Chapter 1 Test Items

1. Which early scientist’s theories ultimately led to the division between physical and social sciences?

a. Charles Darwin

b. I. A. Richards

c. St. Augustine

d. Sir Isaac Newton

2. Which Greek philosopher is recorded as the first researcher in history to start classifying patients by various temperaments?

a. Hippocrates

b. Plato

c. Aristotle

d. Socrates

3. Lazarsfeld published the first review of the field of communication. He ultimately broke down communication into four categories. Which of the following correctly presents the four categories?

a. who, said what, to what receiver, and was it persuasive

b. a sender, sent a message, to which receiver, and was it persuasive

c. a sender, said what, to whom, and with what effect

d. who, said what, to whom, and with what effect

4. Which of the following occurred BEFORE World War I within the communication discipline?

a. William Isaac Thomas and Florian Znaniecki defined social psychology

b. Charles Darwin published the theory of natural selection

c. the rate of research in the social sciences increased

d. a group of researchers at Yale University began to analyze how attitude change occurs

5. What is the process by which one person stimulates meaning in the mind(s) of another person

(or persons) through verbal and nonverbal messages?

a. nonverbal behavior

b. verbal behavior

c. communication

d. mass media

6. Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver (1949) are best known for which model of communication?

a. sender–receiver characteristics–receiver model

b. situational memory communication repository model

c. sender–message characteristics–receiver model

d. source–message–channel–receiver model

7. The symbols or codes we use to represent certain ideas or meanings are called:

a. nonverbal messages

b. channels

c. communication

d. language

8. When the letter s is added to the end of the word communication, what does it signify?

a. more than one person interacting

b. the use of mediated technologies

c. interpersonal interactions

d. group interactions

9. What is the process we go through to assign meaning to messages?

a. encoding

b. decoding

c. recording

d. recoding

10. Which prominent research university’s method for teaching quantitative research methods is this textbook based on?

a. Texas Tech University

b. Ohio University

c. Kent State University

d. West Virginia University

11. Which famous mathematician argued that the underlying rule of nature was mathematics?

a. Sir Isaac Newton

b. Charles Darwin

c. Sigmund Freud

d. William James

12. Which of the following statements was not written by James A. Winans?

a. There are few occasions where a public speaker dares adopt a scholarly, impartial speaking style.

b. Public speaking should be ruthless pulled to pieces and tested.

c. Only scholarly research will improve the field’s standing in the academic world.

d. It is the business of any teacher to know that what he [or she] teaches is true.

13. Which of the following forms of research was not one conducted by social scientists during World War II?

a. fear appeal research

b. attitudinal research

c. propaganda research

d. persuasion research

14. Which component of the definition of communication suggests that human communication is dynamic and changing?

a. process

b. nonverbal

c. meaning focused

d. verbal

15. Which of the following is not a subject studied in the journal Communication Research Reports according to Wickersham, Sherblom, and Richmond?

a. rhetorical sensitivity

b. health

c. apprehension

d. aggression

16. Who led a group of researchers at Yale University in research on how attitude change occurs?

a. Carl Hovland

b. Hippocrates

c. James C. McCroskey

d. William Isaac Thomas

17. Darla works for an advertising agency and is preparing a video to help explain a client’s new software package. In this context, what part of Shannon and Weaver’s model of communication does Darla embody?

a. source

b. message creator

c. channel decider

d. message mediator

18. Joseph is sitting in a lecture on cervical manipulation. Although Joseph has a Ph.D. in physics, he really doesn’t understand anything about medicine. In fact, he’s having a hard time keeping up with the lecture. At what point of the SMCR model is Joseph having problems?

a. decoding

b. encoding

c. source

d. feedback

19. Janice is texting her friend Paul about seeing a movie later that evening. What form of communication is a text message?

a. mediated

b. verbal

c. nonverbal

d. text-based

20. Which of the following is NOT a form of research conducted outside of academia?

a. student perceptions of instructor explanations

b. political polling

c. Amazon.com’s recommendation function

d. determining where items should be placed in a department store

21. Physical sciences include groups of fields such as cultural studies, anthropology, and sociology.

a. True

b. False

22. William James was the first social scientist in the United States to explore how Darwin’s theory of natural selection could be applied in the social sciences.

a. True

b. False

23. The first medium used to communicate messages was Morse code.

a. True

b. False

24. Humans can never communicate in the same way twice.

a. True

b. False

25. Communication is primarily a verbal process.

a. True

b. False

26. Language is a system of symbols or codes that represent certain ideas of meanings.

a. True

b. False

Essays:

27. Define and provide an example of each part of the SMCR model of communication.

28. List and describe the work and accomplishments of three historians who assisted in the advancement of the communication discipline.

29. Explain the theoretical debate that existed between James A. Winans and Everett Lee Hunt during the early 1900s.

30. What is a mediated channel? Explain mediated channel in relation to the communication model discussed in this chapter.

Matching:

31. Match each of the following terms with the correct statement.

a. Social Sciences = Study of how humans live and interact.

b. Encoding = Creating messages to stimulate meaning.

c. Nonverbal Messages = Any message other than verbal.

d. Physical Sciences = Study of the objective aspects of nature.

e. Hippocrates = Physicians should first do no harm.