Deck 4: Signs, Symbols, and Semantics

Question 1

According to symbolic interactionism, which of the following statements about the self is true?

A) All animals have intelligence, but only humans have a self.
B) The self does not exist at birth; rather, it develops as a process of the relationship of the individual to the social community.
C) The self includes both subjective and objective dimensions of human experience.
D) All of the above are true.
E) Only A and C are true.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

All of the following statements represent assumptions of symbolic interactionism, EXCEPT:

A) Individual experience and the development of mind take place through interaction with others in social scenes.
B) Language is the vehicle that makes individual and collective acts possible.
C) The individual cannot be understood in terms of the social conduct of a group.
D) The emergence of self and mind is only possible because of social interaction.
E) How others perceive us strongly influences our identity development.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following scholars developed symbolic interactionism?

A) Kenneth Burke
B) George Herbert Mead
C) Herbert Blumer
D) All of the above.
E) B and C only.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Myranda says that her grandmother raised her and is the most significant influence on her own values, attitudes, and identity. For Myranda, her grandmother is a(n):

A) Particular other
B) Generalized other
C) Agent
D) Consubstantial partner
E) Storyteller

Question 5

Natahsa finds a $100 bill on the ground on her way home from the convenience store. She decides to turn the money over to the police and hope that no one claims it or the owner gives her a reward. Natasha's actions best illustrate which concept from symbolic interactionism?

A) I
B) Me
C) Role-taking
D) Mind
E) Self

Question 6

According to Kenneth Burke, which of the following emotions is central to our understanding of human interaction?

A) Love
B) Compassion
C) Guilt
D) Sadness
E) Ambivalence

Question 7

According to symbolic interactionism, ____ others are individuals who are significant to us, whereas the _____ other represents the viewpoint of a social group, community, or society as a whole.

A) Particular; generalized
B) Generalized; influential
C) Particular; consubstantial
D) Generalized; consubstantial
E) Influential; consubstantial

Question 8

After watching the movie Patriots Day about the Boston marathon bombing in 2013, Dylan's reaction to the movie as a police officer was quite different from Kristen's reaction as a Boston native and mother of three. According to dramatism, Dylan and Kristen are filtering their interpretations of the movie through their:

A) Particular others
B) Levels of identification
C) Generalized others
D) Terministic screens
E) Dramatistic pentads

Question 9

According to dramatism, communication becomes the primary means by which we seek to transcend our divisions and enhance our ____ with each other.

A) Identification
B) Victimage
C) Mortification
D) Mind
E) Role-taking

Question 10

Which of the following are signs?

A) A wedding ring
B) A photograph
C) The word "strawberry"
D) All of the above
E) A and C only

Question 11

All of the following statements represent assumptions of CMM, EXCEPT:

A) Communication helps create and maintain meanings in social systems.
B) The rules that guide human interaction are constituted in people's meaning systems.
C) The use of symbols and language allows people to engage in critical analysis of unfolding dramas.
D) Meaning systems are embedded in hierarchically organized social systems.
E) Meaning is the product of language-in-use in social and cultural circumstances.

Question 12

In an effort to encourage his son, Adam says "You are an incredibly intelligent and hard-working individual." According to CMM, Adam's statement represents:

A) An episode
B) A speech act
C) A contract
D) An archetype
E) A construct

Question 13

All of the following concepts are included within the hierarchy of CMM, EXCEPT:

A) Content
B) Contracts
C) Episodes
D) Archetypes
E) Pentads

Question 14

According to the dramatistic pentad, what are the means a person uses to accomplish an act referred to as?

A) A scene
B) An agent
C) A purpose
D) Agency
E) A contract

Question 15

On January 20, 2017, President Donald Trump was sworn into office as the 45th President of the United States of America. After giving his inauguration speech, some political pundits criticized his character and debated whether or not he appeared to be "presidential." According to the dramatistic pentad, these pundits were focused primarily on:

A) The act
B) The scene
C) The agent
D) The agency
E) The purpose

Question 16

For symbolic interactionists, the most important idea in the theory is _______.

A) Meaning
B) Tradition
C) Time
D) Space
E) Drama

Question 17

According to symbolic interactionism, the pressure that adolescent girls in our society feel to maintain a particular body image as a result of advertising and media images comes from:

A) Unique others
B) The generalized other
C) Particular others
D) The transcendent other
E) An archetype

Question 18

The problematics of understanding reflect the fact that meaning-making involves a human act that is:

A) Usually directed at another human.
B) Filtered through established language and culturally based meaning systems.
C) Helping to coordinate behaviors that may or may not achieve common goals.
D) All of the above.
E) A and B only.

Question 19

For Kenneth Burke, what is the basic form of human symbol use, beyond the word, referred to as?

A) The story
B) The pentad
C) An archetype
D) A terministic screen
E) An icon

Question 20

After finishing a horrible semester in his biology class, Jamal tells his roommate that "Dr. Johanssen is the worst professor I have ever had." According to dramatism, Jamal's ability to evaluate Dr. Johanssen in this manner best illustrates:

A) The principle of perfection
B) The guilt-redemption cycle
C) A terministic screen
D) Identification
E) The principle of the negative

Question 21

A symbol has no necessary connection to the idea or object it represents.

Question 22

According to Mead, people coordinate behavior in ways that rely only on linguistic symbols.

Question 23

According to Burke, behaviorism can help us understand the attitudes or motives that drive human symbol use.

Question 24

In CMM theory, Pearce and Cronin argued that culture is inextricably linked to ways of knowing and ways of being.

Question 25

In dramatism, the principle of perfection states that whenever we identify what the substance or meaning of something is, we may also identify what it is not.

Question 26

Burke's term for the human desire to connect with others is referred to as ______.

Question 27

The general sense of appropriate social behavior that we have based on group roles and the attitude of our society as a whole is called the _______.

Question 28

_____ is the study of meaning and is regarded as a subfield of ______, the study of signs.

Question 29

In CMM, the narrative of the self, or the overarching self-concept of an individual, is referred to as ________.

Question 30

The communication behaviors that an individual enacts to achieve his or her goals are called ________.