Deck 13: Theories and Effects of Mass Communication

Question 1

Research questions about the immediate,observable influence of mass communication are examples of _____________ research.

A) micro-level
B) ritual
C) organic
D) administrative

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Questions about media's impact on issues,such as what kind of nation we are building or what kind of people we are becoming,are characteristic of

A) micro-level research.
B) transmissional research.
C) critical research.
D) ritual research.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Because mass communication theories are created by people,and are therefore influenced by human biases,the times in which we live,the position we occupy in the mass communication process,and a host of other factors,we can say that these theories are

A) dynamic.
B) unreliable.
C) unscientific.
D) human constructions.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The mass society theory idea that media are a dangerous drug,or a killing force that directly and immediately penetrates a person's system,is summed up in the

A) mass society theory.
B) hypodermic needle theory.
C) limited effects theory.
D) cultural theory.

Question 5

Ideas that explain or predict only limited aspects of the mass communication process are called

A) assumptions.
B) testable hypotheses.
C) middle-range theories.
D) quasi-sciences.

Question 6

 _____________ is when advertisers encourage their audience to perceive their products as having meaning beyond the product's actual function.

A) Product positioning
B) Symbolic interaction
C) Modeling
D) Agenda setting

Question 7

Mass communication _____________ are explanations and predictions of social phenomena that attempt to relate mass communication to various aspects of our personal and cultural lives or social systems.

A) assumptions
B) hypotheses
C) theories
D) sciences

Question 8

_____________ theory argues that media do not tell us what to think,but what to think about.

A) Social construction of reality
B) Symbolic interaction
C) Gatekeeper
D) Agenda setting

Question 9

 _____________ theory argues that cultures give symbols meaning and then those symbols control behavior.

A) Social construction of reality
B) Symbolic interaction
C) Gatekeeper
D) Agenda setting

Question 10

During the _____________ era of mass communication theory,the media were believed to be corrupting influences that undermined the social order,and "average" people were considered defenseless against their influence.

A) mass society theory
B) hypodermic needle theory
C) limited effects theory
D) cultural theory

Question 11

The emergence of cultural theory in mass communication signaled a return to

A) the primacy of social science observation in communication research.
B) the belief in powerful media effects.
C) the belief in limited media effects.
D) mass communication theory's roots in psychology and sociology.

Question 12

The era of the limited effects perspective on mass communication theory began with what famous media event?

A) the sinking of the Titanic
B) the coming of talking pictures
C) the Orson Wells radio production of "The War of the Worlds"
D) the Frank Capra Why We Fight films

Question 13

Media effects that occur at the cultural level are said to be

A) micro-level effects.
B) macro-level effects.
C) administrative effects.
D) critical effects.

Question 14

Media effects on individuals are said to be

A) micro-level effects.
B) macro-level effects.
C) transmissional effects.
D) ritual effects.

Question 15

The view of mass media as central to the maintenance of society over time and the representation of shared beliefs is the _____________ perspective.

A) micro-level
B) macro-level
C) transmissional
D) ritual

Question 16

In mass communication theory,the_______ argues that active audience members use media content to create meaning,and meaningful experiences,for themselves.

A) alternative hypothesis perspective
B) meaning-making perspective
C) middle-range perspective
D) revolutionary perspective

Question 17

In limited effects theory,the influence of media is thought to be limited by people's intelligence and education,in other words by their

A) personal relationships.
B) individual differences.
C) social categories.
D) opinion leaders.

Question 18

In a typical beer ad,"buy this beer" is the _____________ message,whereas "you need this beer to have fun,to be attractive,and to have friends" may be its _____________ message.

A) ritual;transmissional
B) transmissional;ritual
C) micro-level;macro-level
D) administrative;critical

Question 19

Because the environments in which they are created change constantly,mass communication theories are said to be

A) dynamic.
B) unreliable.
C) unscientific.
D) human constructions.

Question 20

The _____________ perspective of mass communication sees media as senders of messages (discrete bits of information)across space.

A) ritual
B) transmissional
C) critical
D) administrative

Question 21

_____________ theory argues that media don't do things to people;rather,people do things with media.In other words,media's influence is limited to what people allow it to be.

A) Uses and gratifications
B) Limited effects
C) Attitude change
D) Agenda setting

Question 22

The underlying assumption of _____________ theory is that our experience of reality is an ongoing,social construction,not something that is only sent,delivered,or otherwise transmitted to a docile public.

A) uses and gratifications
B) limited effects
C) attitude change
D) cultural

Question 23

_____________ theory is the idea that people learn through observation to model the behaviors they see.

A) Selective observation
B) Excitation
C) Social cognitive
D) Vicarious reinforcement

Question 24

_____________ theory argues that people who share a culture also share an ongoing correspondence of meaning.

A) Social construction of reality
B) Cultivation analysis
C) Symbolic interaction
D) Product positioning

Question 25

Theorists in the 1930s who valued serious art and saw consumption of art as a means to elevate people to a better life represented

A) attitude change theory.
B) Neo-Marxism
C) the Frankfurt School.
D) British cultural theory.

Question 26

In limited effects theory,the influence of media is thought to be limited by people's religious and political affiliations,in other words by their

A) personal relationships.
B) individual differences.
C) social categories.
D) opinion leaders.

Question 27

The idea that information from the media,and therefore media effects,travel from media through opinion leaders to opinion followers is called _____________ theory.

A) uses and gratifications
B) limited effects
C) attitude change
D) two-step flow

Question 28

Social cognitive theorists give the label _____________ to the special form of imitation in which observers do not exactly copy what they have seen but make a more generalized,still-related response.

A) modeling
B) vicarious reinforcement
C) identification
D) behavioral hierarchy

Question 29

The idea that media's influence resides in the "relationship between the larger social system,the media's role in that system,and audience relationships to the media" forms the basis of _____________ theory.

A) uses and gratifications
B) dependency
C) attitude change
D) agenda setting

Question 30

_____________ theory argues that people experience a kind of mental discomfort when confronted with new information.As a result,they consciously and subconsciously work to limit or reduce that discomfort.

A) Dissonance
B) Limited effects
C) Attitude change
D) Two-step flow

Question 31

In social construction of reality theory,_____________ are collections of meanings assigned to some phenomenon or situation.

A) typification schemes
B) signs
C) symbols
D) artifacts

Question 32

In social cognitive theory,seeing a model punished for a behavior reduces the likelihood that the observer will perform that behavior.This is called

A) observation learning.
B) the inhibitory effect.
C) the disinhibitory effect.
D) vicarious reinforcement.

Question 33

_____________ theoryproduced theorist Stuart Hall,who first developed the idea of media as a public forum.

A) Cultural
B) Limited effects
C) Attitude change
D) British cultural

Question 34

Social cognitive theorists call the direct replication of an observed behavior

A) modeling.
B) imitation.
C) identification.
D) behavioral hierarchy.

Question 35

People frequently use symbolic interaction theory when they are studying advertising's influence because advertisers often succeed by employing _____________,or encouraging the audience to perceive their products as symbols that have meaning beyond their actual function.

A) social construction of reality
B) neo-Marxism
C) symbolic interaction
D) product positioning

Question 36

The idea that mass communication ordinarily does not serve as a necessary and sufficient cause of audience effects,but rather functions among and through a nexus (web)of mediating factors and influences,is the basis of Joseph Klapper's _____________ theory.

A) two-step flow
B) dissonance
C) magic bullet
D) reinforcement

Question 37

_____________ theory explains how people's attitudes are formed,shaped,and changed through communication and how those attitudes influence behavior.

A) Magic bullet
B) Limited effects
C) Attitude change
D) Two-step flow

Question 38

People's psychological dissonance is reduced through the selective processes,one of which is _____________,the process in which people attend to only those messages that are consistent with their preexisting attitudes and beliefs.

A) selective exposure
B) selective retention
C) selective perception
D) selective counterveillance

Question 39

In social cognitive theory,seeing a model rewarded for prohibited or threatening behavior increases the likelihood that the observer will perform that behavior.This is called

A) observation learning.
B) the inhibitory effect.
C) the disinhibitory effect.
D) vicarious reinforcement.

Question 40

People's psychological dissonance is reduced through the selective processes,one of which is ____________,the process by which people interpret messages in a manner consistent with their preexisting attitudes and beliefs.

A) selective exposure
B) selective retention
C) selective perception
D) selective counterveillance

Question 41

_____________ is the study of how economic and other influences on the way news is produced distort and bias news coverage toward those in power.

A) Symbolic interaction
B) Social construction of reality
C) The Frankfurt School
D) News production research

Question 42

Selective exposure predicts that people will interpret messages in a manner consistent with their preexisting attitudes and beliefs.

Question 43

The idea that media don't tell us what to think,but what to think about,is called dependency theory because people are dependent on media for information.

Question 44

Marxism rests on the belief that people are oppressed by those who own the factories and the land-the means of production,or

A) base.
B) superstructure.
C) cultural assumption.
D) commune.

Question 45

Mass society theory is an example of a middle-range theory.

Question 46

The theory of _____________ says that television constructs a reality of the world that,although possibly inaccurate,becomes the accepted reality simply because we as a culture believe it to be true.

A) social construction of reality
B) cultivation analysis
C) symbolic interaction
D) product positioning

Question 47

In two-step flow theory,the power of media to change attitudes and behaviors is thought to be enhanced through the intervention of opinion leaders.

Question 48

The fundamental assumption of dependency theory is that audience members' dependency on the media and their messages heightens the media's power.

Question 49

What three factors have historically led to shifts in mass communication theory?

Question 50

Neo-Marxist theory focuses on the elite's control of the base,or means of production.

Question 51

Social cognitive theorists consider identification to be a special form of imitation.

Question 52

Modern neo-Marxist mass communication theorists believe that people are oppressed by those who control the culture,or _____________;in other words,religion,politics,arts,literature,and the mass media.

A) base
B) superstructure
C) cultural assumption
D) communistic

Question 53

The uses and gratifications approach is interested in what people do with media rather than in what media do to people.

Question 54

What is meant by middle-range theory?

Question 55

What assumptions are embedded in magic bullet theory and hypodermic needle theory?

Question 56

_____________ theories rely on the idea that the media operate primarily to justify and support the status quo at the expense of ordinary people.

A) Social scientific
B) Cultivation
C) British cultural
D) Critical cultural

Question 57

In social construction of reality theory,collections of meanings that individuals assign to specific phenomena and situations are called typification schemes.

Question 58

The daily time and cost demands of U.S.journalism result in newspapers and broadcasts composed of a large number of brief,capsulated stories with little room for perspective and context,resulting in _____________ news.

A) personalized
B) dramatized
C) fragmented
D) normalized

Question 59

Critical cultural theory typically finds its intellectual home in conservative political circles.

Question 60

The belief foremost in cultivation analysis is that because we all share a common public message system (television),the _____________ of reality occurs,moving individual and different people toward a shared,television-created understanding of how things are.

A) mean world
B) resonance
C) mainstreaming
D) positioning

Question 61

Define the symbols,signs,and typification schemes of social construction of reality theory.

Question 62

What is meant by dissonance in dissonance theory?

Question 63

What is the distinction between Marxist and neo-Marxist theory in regards to base and superstructure?

Question 64

The text cites three forces that usually operate to bring about shifts in mass communication theory.What are they? How did they cause a shift from limited effects theories to more culturally oriented theories?

Question 65

What is the difference between administrative and critical media research?

Question 66

Cultural theorists believe in powerful media influence.Do you agree or disagree with them? Defend your answer.

Question 67

Briefly describe two-step flow theory.

Question 68

What is the difference between micro- and macro-level media effects?

Question 69

How does agenda setting operate in contemporary mass media?

Question 70

Critical cultural theorists argue that elites use their power over the media to maintain a culture that is beneficial to them and detrimental to most others.Do you agree or disagree with them? How do you account for the fact that the vast majority of people seem content with the current structure and operation of our media system? Defend your answer.