Deck 2: Definitions, Models, and Perspectives

Question 1

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.

Answer 1

several different definitions may be equally valid.

Question 2

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.

Answer 2

communication is the discriminatory response of an organism to a stimulus.

Question 3

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.

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

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.

Question 5

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.

Question 6

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

Question 7

The three functions of models are

A) primary, secondary, tertiary.
B) explanation, prediction, control.
C) psychological, sociological, philosophical.
D) encoding, decoding, transmitting.

Question 8

Models do all of the following EXCEPT

A) capture a process completely.
B) help us organize our thinking.
C) generate research questions.
D) make predictions about the future.

Question 9

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.

Question 10

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

Question 11

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.

Question 12

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.

Question 13

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.

Question 14

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

Question 15

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

Question 16

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

Question 17

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.

Question 18

The perspective that places the most emphasis on behavioral patterns is

A) psychological perspective.
B) social constructionist perspective.
C) pragmatic perspective.
D) semiotic perspective.

Question 19

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.

Question 20

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.

Question 21

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.

Question 22

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.

Question 23

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

Question 24

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

Question 25

Which of the following elements are part of Hymes ethnographic model?

A) act, interact, payoff, pattern
B) symbolic codes, cognitive customs, cultural traditions
C) sender/receiver, message, channel, encoding/decoding
D) ends, keys, instrumentalities, norms

Question 26

The term definition comes from a Latin word meaning "to determine or bring to an end."

Question 27

In the 1970s when Dance reviewed definitions of communication, he found that most experts agreed on a single definition.

Question 28

A broad definition of communication is one that identifies a large number of phenomena as communication (rather than limiting the range of phenomena that count as communication.)

Question 29

An intentional definition of communication holds that communication is purposeful and planned.

Question 30

Dance believes communication is not a single concept but rather a series of related concepts.

Question 31

A symbol is an arbitrary and conventionalized representation of an object or concept.

Question 32

According to your text, the best definition of communication is one that is narrow and sender-based.

Question 33

According to your text, the best definition of communication is one that is broad and receiver-based.

Question 34

All models make assumptions about the processes they describe.

Question 35

Although there can be many definitions of communication, there is only one correct model of communication.

Question 36

The research question "Are multiple channels more effective than single channels for transmitting complex messages?" is an example of the kind of question asked by researchers who take a rules approach.

Question 37

The research question "What norms do students at a given college follow to fit in and gain acceptance from their peers?" is an example of the kind of question asked by researchers who take a laws approach.

Question 38

The most widely used models and definitions of communication are based on the psychological perspective.

Question 39

Noise is defined as the extent to which a sender amplifies a message by making it louder and clearer.

Question 40

According to the social constructionist perspective, we experience the world indirectly through cultural blinders.

Question 41

According to the social constructionist perspective, communication is constrained by culture in important ways.

Question 42

The social constructionist perspective defines good communication as socially appropriate communication.

Question 43

The perspective that compares communication to an intricate game is the social constructionist perspective.

Question 44

According to the pragmatic perspective, communication will be most successful when the mental sets of individual communicators are similar.

Question 45

According to the pragmatic viewpoint, the smallest significant unit of communication is the interact.

Question 46

Pragmatic therapists take special care to identify factors in the past history of their clients that might have caused the problems they face today.

Question 47

Dell Hymes' model of communication is a description of the processes speakers go through to construct and present speeches.

Question 48

According to Hymes, a speech act is a social role people use in public situations.

Question 49

A speech community is a group of people who share common attitudes toward speech.

Question 50

The perspective that focuses on uncovering ways in which cultural texts support oppression is called the pragmatic perspective.

Question 51

In what two ways can definitions be viewed? What is the difference between them? What view does your text take?

Question 52

What is a model? What are three functions of models? What are three drawbacks to models?

Question 53

What is a perspective? What are the three perspectives discussed in the text? How are they different from one another?

Question 54

What are the basic elements in a psychological model?

Question 55

What are the basic elements in a social constructionist model?

Question 56

What are the basic elements in a pragmatic model?

Question 57

What is the difference between laws, rules, and systems approaches to research?

Question 58

Name at least five things an ethnographer should observe about communication according to Hymes. Give examples of each, drawn from any speech community you desire.