Deck 9: Intercultural Communication

Question 1

Americans calling their culture the greatest culture on Earth is an example of ____________.

A) chauvinism
B) ethnocentrism
C) cultural pluralism
D) discrimination
E) know-nothingism

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following is an obstacle to effective intercultural communication?

A) cultural pluralism
B) cultural participation
C) discrimination
D) cultural relativism
E) assimilation

Answer 2

C

Question 3

______________is the degree to which we can successfully make meaning with communicators from different backgrounds.

A) Intercultural communication competence
B) Cultural relativism
C) Degree of tolerance
D) Reverse racism
E) Ethnocentrism

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Your friend, who is Caucasian, insists on asking your African-American friends if she can touch their hair. You explain to her that that's a bit insensitive, if not outright rude, but her response is always is the same, "I'm just being me." She is exhibiting __________.

A) unconscious intercultural incompetence
B) conscious intercultural incompetence
C) intercultural self-image
D) intercultural individualism
E) intercultural ethnocentrism

Question 5

Which of the following is one of Hofstede's value dimensions?

A) Authoritarian vs Demographic cultures
B) Power distance
C) Conflict Avoidance
D) Urban vs Rural cultures
E) Authoritarian vs Democratic

Question 6

In general, the United States is a(n) _______________ culture.

A) collective culture
B) individualistic culture
C) feminine culture
D) high-context culture
E) agrarian

Question 7

Despite their often negative influence, stereotypes persist because___________.

A) they are usually accurate for most members of a given group
B) the culture demands it
C) they are useful for those who hold them
D) education in this country is inadequate to dispel them
E) people remain aloof from "your kind"

Question 8

Stereotypes begin forming _______________.

A) in the womb
B) early in childhood
C) in the young adult years
D) in the late teenage years
E) when children watch too much TV

Question 9

The _________ metaphor has replaced the ______ metaphor as a more precise representation of American culture because it recognizes that the individual richness of each bounded culture is valued for itself and for what it contributes to the whole.

A) melting pot/salad
B) salad/melting pot
C) big tent/small tent
D) small tent/big tent
E) autocratic/democratic

Question 10

It is quite natural for people to feel a preference for their ___________.

A) in-group
B) fellow humans
C) out-group
D) fellow citizens
E) neighbors

Question 11

Identity Negotiation theory states that people learn who they are through ___________.

A) visual cues
B) interaction
C) education
D) conflict
E) assimilation

Question 12

When you enter a culture different from your own you tend to look for the "rules," those aspects of everyday life that help you determine right and wrong. In fact, you are looking for that culture's ____________.

A) relativism
B) symbolism
C) values
D) beliefs
E) heroes

Question 13

A New England family moves to the American Southwest, and despite that region's different culture and traditions it still holds on to its original northern culture in an example of _________.

A) assimilation
B) cultural relativism
C) cultural pluralism
D) recidivism
E) ethnocentrism

Question 14

A different New England family moves to the American Southwest and quickly adopts the traditions and culture of that area, especially the Western music and desert-themed art in an example of _________.

A) assimilation
B) cultural relativism
C) cultural pluralism
D) recidivism
E) ethnocentrism

Question 15

Lucy decides to get more in touch with her family's Brazilian roots, so she takes beginning Portuguese at the community center and joins her campus Brazilian dance team. These are acts of ____________.

A) cultural participation
B) cultural pluralism
C) cultural norms
D) assimilation
E) ethnocentrism

Question 16

____________ is a prime example of an individualistic cultural norm.

A) Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
B) First, do no harm
C) Harmony above all
D) Love they neighbor as thyself
E) I am who I am

Question 17

Discrimination is a(n) _____________.

A) attitude
B) behavior
C) prejudice
D) way of life
E) benefit

Question 18

Of the following regions, the one most likely to house high-context cultures is ________.

A) Asia
B) The United States
C) South America
D) Scandinavia
E) Canada

Question 19

"I say what I mean and I mean what I say" is most likely to be spoken by someone immersed in a _________ culture.

A) high-context
B) low-context
C) masculine
D) low power distance
E) mechanistic

Question 20

We all occupy different places in the culture because of our gender, race, class, and other social categories. This __________explains how these different aspects of who we are combine to shape or limit access to the culture's many benefits.

A) stereotyping
B) intersectionality
C) labeling
D) discrimination
E) intermingling

Question 21

____________ tends to be encouraged in a feminine culture.

A) Making money
B) Standing out
C) Truth telling
D) Career success
E) Nurturing

Question 22

Individualistic cultures tend to value ____________.

A) making money
B) standing out
C) truth telling
D) nurturing
E) assimilation

Question 23

Members of collective cultures tend to value __________.

A) success
B) independence
C) harmony
D) truth telling
E) wealth

Question 24

A cultural transformer can effortlessly ______________.

A) abandon one bounded culture for another
B) teach the dominant culture to immigrants
C) move between cultures
D) speak a number of foreign languages
E) teach a bounded culture to a dominant one

Question 25

By 2040 the United States will be a ___________ country; that is, there will be no single racial or ethnic majority among its people.

A) Mixed-racial
B) Europeanized
C) minority-majority
D) majority-minority
E) post-racial

Question 26

Making statements like gay men are great at interior design and women are emotionally weaker than men is an example of ________________.

A) stereotyping
B) labeling
C) prejudice
D) chauvinism
E) discrimination

Question 27

You simply don't understand why Mary is unwilling to go with you to Chinatown. "I'm just uncomfortable around those people" is her only explanation. This is an example of __________.

A) stereotyping
B) labeling
C) prejudice
D) chauvinism
E) discrimination

Question 28

When pressed, Mary will admit that part of her problem with Asians is that they come from a part of the world that simply isn't as wonderful as her homeland, the good old USA. This is an example of __________.

A) stereotyping
B) labeling
C) prejudice
D) chauvinism
E) discrimination

Question 29

___________________ theory argues that group membership, in and of itself, creates a self-identification that will favor the in-group at the expense of the out-group.

A) Symbolic Interaction
B) Frame analysis
C) Social Identity
D) Identity Negotiation
E) Relational Dialectics

Question 30

____________ theory argues that when we interact with others we, to varying degrees, assert, challenge, and possibly modify our assumptions about our own and their identities.

A) Symbolic Interaction
B) Frame analysis
C) Social Identity
D) Identity Negotiation
E) Relational Dialectics

Question 31

One of the goals of schools' efforts to diversify their student bodies is to allow people of different racial, ethnic, social, and cultural backgrounds to interact, because just as _________ would predict, that is an effective way of reducing stereotyping and intergroup biases.

A) Symbolic Interaction
B) Frame analysis
C) the Contact Hypothesis
D) Identity Negotiation Theory
E) Relational Dialectics

Question 32

Cultural relativism, the idea that people vary in their cultural behaviors, traditions, and values and those differences don't make any culture less or more valued, leads to ________.

A) out-group preference
B) cultural inclusiveness
C) in-group preference
D) assimilation
E) ethnocentrism

Question 33

For many years Americans spoke proudly of their country as a__________; all the immigrants' values, beliefs, music, food, celebrations-all the things that made their cultures unique-would become one and mix with the existing American culture, forming an even better, harmonious whole.

A) salad
B) big tent
C) small tent
D) melting pot
E) a shining city on a hill

Question 34

Organizational communication researcher Geert Hofstede explained that there are six ___________ along which the things that different cultures hold dear can shape their communication.

A) value dimensions
B) assimilation routes
C) cultural tropes
D) cultural indicators
E) levels of ethnicity

Question 35

Communication scholar Edward Hall identified a seventh way that cultures could be differentiated; they differ in terms of their people's ___________.

A) comfort with hierarchy
B) degree of reliance on informational cues in the communication contexts in which they find themselves
C) comfort with uncertainty
D) commitment to the group over the self
E) degree to which they accept difference, even when it threatens tradition

Question 36

Alex flunked out of school, shaming not only himself, but his entire family. This scenario is most likely representative of the way folks from a(n) _________ culture would react,

A) individualistic
B) high power distance
C) low uncertainty avoidance
D) masculine
E) collective

Question 37

Your school's president routinely drops by students' weekend tail-gate parties, frequently eats in the student union cafeteria, and maintains an open-door policy for all students. She is clearly trying to foster a __________ culture on your campus.

A) low power distance
B) collective
C) high power distance
D) feminine
E) masculine

Question 38

Some countries, for example Germany and Austria, tend to have formal rules for greeting, but others, notably the United States, are far more open to variation and experimentation in greetings. At least in this instance, it makes sense to see the United States as a ___________ culture.

A) low power distance
B) high-context
C) low uncertainty avoidance
D) high uncertainty avoidance
E) feminine

Question 39

In the communication of _____________ cultures there is much more "me" and "I" talk, more open expression of material comfort, and greater amounts of conversational challenge.

A) feminine
B) high-context
C) masculine
D) low-context
E) high uncertainty avoidance

Question 40

In high-context cultures such as Japan, Korea, and China, speakers know to ignore the words (the_________) and pay attention to the understood meaning.

A) cultural communication
B) explicit code
C) assertion
D) assimilation
E) meme

Question 41

When you engage in effective intercultural communication without any thought, you are engaging in _____________.

A) unconscious incompetence
B) conscious incompetence
C) conscious competence
D) unconscious competence
E) routine assimilation

Question 42

Social scientists believe that quick categorization is_________, but that stereotyping is _____________.

A) evolutionarily hard-wired/a controllable cognitive process
B) a controllable cognitive process/evolutionarily hard-wired
C) typical of low power distance cultures/not
D) typical of high power distance cultures/not
E) taught in the family/taught in school

Question 43

One way to improve intercultural communication in the workplace is to figuratively "walk a mile in another person's shoes." You might recognize this as _____________, putting ourselves in the position of others in order to better understand them.

A) seeing all people as human first
B) role-taking
C) increasing self-knowledge
D) assuming mutual respect
E) conscious incompetence

Question 44

The best way to succeed as an intercultural communicator is not to tolerate diversity but to ____________ it.

A) avoid
B) ignore
C) respect and celebrate
D) emulate those who practice
E) get better at

Question 45

Scholarly evidence suggests that children who ___________ hold fewer stereotypes throughout their lives.

A) travel abroad at a young age
B) have more exposure to diverse groups
C) have bi-cultural parents
D) have tolerance training in school
E) watch less TV

Question 46

According to Hofstede's value dimensions, people in ______ cultures tend to see their fates as sealed early in life.

A) indulgent
B) long-term oriented
C) short-term oriented
D) restrained
E) masculine

Question 47

Even though she herself is a woman, Jill refuses to hire females to write computer code for her new start-up because she thinks they not only distract the male programmers, but they simply aren't strong enough to work the many hours she expects from them. Her refusal to hire qualified women is a case of ___________.

A) discrimination
B) chauvinism
C) intolerance
D) labeling
E) ethnocentrism

Question 48

When a female executive looks down on her male and female subordinates or older teenagers act superior toward their younger peers simply because they view age as hierarchal they are demonstrating ___________.

A) discrimination
B) chauvinism
C) intolerance
D) labeling
E) ethnocentrism

Question 49

Identity Negotiation Theory argues that in childhood people work to establish first their _______ identities and then their ________ identities.

A) in-group/out-group
B) cultural/personal
C) personal/cultural
D) out-group/in-group
E) social/individual

Question 50

In differentiating high-context and low-context cultures, Edward Hall stressed that one of culture's functions is to designate ___________ and__________.

A) who is in/who is out
B) who we tolerate/who we dismiss
C) which hierarchies we value/which hierarchies we devalue
D) what we pay attention to/what we ignore
E) what traditions we follow/what traditions we ignore

Question 51

Define stereotyping and, using examples, explain the four ways it hinders intercultural communication.

Question 52

What is intercultural communication competence and its four levels? What type of thinking does intercultural communication require?

Question 53

What do prejudice and discrimination have in common? How do they differ? Give examples.

Question 54

Differentiate between individualistic and collective cultures. Give an example of each.

Question 55

What is the difference between generalizing and stereotyping? Offer an example?

Question 56

What are the basic principles of the Social Identity Theory? How does this theory apply to intercultural communication? Give an example of people differentiating between their in-group and out-group and how that might influence their interaction

Question 57

What is tolerance? What is the problem with tolerance? How does tolerance affect intercultural communication?

Question 58

How do you feel about America soon becoming a majority-minority country? If you welcome this demographic reality, why? If you fear it, why? Do you think people of different ethnic backgrounds should fear or welcome its inevitability? How much impact do you think this will have on intercultural communication between Americans of different backgrounds?

Question 59

Differentiate between high- and low-context cultures. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? In which of these two dimensions, were you free to choose, would you feel most comfortable growing up?

Question 60

Social Identity Theory and Identity Negotiation Theory, taken together, offer an important intercultural communication lesson. How might that lesson shape your own commitment to effective intercultural communication?