Deck 1: Mass Communication, Culture, and Media Literacy

Question 1

Culture is

A) opera, theater, and symphonic music.
B) communication between two or a few people.
C) the learned behavior of members of a given social group.
D) the improvement of public tastes.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The culture that seems to hold sway with the majority of a given people is the

A) primary culture.
B) bounded culture.
C) dominant culture.
D) transformed culture.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The communication scholar credited with developing the cultural definition of communication is

A) James Carey.
B) Marshall McLuhan.
C) Wilbur Schramm.
D) Harold Lasswell.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Feedback is

A) the response to a given communication.
B) distortion typically attributed to electronic equipment.
C) sometimes present in communication.
D) rarely present in communication.

Question 5

Anything that interferes with successful communication is said to be

A) noise.
B) encoding.
C) decoding.
D) feedback.

Question 6

In mass communication,feedback is typically

A) instant and direct.
B) quite powerful.
C) absent.
D) delayed and inferential.

Question 7

Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced,maintained,repaired,and transformed is

A) the cultural definition of communication.
B) a sophisticated definition of feedback.
C) interpersonal communication when it works well.
D) the biological definition of communication.

Question 8

The Osgood and Schramm conception of the mass communication process replaces source and receiver with

A) initiator and destination.
B) interpreters.
C) decoders.
D) Participant A and Participant B.

Question 9

Large,hierarchically structured organizations are typical of

A) mass communication.
B) feedback.
C) interpersonal communication.
D) noise.

Question 10

Culture is constructed and maintained

A) through the mass media.
B) through feedback.
C) through encoding and decoding.
D) through communication.

Question 11

Ongoing and reciprocal messages are characteristic of

A) mass communication.
B) feedback.
C) interpersonal communication.
D) noise.

Question 12

Lasswell's model of communication is expressed as "Who Says What in Which Channel _____________ with What Effect."

A) with How Much Noise
B) to Whom
C) Using Which Medium
D) to Which Interpreter

Question 13

Communication between two or a few people is

A) mass communication.
B) feedback.
C) interpersonal communication.
D) reciprocal communication.

Question 14

When signs and symbols are interpreted by a participant in the communication process,_____________ is said to have occurred.

A) noise
B) encoding
C) decoding
D) feedback

Question 15

When messages are transformed into an understandable sign and symbol system by a participant in the communication process,_____________ is said to have occurred.

A) noise
B) encoding
C) decoding
D) feedback

Question 16

Communication is best defined as

A) the transmission of a message from a receiver to a source.
B) conversation between two or a few people.
C) the process of creating shared meaning.
D) the product of large media industries.

Question 17

Groups with specific but not dominant cultures that exist as part of those larger cultures are

A) secondary cultures.
B) bounded cultures.
C) minority cultures.
D) transformed cultures.

Question 18

The idea that machines and their development drive economic and cultural change is

A) technological determinism.
B) manifest destiny.
C) technological despotism.
D) latent destiny.

Question 19

The process of creating shared meaning between the mass media and their audiences is

A) mass communication.
B) feedback.
C) interpersonal communication.
D) encoding.

Question 20

In communication,the means by which messages are carried is

A) the feedback loop.
B) encoding.
C) decoding.
D) the medium.

Question 21

The ability to enjoy,understand,and appreciate media content;an understanding of media content as a text that provides insight into our culture and our lives;and an understanding of the ethical and moral obligations of media practitioners are elements of

A) literacy.
B) social responsibility.
C) media literacy.
D) ethics.

Question 22

The ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use any form of mediated communication is

A) conversationalism.
B) literacy.
C) comprehensibility.
D) media literacy.

Question 23

Which of the following is NOT an element of media literacy?

A) possessing an awareness of media's impact
B) possessing an understanding of the process of mass communication
C) possessing strategies for analyzing and discussing media messages
D) possessing the skill to disconnect from the media's messages

Question 24

An understanding of and respect for the power of media messages,the development of heightened expectations of media content,a knowledge of genre conventions,and the ability to recognize when conventions are being mixed are examples of

A) the third-person effect.
B) impediments to media literacy.
C) media literacy skills.
D) good television-viewing skills.

Question 25

Culture is the world made meaningful;it is socially constructed and maintained through communication.It limits,as well as liberates us;it differentiates as well as unites us.It defines our realities and thereby

A) shapes the ways we think, feel, and act.
B) tells us what is true and false.
C) creates a national togetherness.
D) offers us hope for a unified future.

Question 26

Print helped foster the Industrial Revolution

A) because people who read books began to demand change.
B) because it helped build and disseminate bodies of knowledge that led to scientific and technological development and the refinement of new machines.
C) through its creation of leisure and entertainment.
D) because it created jobs.

Question 27

The characteristic,distinctive,standardized style elements of a given form of media expression-for example,the upbeat music that introduces the local evening news-are media

A) conventions.
B) production values.
C) genres.
D) formats.

Question 28

In Schramm's model of mass communication,messages from the media organization to the mass audience are characterized as

A) delayed and inferential.
B) expertly decoded.
C) many and identical.
D) difficult to interpret.

Question 29

We can think of mass communication as a giant courtroom where,as a people,we discuss and debate our culture-what it is and what we want it to be.This view sees mass communication as a

A) cultural storyteller.
B) repository of cultural understanding.
C) cultural forum.
D) unrelenting agent of change.

Question 30

When we read media content at a variety of different levels,we are said to be engaging the content

A) intelligently.
B) as the producers had intended.
C) from multiple points of access.
D) intuitively.

Question 31

Printing presses and movable type were first used by the _____________ between 600 C.E.and 1000 C.E.

A) Germans
B) Sumerians
C) Chinese
D) Koreans

Question 32

The common assumption that others are influenced by media messages but we are not is

A) the third-person effect.
B) a violation of the second principle of media literacy.
C) the otherness effect.
D) the CNN effect.

Question 33

The ability to comprehend and use written symbols effectively and efficiently is

A) literacy.
B) orallity.
C) learning.
D) democracy.

Question 34

If we apply the standard model of capitalism to prime-time television programming,the television network is the producer,_____________ are the product,and advertisers are the consumers.

A) the programs
B) the commercials
C) audiences
D) the actors

Question 35

The Gutenberg printing press was an advance over earlier printing presses because it

A) produced books in a widely understood language.
B) used metal type and was designed for the production of large numbers of volumes.
C) was developed in central Europe, giving more people access to it.
D) used steam power.

Question 36

The differences between the individual elements of interpersonal and mass communication change the _____________ the communication process.

A) purpose of
B) noise in
C) outcome of
D) nature of

Question 37

Gutenberg developed his press to produce

A) books of maps.
B) official government publications.
C) political treatises.
D) Bibles.

Question 38

Categories of expression within the different media-for example,the evening news and documentaries-are media

A) conventions.
B) production values.
C) genres.
D) formats.

Question 39

Media literacy is

A) only necessary for communication scholars.
B) a skill that can be improved through practice.
C) impossible for young people to master.
D) more advanced in the United States than abroad.

Question 40

Knowledge of media's conventions is important because

A) they keep us involved in the material.
B) we can identify when a content producer is attempting to fool us.
C) they cue or direct our meaning making.
D) it enhances our experience of the media.

Question 41

What does it mean to say that there must be a "sharing of meaning" for communication to occur?

Question 42

The specific internal language of a given medium-for example,the choice of lighting in a soap opera-is a media

A) convention.
B) production value.
C) genre.
D) format.

Question 43

An understanding of and respect for the power of media messages is an important media literacy skill.

Question 44

From the beginning,newspapers have been an advertiser-supported medium.

Question 45

Evening news,documentary,horror film,and gossip magazine are examples of genres.

Question 46

What does it mean to say that "media are cultural storytellers"?

Question 47

Gutenberg not only became world famous as a result of his invention,but rich as well.

Question 48

People rarely succeed in contesting the dominant culture.

Question 49

Define communication.

Question 50

If you explain an idea to a friend in a letter,you have encoded your message.

Question 51

When a professor lectures to a large class of students,this is an example of mass communication.

Question 52

Different bounded cultures can share a common dominant culture.

Question 53

Media literacy is a skill that can be acquired and developed.

Question 54

After Gutenberg's introduction of the printing press to 1450s Europe,the technology spread slowly but steadily throughout the continent.

Question 55

Biases and predispositions are common forms of noise.

Question 56

According to Marshall McLuhan,fish know they are wet.

Question 57

Communication requires a sharing of meaning.

Question 58

Define culture.

Question 59

Differentiate between encoding and decoding.

Question 60

Genres are such things as choice of lighting,editing,special effects,camera angle,and size and placement of a headline.

Question 61

Define media literacy.

Question 62

What does it mean to say that "mass communication serves as a cultural forum"?

Question 63

What are the seven media literacy skills? Describe each.

Question 64

Define literacy.

Question 65

What are the eight elements of media literacy as defined by Art Silverblatt and your textbook author? Describe each.

Question 66

What is the relationship between communication and culture?

Question 67

How do genre conventions and production values differ?

Question 68

Define and explain the third-person effect.

Question 69

What is the impact of technology on communication?

Question 70

What was Gutenberg's advance over existing methods of mechanical printing?

Question 71

How does culture limit and liberate?

Question 72

Do you see the audience as the consumer or the product in our mass media system? Explain your answer.

Question 73

Define and explain multiple points of access.

Question 74

What is technological determinism?

Question 75

How did the mass production of printed materials foster the development of capitalism?