Deck 5: Analyzing Your Audience

Question 1

When you tailor your speech to the educational level of your classmates in a public speaking course, you are focusing your audience analysis on __________.

A) audience demographics
B) audience psychology
C) audience culture
D) audience heterogeneity

Answer 1

audience demographics

Question 2

Which of the following is a demographic characteristic of an audience's composition?

A) beliefs
B) values
C) age range
D) common knowledge

Answer 2

age range

Question 3

Which of the following characteristics of a speech is affected by the size of your audience?

A) the degree of formality of your presentation
B) the amount of supporting material you use
C) the impact of your attention getter
D) the length of your speech

Answer 3

the degree of formality of your presentation

Question 4

Heterogeneity is an element of audience __________.

A) culture
B) psychology
C) size
D) demographics

Question 5

Whether or not an audience is voluntary or captive is a characteristic of audience __________.

A) demographics
B) culture
C) perception
D) psychology

Question 6

When addressing a heterogeneous audience, a speaker should __________.

A) use broader generalizations
B) use a wider variety of supporting material
C) increase the use of platitudes
D) apply demographic stereotypes

Question 7

Relying solely on demographic categories for audience analysis leads the speaker to risk unwarranted __________.

A) stereotyping
B) platitudes
C) condescension
D) allusions

Question 8

For an audience of military science majors, a speech about infantry battle strategy is well suited to their __________.

A) ethos
B) self-interest
C) personal interests
D) demographics

Question 9

The topics, hobbies, and experiences that are important or interesting to listeners make up their __________.

A) personal interests
B) self-interests
C) reference groups
D) cultural facts

Question 10

Which of the following speech elements should be avoided when speaking to an audience whose interest in a topic is low?

A) personal anecdotes
B) rhetorical questions
C) startling statements
D) technical language

Question 11

During her speech about alcohol use on campus, Leila formally defined every term for her audience, including "chug," "kegger," and "chaser." Her audience was turned off by the belief that she was talking down to them and failing to acknowledge their prior knowledge. Leila's mistake was in showing what to her listeners?

A) stereotyping
B) allusions
C) condescension
D) prejudice

Question 12

An analysis of listeners' beliefs, values, interests, and knowledge is an examination of __________.

A) audience culture
B) audience psychology
C) audience demographics
D) audience composition

Question 13

A local accountant has been asked by the College Republicans to speak to the group's members about tax reform. Which element of audience culture can he most count on to help him analyze the audience?

A) their reference group
B) their beliefs
C) their roles
D) their cultural diversity

Question 14

Once a speaker has discovered the common knowledge and experience shared by the listeners, what can she use effectively in her speech?

A) platitudes
B) allusions
C) demographics
D) selective attention

Question 15

Statements that listeners regard as true are called __________.

A) beliefs
B) values
C) perceptions
D) allusions

Question 16

When your audience analysis focuses on the perceptual processes of the audience, including listeners' tendencies toward selective exposure and selective attention, you are assessing audience __________.

A) culture
B) demographics
C) feedback
D) psychology

Question 17

The listener's tendency to listen only to messages that are agreeable is known as selective __________.

A) attention
B) exposure
C) perception
D) assimilation

Question 18

The listener's choice of whether to focus intently on a speech is known as selective __________.

A) exposure
B) assimilation
C) perception
D) attention

Question 19

Kai usually did not listen carefully to her classmates' speeches. However, when Andre gave a speech about her favorite city, Paris, she focused intently on the speech and followed each point carefully. This is an example of __________.

A) selective attention
B) selective exposure
C) selective stereotyping
D) rhetorical selection

Question 20

Because listeners have a tendency toward selective attention, speakers must be sure to __________.

A) provide clear supporting material for listeners
B) use several visual aids
C) use animated gestures and facial expressions to entertain them
D) motivate listeners to pay attention

Question 21

A speaker who repeats the main ideas and key points of a speech helps to combat selective attention and motivate the audience by making the message __________.

A) personally relevant to the listeners
B) stand out
C) easy to follow
D) vivid

Question 22

Christina wanted to find out how her planned persuasive speech advocating an increase in student fees would affect her audience. She discussed her ideas with a group of her classmates to probe their feelings about the topic. Which method of audience analysis was Christina using?

A) formal
B) informal
C) general
D) specific

Question 23

Outside of the classroom, most speakers conduct audience analysis using __________.

A) simplifying devices
B) market research
C) focus groups
D) audience surveys

Question 24

When Mr. Douglas was preparing to speak to the PTA at his son's school, his audience analysis was limited to assuming that his listeners would share a common concern for their children's welfare. This approach to audience analysis represents __________.

A) informal audience analysis
B) formal audience analysis
C) focusing on the universal audience
D) focusing on audience roles

Question 25

What is true of analyzing your own ethos?

A) Your speech should minimize perceptions of difference.
B) You should avoid trite references to community building.
C) You should not advocate positions that contradict those of your audience.
D) You can study audience perceptions of your ethos but are unlikely to be able to change them.

Question 26

Heterogeneity refers to cultural similarity among audience members.

Question 27

Your classmates in public speaking class can be transformed from a captive audience to a voluntary audience with effective audience adaptation.

Question 28

Voluntary audiences are generally motivated and receptive to the speaker's message.

Question 29

When speaking to a knowledgeable audience, condescending is an effective strategy for developing positive ethos.

Question 30

Identifying listeners' reference groups is fairly simple because most listeners belong to just one reference group.

Question 31

Using an organizational structure that makes the speech easy to follow is an effective way to motivate listeners to pay attention to the speech.

Question 32

Through audience analysis and careful strategic planning, a speaker can ensure that listeners will interpret the speech as the speaker intends.

Question 33

Direct observation of listeners, demographic analysis, and library research seeking recent surveys and poll results are informal methods of audience analysis.

Question 34

The universal audience is the group of listeners who share the characteristics of people in general, such as self-interest, common sense, and enthusiasm for a good story.

Question 35

As Aristotle pointed out, ethos is an important factor in the success of a speech, but many other factors are more important.

Question 36

Adapting a speech to a particular audience requires an examination of audience __________, which includes characteristics such as the size, heterogeneity, and educational level of the listeners.

Question 37

A speaker should adapt his or her speech to the audience's __________, which requires an examination of the listeners' interests, beliefs, values, and common experiences.

Question 38

A __________ audience is required to attend a speech, so its members may resent having to hear the speech, which may undercut the speaker's ethos.

Question 39

When a listener likes the speaker's topic and wants to know more about it, the topic is said to appeal to the listener's __________ interest.

Question 40

"Consumer confidence is declining due to continued joblessness" is a statement of __________.

Question 41

When we are exposed to speakers with different views, we use __________ to focus on those ideas that are consistent with our current thinking and to dismiss ideas that are inconsistent with our beliefs and values.

Question 42

To combat listeners' tendencies toward selective attention, the effective speaker must devise ways to __________ the audience to pay attention.

Question 43

When you imagine your specific audience as a group of listeners who share the common sense, self-interest, sensitivity, and enthusiasm for a good story that most people share, you are imagining them as the __________.

Question 44

A speaker who will say anything to please an audience is guilty of __________.

Question 45

How listeners perceive your __________ will affect what they think about the speech.

Question 46

Explain which elements you would examine in a demographic analysis of an audience. Explain how each element might affect the strategies a speaker might use in preparing and presenting a speech.

Question 47

How does cultural diversity present a strategic challenge to speakers? How can speakers adapt to culturally diverse audiences? Which approaches do you believe are most likely to work for you?

Question 48

Define selective attention and selective exposure, and explain the strategies available to a speaker to overcome these problems. Identify which strategies you believe are most likely to succeed.

Question 49

It is unusual for a speaker to conduct a formal audience analysis. What informal audience analysis methods are available, and what can a speaker learn from them? What would an informal analysis include that a formal analysis would not? What would a formal analysis include that an informal one would not?

Question 50

Describe the process you should use to analyze your own ethos. Identify specific things about your ethos and how you would incorporate them into the speech.