be ___________.

A) scientific
B) ethical
C) vacillating
D) bracketing

Question 14

At the heart of the meaning-making trend in theory is a focus on a more-or-less active audience that uses media content to _________.

A) create meaningful experiences
B) pass time in an otherwise busy world
C) learn more about politics
D) challenge important assumptions about life

Question 15

Among the factors that have recently intensified and renewed research on many different types of media effects are the popularity of________, new postpositivist research methods, and the rise of meaning-making theory.

A) video streaming services like Netflix
B) large-scale social media
C) critical cultural studies
D) media socialism

Question 16

Contemporary mass communication theories must be reconsidered inasmuch as large-scale social media, unlike more traditional forms of media, do not rely on advertising for their revenues.

Question 17

One of the driving forces behind the development of new mass communication theories is changes in media technology.

Question 18

Important in judging the worth of any theory is the question, "How parsimonious is it?" In other words, how well does it explain real-world outcomes of media use.

Question 19

When evaluating postpositivist theory, it is important to ask how well does it predict future events, behaviors, or relationships?

Question 20

Most, if not all, who call themselves social scientists adhere to the same standards for conducting research and accepting evidence.

Question 21

Because one essential argument of mass society theory was that media subvert and disrupt the existing social order, fierce debate broke out over who should be trusted control media.

Question 22

Normative theorists view media as a public arena in which cultural battles are fought and a dominant, or hegemonic, culture is forged and promoted.

Question 23

Grand theories try to explain entire media systems and their role in society.

Question 24

Like legacy media, large-scale social media are largely unregulated and are bound by few social or professional norms.

Question 25

In the marketplace of attention, social media compete primarily against each other rather than against legacy media to gain and hold the attention of people.

Question 26

Social scientists apply logic and observation to the understanding of the social world, rather than to the physical world.

Question 27

More so than other mass communication theorists, critical cultural theorists rely heavily on the scientific method when conducting research.

Question 28

One of the difficulties in applying notions of causality to human behaviour is that people have goals and are self-reflexive.

Question 29

Mass communication researchers sometimes differ in their view of the nature of reality, that is, in their epistemology.

Question 30

Normative theory's axiology is, by definition, value-laden.