Deck 5: The Consolidation of the Media Effects Trend

Question 1

According to Klapper's phenoministic theory, if the media have any effect at all, it is ___________.

A) phenomenal
B) reinforcement
C) delayed and inferential
D) part of the two-step flow

Answer 1

B

Question 2

According to functionalists, practices that are disruptive to the group, society, or system are ______.

A) manifest
B) latent
C) dysfunctional
D) functional

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to functionalists, consequences of practices that are unintended and difficult to observe are _______.

A) latent
B) manifest
C) functional
D) dysfunctional

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Functional analysis was appealing to Robert Merton and his followers because of its __________.

A) macro-micro level integration of effects
B) ability to clarify outcomes and focus on structure
C) value neutrality
D) similarity to grand theory

Question 5

A latent function is __________.

A) intended and easier to observe than manifest effects
B) unintended and easier to observe than manifest effects
C) intended and more difficult to observe than manifest effects
D) unintended and more difficult to observe than manifest effects

Question 6

Mass entertainment theory argues that ________.

A) TV entertainment has several useful prosocial effects
B) TV entertainment has mostly negative effects on mass audiences
C) TV entertainment has no important effects on mass audiences
D) TV News programs are very important for most people

Question 7

Paul Lazarsfeld branded the use of surveys and experiments to probe media audiences and interpret consumer attitudes and behaviors ____.

A) social science
B) critical research
C) administrative research
D) interpretive analysis

Question 8

_________ explain only limited domains or ranges of action that had been or could be explored using empirical research.

A) Critical theories
B) Middle-range theories
C) Two-step theories
D) Interpretive studies

Question 9

Social scientists willingly accept the ________, the idea that every answer produces new questions.

A) specification of ignorance
B) multi-faceted social science
C) ontology
D) metatheory

Question 10

The classic four functions of the media include surveillance of the environment, correlation of the parts of society, transmission of the social heritage, and _______.

A) encouraging violence
B) building community
C) selling advertising
D) entertainment

Question 11

You go online to check the weather to see if you need to bring an umbrella to class. This is an example of which of the classic four functions?

A) transmission of the social heritage
B) correlation of the parts of society
C) entertainment
D) surveillance of the environment

Question 12

You've read everything there is to read about corruption in the state legislature. You're up-to-date, but there really isn't anything you can do about it. This is media's ___________.

A) latent dysfunction
B) narcotizing dysfunction
C) third-person effect
D) surveillance of the environment function

Question 13

The most important limitation of information-flow theory is that it is a simplistic, linear, _______ theory.

A) unscientific
B) unethical
C) middle-range
D) source-dominated

Question 14

Lazarsfeld's research on the two-step flow of media influence demonstrated that opinion leaders existed at all levels of society and the flow of their influence tended to be __________.

A) horizontal rather than vertical
B) vertical rather than horizantal
C) rapid rather than slow
D) slow rather than rapid

Question 15

An important concept in systems theory is that systems consists of a set of parts that ______________.

A) operate independently of one another for maximum efficiency
B) function as well under pressure as they do when there is no pressure
C) are interlinked so that changes in one part induce changes in other parts
D) are impervious to outside influence

Question 16

One of the reasons Klapper's phenoministic theory still holds up today is that it accounted for changes in the mass communication process brought about by the coming of television.

Question 17

One contemporary criticism of Klapper's phenoministic theory is that it equates reinforcement with no effects.

Question 18

Harold Lasswell's model of communication is a good example of the transmissional view of communication because it accepts the power of feedback.

Question 19

Cybernetics is the study of regulation and control in complex machines.

Question 20

One of the strengths of applying systems models to communication is the ease with which they allow claims of causality.

Question 21

A contemporary criticism of functionalism and systems theory is that they have a bias in favor of the status quo.

Question 22

Most postpositivist researchers welcomed systems theory because it identified important causal links between system components.

Question 23

One advantage of explaining media influence using middle-range theories is that they do not remain separate but can be consolidated into wider networks of theory.

Question 24

One function of the news is to keep people informed. This is its latent function.

Question 25

Information-flow research found that most people learned quite a bit from hard news.

Question 26

In two-step flow theory, opinion leaders and those who followed their opinions often shared the same social status.

Question 27

Middle-range theory provided an ideal rationale and justification for even grander, more large-scale investigations of media influence.

Question 28

Information-flow researchers differentiated between "hard" and "soft" news. Hard news typically included news about politics, science, world events, and community organizations.

Question 29

Empirical social researchers confident in their assessment that media had limited effects found support in the work of earlier advocates of mass society and propaganda theories.

Question 30

During the 1950s, 1960s, and into the 1970s, the limited effects perspective dominated American mass communication research.