Deck 3: Decoding Messages: Listening and Perception

Question 1

The story that opens chapter three (the story about scientists attending a convention) illustrates that

A) most people attend to and interpret events objectively.
B) scientists are better observers than ordinary people.
C) the perceptual responses of scientists are less accurate than those of artists.
D) perception is a subjective process.

Answer 1

perception is a subjective process.

Question 2

Which of these statements is true of listening?

A) Listening is a social cognitive process.
B) Americans are, on the whole, very effective listeners.
C) Listening is an active, not a passive, process.
D) All of the above are true

Answer 2

Americans are, on the whole, very effective listeners.

Question 3

The gap between Americans' listening ability and their performance is due to

A) the low value Americans place on listening.
B) the fact that teachers often don't challenge students to listen carefully.
C) the fact that parents often discourage listening.
D) All of the above

Answer 3

All of the above

Question 4

In order to improve attention it is a good idea to do all of the following EXCEPT

A) have a clear purpose in mind when entering a listening situation.
B) acknowledge how easy it is to become distracted.
C) pay attention to how something is said as well as to what is said.
D) avoid listening to content you know will bore or annoy you.

Question 5

During the interpretive step in the listening process, people do all of the following EXCEPT

A) give stimuli structure, stability, and meaning.
B) use schemata to fill in missing details.
C) rely on mental guidelines such as personal prototypes and scripts.
D) see the world exactly as it is presented to them.

Question 6

When we recognize a moving object as a single entity rather than as a series of separate entities, we are imposing

A) structure
B) stability
C) meaning
D) a prototype

Question 7

When we translate the flickering lights and shadows we see in a TV shot as a recognizable object, we are imposing

A) structure.
B) stability.
C) meaning
D) a prototype

Question 8

A schema is

A) a form of listening wherein people offer comfort and support to one another.
B) a kind of bias found in the thought processes of lazy processors.
C) an internal representation of an object, quality, or action.
D) people with exceptionally accurate perceptual abilities.

Question 9

Person prototypes are:

A) the characteristics we habitually notice in others.
B) representations of sequences of action.
C) idealized representations of categories of people.
D) people we ignore and treat as "nonpersons."

Question 10

Sue has given campus tours to prospective students for so long that she knows exactly what to do next. Her knowledge of the sequence of actions involved in giving a tour is an example of

A) a person prototype.
B) a personal construct.
C) a script.
D) None of the above

Question 11

Sue has very strong ideas about what a professor should look like. She is surprised when she meets Dr. Smith, because Smith does not look like a professor should. Smith violates one of Sue's

A) person prototypes
B) personal constructs
C) scripts
D) None of the above

Question 12

One of the characteristics that Sue always looks for in others is honesty. For Sue, honesty is an example of

A) a person prototype.
B) a personal construct.
C) a script.
D) cognitive complexity.

Question 13

Which of the following statements is true about chronically accessible constructs?

A) Chronically accessible constructs are constructs that are seldom used and have only a minor effect on the way we interpret what we hear.
B) When we say that a personal construct is chronically accessible, we mean it is a construct a person uses frequently to judge a wide range of people.
C) Chronically accessible constructs seldom bias perception because they are within our awareness and easy to monitor.
D) Chronically accessible constructs are found in only about 10% of the population; they are very rare.

Question 14

Mindless processing is

A) inaccurate and faulty processing.
B) information processing that relies heavily on familiar schemata.
C) processing that focuses on unusual or novel events.
D) careful, critical thinking.

Question 15

When we say a construct is primed, we mean that

A) we associate the construct with past rewards.
B) we associate the construct with past punishments.
C) because the construct has been mentioned recently, we are sensitive to it.
D) we learned the construct very early in life, often in the first 5 years, so it is important.

Question 16

A perception check is

A) a method teachers use to reward good listeners in the classroom.
B) any factor that gets in the way of good listening and decreases our ability to interpret correctly.
C) a response that allows you to state your interpretation and ask your partner whether or not that interpretation is correct.
D) a cognitive bias that makes us listen only to information we already agree with.

Question 17

Which of the following is a description (rather than an inference or an evaluation)?

A) When I asked Barry the question, he shifted his gaze and didn't make eye contact.
B) Barry is very annoying; you can't have a decent conversation with him.
C) Barry is lying to me.
D) All of the above

Question 18

Which of the following should be AVOIDED if you want to improve listening?

A) Perception checks
B) Paraphrasing
C) Active listening
D) None of the above

Question 19

Which of the following is true of memory?

A) False memories are very rare; well-adjusted people do not have false memories.
B) Memory can be affected by stress.
C) Memory can be improved if retroactive inhibition occurs.
D) All of the above

Question 20

In order to make sure that audiences understand and accept their messages, it is a good idea for speakers to

A) add random bits of information in unexpected places within a message.
B) use extreme vocal variety so that audiences have to readjust their listening as the message goes on.
C) relate any new information to old information the audience already has.
D) use challenging vocabulary that makes the speaker seem smarter than the audience.

Question 21

Which of the following kinds of information will be difficult to store and retrieve?

A) Information that is tied to an external trigger.
B) Information that the audience has actively rehearsed.
C) Information that is related to the self-concept.
D) None of the above

Question 22

When Della tutors Nathan, she makes sure to use analogies that relate new material to familiar material that Nathan already understands. In doing so she is

A) enhancing interpretation by increasing comprehension.
B) increasing involuntary attention.
C) offering an incentive to increase acceptance of message content.
D) using repetition to increase retention.

Question 23

Scott wants to capture the attention of his audience. He should

A) adapt the message to audience goals, needs, and plans.
B) avoid intense or novel stimuli
C) make sure he uses abstract words.
D) speak very slowly, in a monotone.

Question 24

Emily wants to persuade an audience to accept her proposal. To increase acceptance, she should do all of the following EXCEPT

A) offer incentives for acceptance.
B) encourage positive cognitive responses.
C) challenge and criticize cherished beliefs the audience currently holds.
D) provide interactive, hands-on experience.

Question 25

According to cognitive response theory

A) receivers accept messages not because of what a speaker says but because of their own responses to the speaker.
B) emotional material should be avoided during communication because it interferes with comprehension.
C) most people's responses to messages are intuitive, based more on feeling than on thought.
D) people cannot be taught listening skills.

Question 26

The method that most encourages cognitive responses is

A) role-playing or use of an activity in which receivers take an active part.
B) use of carefully organized lecture material.
C) use of multiple channels to convey a single message.
D) use of charts and statistics.

Question 27

Which is an example of triggering?

A) You forgot to take your medicine until you hear someone mentioning taking vitamins; a trigger is a stimulus that helps you retrieve information.
B) You hear news so shocking you completely forget your noon meeting; a trigger is surprising information that blocks out memory.
C) A friend criticizes you in public; a trigger is a harsh criticism.
D) Your prejudice keeps you from processing information fairly; a trigger is a bias or prejudice that keeps someone from being fair.

Question 28

Hearing involves both sensing external aural data and labeling, organizing, and assigning meaning to them.

Question 29

Hearing and listening are identical processes.

Question 30

Listening ability decreases with education. Whereas listening is relatively good in first grade, it generally decreases by high school.

Question 31

According to your text, hearing is a process wherein sound waves are translated into electrical impulses and processed by the central nervous system.

Question 32

Using schemata often makes perception easier and more efficient.

Question 33

Using schemata can make our perceptions inaccurate and unfair.

Question 34

Attention that is guided by personal plans and goals is called involuntary attention.

Question 35

Bob glances up from his work to look at the TV screen because a commercial with a loud, lively tune comes on; this illustrates involuntary attention.

Question 36

A cognitively complex person usually uses one or two simple constructs and ignores information that doesn't fit those constructs.

Question 37

The more highly scripted an action, the more mindlessly we follow it.

Question 38

When communication is scripted, we are forced to think carefully about what we say.

Question 39

There are some advantages to acting mindlessly, such as processing speed.

Question 40

Because much of our listening is mindless, we are freed up so that we can focus on the new, the unusual, and the potentially dangerous.

Question 41

When we say that a personal construct has been primed, we mean that it is a new concept we have never encountered before.

Question 42

Cognitive complexity interferes with good communication and should be avoided if possible.

Question 43

We can listen much faster than we can speak.

Question 44

People who engage in critical listening are generally poor listeners because they are too negative and reject what others have to say.

Question 45

In evaluating what you hear, it is generally a good idea to "consider the source."

Question 46

When the early American settlers used the term "Boston massacre" to describe a minor skirmish with the British, they were using loaded language.

Question 47

Now that we can gather information on the Web, it is no longer necessary to look for information from any other sources.

Question 48

In evaluating information gleaned from the World Wide Web, it is a good idea to accept what you read; if it wasn't true, it wouldn't be on the Web.

Question 49

Active listening is a term used to describe a form of listening in which people multi-task while they are listening.

Question 50

Abstract information generally captures involuntary attention more successfully than concrete information.

Question 51

Skilled communicators consider only voluntary attention when designing messages; little can be done to capture involuntary attention.

Question 52

Research shows that relating new information to old information confuses audience members and makes comprehension difficult.

Question 53

What are the five steps in the listening process?

Question 54

Why does listening often fail? What are some things that can be done to improve listening?

Question 55

What is the difference between voluntary and involuntary attention? What are two things a speaker can do to increase voluntary attention? What are two things a speaker can do to increase involuntary attention?

Question 56

When listeners try to make sense of incoming stimuli, they do three things. What are they? Give examples.

Question 57

What are schemata? What kinds of schemata guide perception? Give an example of each.

Question 58

List one way you could improve each of the following: attention, interpretation, evaluation, responding, and storage and retrieval.

Question 59

What is paraphrasing? Why is it a good idea to paraphrase during empathic listening?

Question 60

What are some of the factors that can impede message storage and retrieval?

Question 61

How can speakers design messages that receivers will comprehend and accept?