Deck 2: Culture and Interpersonal Communication

Question 1

Which of the following statements correctly defines standpoint as a layer of culture?

A) Standpoint refers to shared cultural institutions, like nationality or ethnicity.
B) Standpoint refers to shared ways of thinking based on social or economic circumstances.
C) Standpoint refers to shared ways of communication based on frequent contact.
D) All of the above correctly define standpoint.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following statements best defines speech community?

A) The norms, values, beliefs, and customs that we share with a group of people.
B) People with the same national, religious, and ethnic affiliation.
C) People whose common experiences have led them to develop similarities.
D) People who have day-to-day contact with each other.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following statements correctly describes how cultures change over time?

A) People invent new practices that are integrated into the culture.
B) People reject the practices of other cultures.
C) People establish rituals to mark important cultural events.
D) None of the above correctly describes how cultures change over time.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What does it suggest about culture to say that cultures are distinct because they have identified different beliefs and practices as meaningful?

A) Culture is normative.
B) Culture changes over time.
C) Culture emerges through socialization.
D) Culture emerges through selectivity.

Question 5

Which of the following refers to the process by which cultural newcomers come to understand the culture's guidelines and assumptions?

A) invention
B) diffusion
C) socialization
D) ethnocentrism

Question 6

The advent of digital photography, culminating in smart phones with cameras and online media for posting photos, spawned new language - such as "photobomb" and "selfie" - to capture the spontaneous new world of photography. What process in cultural change does the emerging of these new terms reflect?

A) Selection
B) Socialization
C) Invention
D) Diffusion

Question 7

In Korean culture, people show a great deal of respect and deference to their elders and people of authority. Given that Korean culture respects a rigid hierarchy based on power and status, which of the following characterizations of their culture is correct?

A) Korean culture has high power distance.
B) Korean culture has low power distance.
C) Korean culture is high context.
D) Korean culture is low context.

Question 8

Valerie grew up in a culture in which she was expected to choose a career that would benefit her family and community first and foremost, and only then benefit herself. Her primary consideration in her career choice is how her decision will benefit the groups she belongs to. Which of the following best describes Valerie's cultural orientation?

A) Valerie is from an uncertainty-seeking culture
B) Valerie is from an uncertainty-avoidant culture
C) Valerie is from a culture high in individualism
D) Valerie is from a culture high in collectivism

Question 9

What makes an interpersonal interaction intercultural?

A) Partners are from two cultural groups.
B) Partners have different standpoints.
C) Partners are from different speech communities.
D) Partners communicate based on their membership in cultural groups.

Question 10

Accommodation refers to becoming more similar to another person over the course of an interaction. Which of the following describes a condition under which accommodation is likely?

A) We dislike or feel different from our communication partner.
B) We value our own culture at that moment.
C) We want to promote intercultural relations.
D) We have had bad experiences with members of this cultural group in the past.

Question 11

Talia and Lucy are from different cultural groups. Lucy would like to have good relations with Talia's cultural group. However, Talia does not like Lucy's cultural group, and wants to emphasize her culture's distinctiveness from Lucy's. According to Communication Accommodation Theory, which of the following is likely to occur when Talia and Lucy talk?

A) Talia will ask Lucy many questions, while Lucy will not ask Talia many questions
B) Lucy will ask Talia many questions, while Talia will not ask Lucy many questions
C) Talia will try to match Lucy's communication patterns, while Lucy will try to avoid communicating like Talia
D) Lucy will try to match Talia's communication patterns, while Talia will try to avoid communicating like Lucy

Question 12

Which of the following forms of culturally significant discourse refers to carefully scripted performances that mark culturally significant events?

A) myths
B) social melodramas
C) rituals
D) all of the above are correct

Question 13

Janice is an electrical engineer and one of the only women who works for a predominantly male corporation. Unlike her male counterparts, Janice is frequently expected to make copies, fetch coffee, and clean up the work space, which is not part of her job description. What barrier to effective intercultural communication is present when the men terat Janice as inferior or unimportant?

A) marginalization
B) ethnocentrism
C) uncertainty
D) anxiety

Question 14

When you are with your very best friends, you have your own inside jokes, gestures, and means of communicating that are not necessarily familiar to other people. This is because your friend group is a ___.

A) Cultural Institution
B) Standpoint
C) Speech Community
D) Speech Code

Question 15

Which of the following terms refers to the system of symbols, rules, and assumptions that people create to accomplish communication?

A) Speech community
B) Speech code
C) Sub-culture
D) Social drama

Question 16

Accommodation refers to becoming more similar to another person over the course of an interaction. Which of the following describes a condition under which accommodation is likely?

A) We dislike or feel different from our communication partner.
B) We value our own culture at that moment.
C) We want to promote intercultural relations.
D) We have had bad experiences with members of this cultural group in the past.

Question 17

What is the function of myths, as a communication device that reflects culture?

A) Myths indicate when an action is appropriate within the cultural group.
B) Myths communicate core culture values by identifying qualities of heroes and villains.
C) Myths celebrate culturally significant events through scripted behaviors.
D) All of the above are functions of myths.